Jenny Halper is EVP of Film at Maven Screen Media, where her credits include THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, DRIVEWAYS, AMERICAN HONEY, SKIN, and A MOUTHFUL OF AIR. As a screenwriter her scripts have placed three times on the Black List, on the Athena List, received grants from Film Independent and the Tribeca Film Institute, and been selected for New York Stage and Film’s Workshop (in association with Powerhouse Theater). She is currently developing an anthology series with Freida Pinto and Emily Verellen Strom's Freebird Films and Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi's Significant Productions, a limited series with Michael Dinner's Rooney McP Productions, and adapting a non-fiction book for Social Construct Films (THE MAURITANIAN). As a fiction writer, she is an Our Stories Emerging Writer Award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee, with stories appearing in places including The Chicago Tribune, PANK, Joyland, and the Southeast Review, and her story collection has been a finalist for the St. Lawrence Book Prize and the Hudson Prize. A graduate of Northwestern University and Emerson College, and a founding member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, she is represented by Untitled Entertainment and CAA.
In this episode, we talk about:

Her first “real” job at Plum Pictures led her directly to where she is now developing at Mandalay Vision
How working at a small indie production company allowed for her a lot of responsibilities very quickly
Why she only looked at companies that made movies that she loved
Working on The Kindergarden Teacher with Maggie Gyllenhaal
How often do you need the actors attached
Why you can’t have everything in one basket in development because some things never cross the finish line
Maven finds financing for some projects and for some, they provide financing
What advice she would give people to who are attached to making only projects
Taking on A Mouthful of Air with Amanda Seyfried, Paul Giamatti, and Finn Wittrock. Written and directed by Mentor Amy Koppelman and produced by Michael Harrop (Showtime’s Billions)
Would you rather have a big director or big actor attached?
Advice for actors: 1. Number of excellent self tapes are high 2. get on casting directors radar 3. keep working on craft 4. doesn’t help to cold call production companies
which cds you love working with
Some things she looks for in deciding to develop projects

Guest:
IMDb Linkedin Instagram Maven Screen Media
Host:
Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller
Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic
Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle
Favorite Quotes from the Episode:
“To get a movie made, there’s a lot of different stumbling blocks along the way. And a lot of it is who you know and who you can get into the hands of that is going to help you reach the next hurdle.”
“That’s the thing that I think is great about creating is… you can do it and no one has to give you permission.”

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