Today we’d like to introduce you to Dena Dizdar Plumer.
Hi Dena Dizdar, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m from Texas (Dallas area) and I always wanted to write for TV and film. In my 20s I had to make a choice between love and that dream. I chose love. And I worked in the closest industry Dallas had to offer at that time as an advertising copywriter. It was a great job and I was good at it, but writing about checking accounts and furniture just did not scratch that itch for me. It was a way station and I knew it.
Once my kids went to college it was time to focus on my dreams. I wrote a TV pilot but I didn’t know what to do with it. So I went back to school and got my MFA from Stephens College in TV and screenwriting. It delivered exactly what I needed: 2 weeks in LA every semester learning from the best writers Hollywood has to offer, then spending the rest of each semester working remotely through Zoom with WGA mentors who helped guide me through the completion of several scripts. I learned the tough realities of the industry and what it was going to take to break through.
After graduation, I moved to LA. Yes, so much is done remotely these days, but nothing can replace the relationships you build right here in the middle of the epicenter of entertainment. I still believe you have to physically be in Los Angeles to establish a career as a writer in the industry. You need decision-makers to trust you and your work. You can’t make that happen anywhere but here.
Since moving here, my scripts have won awards and accolades in film festivals and competitions, and even earned me a Finalist designation in the Television Academy Foundation internship program. I’ve made some great friends in the industry and worked on-set with some incredible people. There’s nothing like the feeling of collaborating on-set with a group of professionals all working toward one goal: telling a story in the most compelling way possible.
Right now, I’m focusing on vertical microdramas. This market is exploding and the landscape is ripe for great storytelling and elevating the space. I’ve partnered with my very accomplished friend Laura Jean Bransky and together we just finished filming a proof of concept vertical film called VAMPIRES ALWAYS KNOCK TWICE. I wrote and produced it and she directed. We put together an incredible cast and crew and we’re now in the editing phase. Once that’s complete, we’ll take it out to the vertical companies to sell it and also use it to show what we can do. We really want to level up the storytelling in this medium and we think our film knocks it out of the park!
I didn’t know anyone in LA at the start of my journey. But now I have a network of kind and talented people around me. If I can do that, it just goes to show you dreams are still coming true here in Los Angeles!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road for me. My husband is back in Dallas. His job is there. I’m here. But this is where my future is. It’s tough working toward your dreams with personal pain in the background. But it certainly helps me write more relatable characters.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Writing for the screen is unique. It’s visual. I’ve lived a few lives and seen a few things. And what I’ve seen and been through naturally comes out in my writing. That’s my superpower.
In everything I write, you can trace the effects of the mother bond or the mother wound on my characters. That’s something that’s specific to me and my writing. I believe so much of how we behave can be traced back to our relationship with our mother. Good or bad, it’s the most impactful relationship of our lives. And it either launches us into greatness or ties us down in dysfunction. The interesting bits are what each character decides to do about it.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I think as much as I’ve studied and focused on the mother wound/mother bond most people would assume I have a terrible relationship with my own mother. But nothing could be further from the truth! Her love and acceptance is probably the biggest reason I have the confidence in myself to move to a new city knowing no one and just kind of say, “This is me.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm14260583?ref_=nm_nv_usr_profile
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denaplumer/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dena-plumer/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/vampires_always_knock_twice/
