Rising Stars: Meet Jamie Lou of Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Lou.

Hi Jamie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From the first time I performed onstage in our high school’s theatrical production of “Once Upon a Mattress,” I was hooked. Before that pivotal moment, I kept my poetry and stories to myself. But being around other creative kids gave me courage. My poetry was published in the school’s literary magazine and I shared my stories with my advanced Creative Writing teacher. On my final paper, he wrote, “I hope you stay in touch. I can’t wait to see what you do with your writing.” Creativity saved me. I went from ditching school and hanging out with people who stole cars and did drugs, to becoming an honor roll student, from being absent all the time to being at school from 7 am until 9:30 pm for rehearsals.

When I got out of high school, I tried to work a sensible job at a bank and I did pretty well. I was promoted quickly and soon managed a team of colleagues who were much older than me. But I hated it. So I quit and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Then I found The Hothouse Improv Theatre and that opened up a world of possibilities for me. I learned how to write on my feet and we put together a group of scrappy performers. We just made films and sketches, whatever popped into our feral minds, and had the time of our lives. I learned how to make films with no budget and they started winning awards at film festivals. Again, I was hooked. I also wrote for the stage and became a produced playwright at the Secret Rose Theatre in NoHo while I was pregnant with my son. During the pandemic, I had to pivot and that’s when I started working on books and publishing. Now, I’m a storyteller across mediums and it’s incredibly fulfilling.

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?
One big struggle came after my son was born. I was a mother of two small children and I was battling postpartum depression. It’s hard to be creative when you’re feeling exhausted and hopeless. I remember sitting on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night searching for films about postpartum depression and I couldn’t find any from the mother’s point of view. This was before Diablo Cody’s film, “Tully,” I was desperate and films were my solace. It was devastating to me that something that affects one in eight women was not represented on the screen. So I did what Carrie Fisher said, “Take your broken heart and make it into art.” That got me off the bathroom floor. I wrote a feature film called “Lady Lazarus,” inspired by a Sylvia Plath poem as a tribute to her. Because she succumbed to her depression. I filmed a short excerpt of the film in my driveway and it won a dozen or so awards at festivals. The feature-length screenplay made it to the top 15% at the Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship and the top 18% at the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a book coach and editor, I form a special bond with my authors. I often say that I get in the book with them. I’ve had the honor to work with brilliant writers, published through Simon & Schuster, Wiley, Penguin Random House, and several independent publishing houses. But every author I’ve worked with, no matter how accomplished, grapples with self doubt. They all ask me, in one way or another, “Is this good enough?” One of my favorite parts of helping authors put meaningful stories into the world is championing them. I become their biggest cheerleader while pushing them to do their best writing. I don’t believe in ripping a manuscript to shreds. Instead, my approach is to become trustworthy enough for them to let me into their psyche, where I can mine their most precious story gems. But those are often found in the most vulnerable places, so it’s a delicate operation. I find that my experience in improv and screenwriting allows me to bring in an element of play, which helps us explore unconventional paths. Writing doesn’t always have to be this grueling process. It can be fun and collaborative. The hard part of writing will always be there, but it’s not the whole package. There is a music to writing, and I help authors turn down the volume of their own fears and self-doubt so they can hear that music.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Human to human connection is what matters the most to me. We make art, write stories, cook, and create for each other. And when we connect with one another, there’s an alchemy that creates something new that wasn’t there before. I learned that on stage as a teenager, engaging with a live audience night after night. I want to feel a shift in the air from someone’s laughter, or the slight change in humidity in the room because of a poet’s tears or a dancer’s sweat. I want to hear the way the guitar plays from fingers calloused by a musician who loves music so much, their body adapted to help them play better. For me, storytelling is an offering, a way to turn pain into beauty, or even whimsy. It’s an account of humanity that solidifies our significance, an acknowledgement that we existed, we mattered, and it was all for a grand and noble purpose. That purpose is human to human connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamieloustoryteller.com and www.jamieloufilmmaker.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieloustoryteller
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jamieloufilms
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jamieloustoryteller

Image Credits
Photo 4: Matt & Jess Photography