Life & Work with Zhanerke Koilybayeva

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zhanerke Koilybayeva.

Hi Zhanerke, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I wrote my first story when I was seven years old. My cousin was in another city, and I gave her a tiny book of stories that I wrote and passed it on through my aunt.

Then I remember writing in my notes some stories that I had in my head with the idea: So sad there is no such show! I was writing a script back then, but I didn’t know it. I gave those notes to my friends to read.

When I finished high school, I had to go to engineering school to get a bachelor’s degree because I won a scholarship. And I didn’t know that there is a profession called “screenwriter.” I thought actors stayed in front of the camera and just said whatever they wanted to say.

Later in my life, I was searching what I like to do, so I decided that I wanted to work in the film industry. I started working on projects as a helper and sometimes as an actress. That time I was applying to the New York Film Academy for an acting program, but one day the producer I worked with asked me to write the web series. I didn’t even know how to write a script, so I started surfing on Google to learn how to write a script. I was talking to my friends at that time and bragging that I had written a script, and they told me that they remembered I was writing some stuff as a teenager. And at that moment, I thought, Oh my God, I totally forgot about that. Maybe my faith is to be a writer. So I changed the major of my studies from “acting” to “screenwriting”. Right now, I am a student at the New York Film Academy, and I am writing and directing my own films.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I was graduating high school, my mom asked me what profession I wanted to have. My reply was, I want to be an actress or a singer. My mom said, If you wanted to be somebody like that, you would’ve joined some dance classes or acting classes. But I never actually did. Then I agreed with her and just applied to engineering school.

When I got my master’s degree in engineering, I remember having a huge depression. Working in my field, I asked myself where I wanted to work, so I will want to wake up every day at least. I answered honestly to myself that I wanted to do films and act.

So I moved to a big city where film industry is based in my home country, Kazakhstan. On the first day, I had an audition for being an extra. After that, I had a lot of positions, and I was a part of a lot of projects. But they never lead anywhere.

I didn’t have any skills or a portfolio; my mom advised me to get a degree in this field to be a professional. And at the same time, I had an advertisement from the film school. I didn’t have money to pay for my education, so I applied for a government scholarship, and now I am here.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Recently, I wrote and directed my horror web series pilot, “The Witch Mark,” which will be released on January 8 on my YouTube channel.

LOGLINE: a group of friends, devoted to unmasking haunted places, find a symbol that tattoos on the forearm rotting them to death.

OVERVIEW:
A group of four friends (Peter, Giselle, Rick, and Tony) have a YouTube channel devoted to playing flash tag on haunted or abandoned places in order to tell people about ghosts. They discover a Witch’s Mark that gets tattooed to their forearm, causing them to slowly rot as if they were being burnt to death. Friends must find out who the witch was and why she did it in a town where nobody wants to speak about that, the time is ticking and the truth slowly uncovers.

I am promoting it on my Business Instagram page @thewitchmarkweb.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
It depends on your personality. If you are an extrovert, it is better to network more. If you are an introvert, working with a mentor would be better. It is also about finding a mentor, right? Internships help.

In my case, I’m an extravert, and I can’t stand to have long connections with people if I have a mentor. So I try to work a little bit with everybody. So for me, networking is much better.

I also believe that you don’t need opportunities. As a storyteller, you should: write, shoot, edit, and repeat. Nowadays, we have all the resources that we need. We can shoot on our phones. We can promote it on the Internet, and if it is good, people will ask for more.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zhanerke_screenwriter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chanel.koil
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanerke-koilybayeva-756861261/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Z_screenwriter
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@TheWitchMark?si=otr7nCckS7RKLMZx

Image Credits
Kushagra Jain