Meet Anna Koukouli Born | Writer/Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna Koukouli Born and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk is such a misunderstood word, I find. It’s associated with dangers, getting out of your “comfort zone” maybe it be geographical or metaphorical, or it signifies that you just splash the waters with words or actions that make others uncomfortable. I’m all for it – for the obvious translation in my head: risk for me is searching for the unknown, taking a leap of faith in different places and people or telling people what I think, in the “risk” (or maybe relief) of them not liking what I say or do. For me, risk is an act of liberation that sometimes comes with a cost but mostly with gains. It has manifested in my life again and again and again. I left Greece when I was 18 to go to the UK and study Marketing, not speaking perfect English and not ever having lived outside Athens – except for the 5 first months of my life during which my parents were based in Kiel, Germany. Going to study in a foreign country is a risk. Then, although I wanted to stay in the UK and work, it was a devastation of huge proportions because the 9/11 attack had just happened and the world was in a deep crisis. No one was hiring in the UK and I had to pack and go back to Greece, a move which lasted only 5 years because I kept applying to advertising agencies in Europe, so when an offer came from Hamburg, Germany I jumped on it. Did I speak German? No. Had I lived in Germany before? For five months when I was a baby. This was all a risk for a girl that had accumulated so much debt while studying and with no fluent German and not knowing anyone in the town of Hamburg. Risky? Yes! Exciting? Definitely! Was it a risk? 1000%. Did I pay a cost for this decision? Yes, a high one, missing my family and friends daily, not seeing friends’ kids growing up, was not present when my dad died, job prevented me from attending my brother’s wedding, and another very long list of tokens I had to pay for living abroad. How was it worth it then? It opened the door to other opportunities, I grew professionally, I extended the circle of friends and collaborators I was getting to know, I met my husband and we took the risk of getting married very quickly after we met… That one has been a risk that has shaped my life in the best of ways!

The biggest risk of all for me has been and still is the change of my career. I had been an accomplished Advertising Executive, proud burnout of the Mad Men of the 2000s-2010s, climbed the ladder, got my accolades, won awards but it was not fulfilling me anymore. I had overstayed my comfort zone. I was not being very creative, given that the higher you go even in advertising which is supposed to feel creative, the more you have to deal with financial reporting, numbers, and not with the creative product. That’s why when we moved to the US in 2016, I decided to leave that world behind and pursue my dream which was to make films. Writing and Directing was my new risk taking. First and foremost I’m a trained business person so I can tell you that this bet/risky investment of six figure salary I’m not making anymore per year is the biggest I have taken so far. I have made three short films, I have written many scripts, I have met so many people, I have relocated half of my life to NY, so it has opened my eyes and soul to opportunities that would not have been possible had I not transitioned from advertising into writing/directing. It’s yet to bring financial gains, but as long as I push and try I am thrilled, challenged and happy.

All in all, for me, risk is nothing else than a decision we make knowing that there’s an uptake but also, things have the potential to go really really south, yet, we still bet on ourselves, bet on the unknown and navigate the world in the most thrilling way possible.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As I hinted earlier, getting into writing and directing was a very deliberate decision, which I regret every time I face the white page! This thing is difficult, and messy and gut wrenching and all one can do is love it passionately. When I arrived in LA, I had the swagger of an advertising executive with a lot of creative work behind me but none authored by me personally nor in the artistic space. I realized quite quickly that in this town “paying your dues” is a religion, and that no one cares what you did 5 years ago or even one year ago, it’s what you’re doing now and how much you have achieved now. This was a big pain point for me. After all this work and achievements, to feel like no one cares about what I have to say or what I want to do… pure agony. So I decided I should just pack it up, swallow my pride and start all over again. I went to UCLA Extension and studied Story Analysis and TV Development, I attended every single event there was, I shot a short film, I cowrote, I started building my network of creatives. This is not an easy feat. Especially when the resources have to come from you without a current running salary. Then pandemic hit, then the strikes, things became tougher and tougher in the town and the opportunities for someone like me who’s always one step closer to breaking into the industry, became less and less. The infamous contraction. Every time I feel the world is closing in, I’m asking myself “do I want to keep going? Or do I want to change route?” And I decided to keep going, cause I hate giving up. I only leave when I have done a full circle on something. So that was the point where I thought, okay, I need to make a bigger film. I hate crowdfunding but if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.

