Jenny Kleiman is a talented filmmaker and an electric personality. She's pitched to Roman Coppola. She's pitched feature films to Sony. Recently Austin Film Festival X No Film School declared her “Top 5 Screenwriters to Watch for 2021.” Having been in writing groups with her, I’m not surprised. Hear Jenny discuss life as a professional director & screenwriter and its many highs and lows.

Timecodes

00:01:17 | The Value of Writing Groups

00:05:42 | Pitching “Mozart in the Jungle” to Roman Coppola

00:15:08 | First Steps to Becoming a Director

00:20:49 | Directing Your Own Work is Hard

00:27:04 | First Feature Film “Fleurs”

00:31:20 | Being a Great Director

00:32:32 | Evaluating Your Movie’s Budget

00:35:33 | How to Attract Talent to Your Script

00:39:46 | Most Depressing Times in the Industry

00:44:59 | A Day in the Life of a Director

00:48:55 | Working the Wound

00:52:44 | Writing as Therapy

00:59:39 | Write More Diverse Characters!

01:17:10 | Writing Problems

01:28:54 | Simplest Elements of a Good Script

01:45:39 | Tragedy: Not Small Death, But Small Births

01:54:18 | Is It Easy to Sell Content During a Content Boom?

02:03:53 | Marketing

02:12:04 | Early Projects

02:19:55 | Adulting as a Freelancer/ Creative

02:25:35 | Do What Makes You Feel the Most Present

02:28:04 | Art Gets You High

02:30:56 | Critiquing Religion/ Jewish Stuff

02:34:34 | Pitching Movies

02:45:47 | Creativity is a Disease

02:55:34 | Outro