INTERVIEW with AMBER DAWN LEE
(from her Bio) Amber Dawn Lee was featured in Creative Screenwriting magazine as a writer whose screenplays are "raw and full of heart." Greg Brooker said "Amber Lee has an innate instinct to understand drama and she put's it on the page beautifully."
Two of her screenplays Mockstar and Children of the West were quarter finalists in the AAA screen writing competition.
Amber created her own production company Movie Junkies Productions in 2007, and has produced and acted in several of her own projects which were designed specifically for her. Amber studies acting under the influence of Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, and has performed in theatre both regional and around Hollywood. She has the ability to unzip audiences through acting.
Amber supported her acting career through modeling and has been featured in Triangles swimwear commercials, and various other billboards nationwide. Amber tested for Playboy in 2007 but after acceptance pulled her pictorial due to her agent's guidance. She was raised Mormon, and she was also adopted as a baby after her biological mother robbed a bank. Her biological brother Thomas Robison died at the age of 32. Amber has written a musical, several plays, and several screenplays. Her main love is acting and comedy. Amber is also sober, and does not drink at all. Amber has acted in several horror films, and is a scream queen.
What do you do?
I’m what Hollywood calls a “slasher” which means I do multiple things. I’m an actress/screenwriter/producer/writer and anything else I can do within the field. It gets frustrating waiting on others to get as enthusiastic about your ideas as you are. I decided to lock myself away and learn as much as I could about everything in the world of filmmaking. My first screenplay was written on napkins, notebooks, journals and tissue paper. I didn’t tell my stories to others to get a reaction, I told my stories to the page. That’s how a story is told, on the page. That’s how it is for screenwriters.
I met a fantastic screenwriter, Terry Rossio when I first moved to Los Angeles. I was excited to ask him every question a young inspired screenwriter wants to ask. He asked what I knew about writing, and when I tried to explain a bunch of “nothing” I knew I had no idea what I was doing. After a quick trip to Samuel French bookstore I had piled up a collection of 40 books on screenwriting, all different approaches, all with the common goal. I spent all summer reading, taking notes, refining my projects, and studying. I took classes at UCLA on writing, joined workshops, read online articles. Finally, I talked to Terry again about my writing. He was impressed that I actually did the work of learning the trade. I could hold my own in a conversation about writing. I knew what I was talking about. In Hollywood there are so many “screenwriters” that have never even read a book on writing, and have never even written a script. I wrote five scripts before my first film was made. That’s a lucky chance. Usually it takes a lot more. I consider myself as lucky, after a lot of work.
How did you get into the business?
I quit my mediocre job in Texas, got in my car and drove until I saw the ocean. Once here I panicked and didn’t know what to do. It took a lot of hard knocks to get going, but stay on track and focus on your intentions.
What are some of your past projects?
I have a full list of projects from “then and now” and am always working on several projects at a time. I remember the first short film I made. It was called “Polyamorous” and it was a comedy. It included 15 actors, which I don’t recommend. I asked my friend to use his restaurant, filmed part of it in my house, part of it on the sidewalk without a permit, and asked a film student to edit it. It is not something I would show today. It was my first project, and it was such a learning experience that I feel I couldn’t of learned more in a four year University. I suggest doing it, doing it, doing it. You learn by doing. You fail by just talking about it.
I met a guy who asked me how to write a screenplay. I gave him a reading list to start. “Oh,” he laughed. “I don’t really want to be a screenwriter, they are at the bottom of the food chain. I just figure it is a good way to break in.” Well, he failed at it already. He didn’t want to be something you have to be amazing at. He was not willing to even open a book, he thought he already knew all the answers. I asked him to show me a sample of his writing. He said he didn’t want to show me, in case I stole the idea of his “multi million dollar blockbuster.” I never wasted my time having lunch with him again, and have not seen or heard of him making any sort of mark in the industry.
What are some of your current projects?
I’m currently working on Lot Lizard, a dark drama. It’s an amazing character piece, and we are in the middle of filming right now.
Any awards/honors?
I was a quarter finalist twice in the AAA screenwriting contest. One was for “Mockstar” and the other was “Children of the West.” I hope to film both movies someday. “Children of the West” my favorite screenplay was featured by Creative Screenwriting Magazine and I was officially a screenwriter who’s writing was “raw, edgy, and full of heart.” They ran a half page spread, and it was a really proud moment for me. I felt like I had become part of the other writers in Hollywood, like I had made it.
I was in a magazine being honored with Kevin Spacey on the cover smirking proudly. For me, it was quite an accomplishment, being honored for my talents in the highest quality magazine in the industry. I won awards in other areas too. I won “Best Supporting Actress” in the Aphrodite International Film Festival.
I won “Best Trailer” for our film “Lot Lizard” and that was the pre-trailer before the film was even complete. My biggest advice would be to work hard, really, really hard at what you want to be good at. It’s not a cake-walk, but the tools are available for you to attain. Do the work, stay out of the results, and sacrifice those weekends to volunteer on a friends project. Help others, do it kindly, do it without pay, do it humbly. I am forever learning how to become better, but I love being a Hollywood “slasher” and couldn’t imagine being in any other business full time.
Amber's IMDB Page
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