Heidi Hornbacher of West Hollywood on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Heidi Hornbacher shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Heidi, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Nothing makes me feel more proud than client success. One of my clients just scored some high level meetings with streamers in Europe for a killer series he’s writing. This summer, I had three clients with films in local festivals. Seeing the words they put such heart and hard work into up on the big screen is an absolute joy. I have the honor of being a sort of creative midwife.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Heidi Hornbacher, writer, director and co-founder/lead-instructor of PageCraft Writing. For seventeen years now we’ve been working with writers to elevate their skills and their scripts. In addition to workshops and one-on-one coaching online, each year we welcome a select group of writers to Italy for our two-week Concept to Pages curriculum retreat and to Pt. Reyes in Northern California for a one-week Rewrite Lab. We mix mini-lectures, coaching, writing exercises, targeted feedback, and the luxury of writing time with the culinary delights and sight-seeing of the most beautiful places in the world. Our alumni have gone on to find representation, sell scripts, get staffed, and even win Emmys.

We believe in a “tools, not rules” approach that allows for flexibility with each writer’s writing and learning style.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was a creative, oddball of a kid. I would make a bunch of pictures and hold art sales on our front lawn because I believed my creative output had value. The audacity! I would hide in my room with my books and on weekends I’d pretend to be asleep while I was actually up writing stories in my notebooks. I was going to write the next great American novel before high school.

Then the world told me I had to be practical and that being an artist – a successful one – was only for a select few. So for years I worked in marketing, which felt creative adjacent, and kept myself small. After the company I worked for went belly-up in the aftermath of 9-11, I realized it was time to stop waiting for permission to be an artist and have been pursuing my writing and helping other writers ever since.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
“Hang in there, kiddo. You’re right: your creativity DOES have value. Don’t listen to the haters. Your work won’t be for everyone and that’s OK. As long as it’s for you, it’ll be what it needs to be.”

I think signing up for a creative life is a special kind of crazy. We are really good at self-delusion or self-belief, depending on your perspective. The people here who are the most successful are the ones who rolled with the punches but never quit. This is a game of attrition and half the battle is just to stay on the field.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I have been surprised again and again to see how many executives don’t believe in or champion the value of writers. The lie I hear is “Oh we have the idea, we can get anyone to write it.” As if the voice, skill, and perspective of a given writer means nothing. We’re not technicians. Well, we’re not ONLY technicians. We have highly developed craft and skill that matters for how a project will turn out. I recently heard about a major studio production – already in production – that still doesn’t have a finished script. Would you start building a sky scraper without a blue print and tech specs? Madness. It all starts with the script and the vision communicated therein.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope they talk about my own produced scripts that have touched people’s lives. Equally, I hope my clients and their fans talk about all the tools and coaching they got from me that has gone on to make a difference in their craft and their projects. If I make a difference for them, and their work makes a difference for audiences, that’s me making a positive impact in perpetuity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pagecraftwriting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pagecraftwriting/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-hornbacher-1aa02a5/
• Twitter: @heidihornbacher

Image Credits
Carlo Cavagna, Peter Gibbs