Rachael Hip-Flores whom I mentioned above was also poking me for us to tell the story of my father’s funeral. She knew I had written a script about it during therapy after my dad died. The story is about two adult siblings who find their alcoholic retired Navy Officer father’s half empty bottle at the place where he fell and died and they decide to sneak it into his coffin without anyone else finding out. The Darkest of comedies.

We shot in LA, which is pretty brave given the costs entailed these days! There’s a reason why productions are leaving LA, and the foolish ones like us who believe they can do such small scale of projects on their own, pay a very high price.

In any case, we stayed local and I’m very proud of the result, and eternally grateful to our talented cast and amazingly hardworking crew and everyone who supported us. In the end one has to do what they have to do to get their work out there, and my way is to have truthful and wholesome people to collaborate with and the rest will sort itself out.

The film now is in the festivals circuit and anyone can follow us for news and updates on the film’s instagram page @angel.theshortfilm

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Republique – coffee/brunch

The street tacos stand on Vine & Melrose
Cafe Nido – Silver Lake

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My favorite moment of any given award ceremony is when an awardee holds the statue next to their face and goes: “I did it all by myself!” mocking the people who actually believe this because… It takes a village, y’all!

My belief is that when you find your people, the circle that allows you to be your body and soul, then you have a more productive and balanced journey, especially in this business where we pour our beings into the creative work. LA can be a lonely place for sometime until one navigates the crowded muddy waters of who is who and find people in the same wavelength. But when I find them, they are my people.

First and foremost, my forever partner in crime, my ex writing partner whom I met at UCLA, Rodrigo Afonso Dornelles. Although our paths have separated, we’re still each other’s other half when it comes to advice, thinking our true minds and being there for each other.

Then it’s Melissa Turkington – a friend whom I made through Twitter from all places. During the pandemic Twitter was very hot among screenwriters and forged a lot of relationships that are worth nurturing. Melissa has also been my partner in crime in the LA Shorts Collective, as she founded it, and we have shot films together, written together, had Christmas and Oscars together and her son will forever be my unofficial nephew.

Nancy Frazen is next. Also a pandemic acquaintance that developed into one of my most cherished connections in LA. Nancy is a very established film editor, born and raised in LA, she knows and is known. I tease her saying she’s the OG Nepo Baby, as her whole family has been working in Hollywood, but only because I love how she chuckles. She’s also an actor and a writer and one of the most talented, wise and knowledgeable people I know in this town. She’s my unofficial older sister and forever will be.

A gem of a friend I found accidentally at a LatinX networking event, Brenda Cisneros. Brenda is one of the purest and most honest people I know, a very talented actor with an amazing range who will go places because life owes her! She generously hands her time, her space, her soul to everyone she cares about and I’m a lucky recipient of this generosity.

Last but not least, because she is me and I am her, is Rachael Hip-Flores. Rachael is a fierce talent, a trained and instinctive actor that gives it all for the characters you give her. She was recommended by another friend for my first short APPRAISAL and we have been inseparable ever after. She has even played a version of me in my film ANGEL – which is based on true events and my family’s shenanigans during the funeral of my father. Rachael is a friend, a woman with a soul, a rare beauty and charisma and an inspiration, and I’m lucky we have a pact to co-create and collaborate until one of us makes it to the pantheon and won’t be allowed to call the other cause… fame!

Website: https://www.annakoukouli.com

Instagram: annakoukouliborn

Twitter: akoukouli

Image Credits
Photographer: Peter Rambo