Conversation with movie director, screenwriter Linda Andersson: Part One

Director/Writer Linda Andersson at work (Photo courtesy of L. Andersson)

Dreams really do come true in Hollywood, at least according to movie director and screenwriter, Linda Andersson.

Since moving to Los Angeles from Florida nearly three years ago, Andersson has created numerous award-winning films and has made a name for herself rather quickly in the hard-to-crack movie industry.

In Part One of my interview with Linda Andersson, we discuss childhood dreams, becoming an award-winning screenwriter and making a difference through her work in the LGBT community.

Tell me about yourself: where you currently live, where you grew up, your philosophy about life...

I was born in New York, but moved to Florida as a child and grew up in the country. I was a real tomboy. I was raised to believe that I could do anything that I put my mind to. I've never stopped believing that and have proof to show that it's true. I decided to make the big move to Los Angeles in 2007, so I could work with the amazing talent here. I've been taking in every opportunity possible and this summer, with two of my short films screening at some of the major LGBT film festivals, I feel like I've accomplished some of my goals very quickly.

How and when did you first know you wanted to be a writer and director?

I've always been very visual. I loved having a camera and taking pictures when I was a kid. I also have always had running storylines in my head from early on, but never realized what I was doing until many years later. I was creating stories and not writing them down. Finally, within the last ten years or so, I began to write the stories down thinking I would write books, but then realized that my writing style was too much of a short form. I would only write down the details, which I thought were necessary to tell the stories without embellishing them very much with detail. I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to sell many books that way, as breaking a hundred pages was as good as it got, most of the time. That's when I had the 'uh-huh moment', and realized that I was actually writing screenplays and didn't know it.

As soon as I wrote my first screenplay (in 2003), all of the other stories which had been stored in my brain since childhood came rushing out and before I knew it, I had four or five feature screenplays behind me. At that point, I decided to enter an original TV show script (a sitcom) into a few writing contests, and became a finalist/semi-finalist in contests held by TVWriter.com and Scriptapalooza TV. This was just enough fuel, to keep me going while still living in Florida with very few outlets. But, that suddenly wasn't enough. I just had to know how it was going to look like, instead of keeping those characters trapped between the pages of the scripts. I needed to see my work on screen, and the only way to do that, at the time was to write a few shorts and produce them myself.

Around this time, I got involved with POWER UP, a Los Angeles based organization that promotes the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, the arts, and all forms of media. I flew out from Florida to attend their weekend workshop and left thinking I really needed to produce a lesbian-themed short film. I have since written and directed seven projects including a TV pilot.

What inspires you? Artistically, socially, personally...

I am inspired by different things at different times. I love a good combination of goofy, quirky and intelligent, if that is at all possible. I've shown that sort of thing in a couple of my projects such as "Mood Swing" starring Sara Marx, where her character finds an old porch swing propped up a dumpster and just like any other good dumpster diver, she takes it home and installs it on her porch, not knowing that it's possessed and changes the mood and personality of everyone who sits in it. So, in that case, I was inspired by the term, "mood swing", and ran with it.

On a social level, I use my writing and filmmaking as a form of activism. I'm not really the marching and sign-carrying kind of a girl, but to support the cause of my LGBTQ brothers and sisters, I think I can best serve the cause by creating stories which can be watched over and over again to show we're just like anybody else. We make both good and bad relationship decisions. We care about our family and friends and of course we also have possessed porch swings take over our lives just like most people in the straight community would. : )

How has being lesbian impacted your art? How has it impacted your life?

Being a lesbian has impacted my art by giving me a huge support group for my projects. All of my friends "get it" and want to help me put out OUR message. I can't say how it's impacted my life because I'm not sure how else I would be. It's such a small part of what I am, and that's the point of most of the stories I tell on screen. It may appear to be the theme, but usually, the "A-Story" is so much more, just like in everybody else's life.

For more info: Linda Andersson

To read Part Two of my interview with Linda, click here.

***N. E. Francis is an established news journalist, specializing in arts and entertainment features and is a radio correspondent for the weekly LGBTQ radio program, Alternative Perspectives, every Tuesday on www.wrfg.org. She also writes Tales from a California Blonde, a weekly column published every Saturday exclusively at Examiner.com.

Ms. Francis is also a published poet, ghostwriter, film & theater critic and upcoming children’s author. She owns an online art gallery featuring women artists around the world. Contact her at ArtExaminer@comcast.net.***

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