Meet Elana Golden of The Writing Studio in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elana Golden.

Elana, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In the fall of 1999, I was completing a master’s degree in spiritual psychology and one of the assignments was to create a new project—one that had been our lifelong dream. I decided to start a school for creative writing and named it The Writing Studio. I sent out 200 flyers by slow mail, and in January 2000 three students signed up for my then-only one weekly evening class. But the seeds of The Writing Studio had been planted long before, when I was a child and loved to ask people about their lives, and was somehow able to elicit in them the trust to tell me their deepest secrets.

These seeds germinated in my own experience of writing. For years, in moments of agony and moments of ecstasy, when I could no longer contain my feelings, I wrote. Afterwards I felt so much better, lighter, more grounded. When I read the stories to friends, they said, “I was right there with you,” or “it reminded me of what happened to me when…” I knew then that writing could heal and transform both writer and reader. I also knew that everyone has a story, and that I could be the “midwife of stories” who will inspire them to write it. 

I am a sucker for stories from around the worlds, stories that teach me something about human nature, different cultures, and history. All through my childhood, first in Bucharest, Romania where I was born, and then in Israel where I grew up, my parents told me stories from their lives. About my maternal grandfather’s factory that burned down in the 1929 worldwide economic crisis, and my grandmother who fell into depression and spent the rest of her life in a mental institution. And about my father who rescued my mother from a life of a Cinderella in the house of a cruel aunt, and his relationship with a countess before he fell in love with my mother. And so on and so forth, stories of joy and sorrow, courage and survival, some under harsh political circumstances, poignant stories that to this day make their presence in the film scripts I write. 

As I wrote my own life stories—growing up in a communist regime, being a child immigrant, coming to America at 19 to be part of the counterculture, stories of sex, drugs, and Rock & Roll, marching for peace and justice, NYU film school, India, love and betrayal—I found my voice and my freedom. These stories are the steppingstones of my creative growth and my inspiration in each and every class I give in the last 20 years. 

In 2001, as the number of my students was growing, and the events of September 11 brought in their wake a wave of Islamophobia and impending wars, I decided to gear my classes toward healing and peace. It is said that, “An enemy is someone whose story you haven’t yet heard.” I created workshops in which Muslims and Jews, Palestinians and Israelis, Armenians and Turks, and anyone who lived through dictatorship, occupation, and genocide wrote together. My school became a mini United Nations. Something extraordinary happens when people write their stories, beyond rhetoric and political agenda, and listen to each other from the heart. A small oasis of peace happens, one story at a time. 

As a life long advocate for Palestinian rights and an activist for peace and justice in Palestine/Israel, I was invited to come to Gaza, Palestine in 2013 and 2014, to give classes in creative writing. The stories written in those classes— by university and high school students, psychologists, social workers, and UN personnel—all portray creativity among the ruins. They tell stories not portrayed in mainstream U.S. media. https://gazanarratives.com/

In January 2020, my school will celebrate its 20th birthday. In these 20 years, I have taught over 5000 classes and workshops and private sessions to new and experienced writers from all races, religions, lifestyles, and ethnic and economic backgrounds. While the permanent location of The Writing Studio is in Hollywood, I have given workshops in the greater Los Angeles area at such institutions as The Skirball Center and The Markaz, as well as in San Francisco and other cities in the U.S. 

Currently I offer three ongoing weekly classes in creative writing and two monthly Saturday workshops. The atmosphere is confidential, respectful, safe—a space where life and the imagination will meet to produce deep literary works. 

As a screenwriter myself, I offer private coaching sessions in writing screenplays and TV series. For more information on this, please visit my webpage: https://private-screenplay-screenwriting.bloomfactor.fyi/

Additionally, I coach and edit books and scripts.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been a pretty smooth ride because from the start I had a strong intention to give to my students something valuable and precious that will teach them writing, but oh… so much more! 

We’d love to hear more about your business.
These words best describes my school:

In the safety of the writing group, we take one moment from our lives and enter it fully. We slow down and look at it through the lens of the writer, allowing the story to emerge from the silence within. Learning to follow rather than lead the story our writing is fresh, free, original, unexpected. 

My students write memoir, fiction, short stories, and novels. Whether it’s the depth of trauma, addiction, sexual abuse, racism, war, divorce, or the joys of motherhood, true love, or professional success—the walls of The Writing Studio have heard it all!

We start each class with a meditation to keep the critical mind at bay. I work with each writer individually. Students write, then read their work to the group and receive respectful, constructive feedback.

There is no competition, no better or worse writing, only different voices and different processes. I focus on the strength of each writer. I am yet to hear a story that does not contain at least one gem. When that gem is acknowledged and nurtured, when a writer feels supported to go deep within and trust the story that must be told, the sky is the limit.  

What were you like growing up?
I loved poems and songs, and learned them by heart. When my parents had a party I made sure they allocated a time for me to recite a poem or sing a song to the guests.  

I acted and directed plays, painted, read a lot, and was very philosophical. I loved films and plays and music, and was terrible in sports, always skipping PE classes. In my teenage years I was a rebel, an anti war activist, and part of an avant-guard artistic community that made films and performed street theater. I was a child of the 60s.

What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
To record or videotape a set of 10 writing classes to be used worldwide by writers, creative writing teachers, and in schools.

To find finance to produce my latest script, titled “The Weaver of Bucharest,” and put more energy into my screenwriting coaching business.

Pricing:

• For more information, pricing, and registration please visit www.thewritingstudio.biz

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thewritingstudio.biz/
• Phone: 323.350.4650
• Email: goldenelana@gmail.com

Image Credit:
Elana Golden, Alama Phoenix

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