Meet Elaine Perrotte | Screenwriter and Script Analyst

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elaine Perrotte and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elaine, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
Patience is your mantra! It seems incongruous to mention patience in a career that always seems to be in full swing and that requires you to keep moving and noticeable all the time, but the point is that patience is a strong foundation for the natural maturation of a screenwriter. When we choose a career in creation, our primal desire is to go out selling personal projects, writing story after story, going to meetings with production company executives, and getting into a writers’ room right away. However, the reality of the newbie screenwriter, in the vast majority of cases, is different, and many creative people with exceptional ideas end up giving up halfway through precisely because they needed patience to understand the journey as it is. So, having the patience to appreciate every small advance, every single step, every open door, and every new connection is essential to a more solid career.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My heart beats in two different rhythms. One is rooted in my Brazilian culture, the country where I was born and raised, and where I acquired all the cultural background that built who I am today, personally and professionally. The other heartbeat comes from my direct contact with the North American film market, through my time in Los Angeles, where I learned and developed the foundations of my career. My Latin roots, in addition to giving me a specific way of thinking and viewpoint of the world, also managed to open some doors for me, as the film and series market is increasingly global, and streaming services are looking for more inclusive and less stereotypical stories.
I was the first Brazilian woman to join the team of curators at Rotten Tomatoes, giving more visibility to Latin works on the platform, and I had the opportunity, through my Latin perspective, to analyze North American scripts, thus seeking the universal and inclusive potential of these works, at production companies such as Bold Films, Foton Films, and Taleflick.
Years ago, I wouldn’t have believed this would be possible — that I could use my roots to help, in some way, make audiovisual more inclusive. It’s been a long journey, but persistence is our sidekick in hard times. I remained focused and looked for scholarships to help me study abroad. In addition to working as a script analyst for both countries, I am also a curator at LABRFF, a festival that brings Brazilian films to Los Angeles. It’s at this time that my heart starts beating in a single rhythm again when I manage to link the US and Brazil through art.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place I would take a tourist friend to visit is the Santa Monica Pier because this place combines the most beautiful sky in LA with that stunning postcard background, and it has also been a setting for many films — perfect for some pictures. For movie buffs, the Walk of Fame is a must-see. It’s great fun to spend hours looking at the stars from the sidewalk, looking for artists we like, and as a bonus, you can catch a movie inside the iconic Chinese Theater. Out of pure nostalgia, I would take this friend to visit the UCLA campus, which is beautiful, and its surroundings. It was at the street cinema in Westwood that Tarantino shot a scene for “Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood”. I used to live in this area as a student, and the place has a very interesting atmosphere of creativity and discovery, as well as many bars. Barneys is my favorite — it was the official Central Perk Cafe for post-school gatherings.
A visit to the Observatory is also mandatory. In addition to a beautiful view of LA, the museum about the cosmos itself is pretty interesting.
Another unmissable place is Downtown. In addition to countless bars, restaurants, and shops, The Last Bookstore is a touristic point in itself. In a playful way, you will be taken through the book aisles. You can spend hours in there.
LA’s museums are not far behind. I worked for a year at the Hammer Museum, and it was a wonderful experience. I bumped into Meryl Streep in that museum a few times. Impossible not to love the place, right? But besides that, the Getty Museum and LACMA are unmissable.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Audiovisual is collaborative. There’s no way to walk alone or grow up without having a team that plays the ball by your side and wears your team’s shirt in the lean or prosperous times. I was lucky enough to meet incredible people along a journey that began in 2017 when I arrived in Los Angeles. I want to thank my UCLA professors, especially the incredible Billy Mernit, Brooks Wachtel and Philip Eisner, who were my mentors in this creative and wild world; my UCLA colleagues and my partners in crime; and those who embarked with me on different projects — people who embraced my ideas and supported me at every moment of my journey of self-knowledge and learning, especially Rafaela Rocha, Gustavo Katz, and Roger Ribeiro, and dear people who opened doors and believed in my skills and will power, such as Meire Fernandes, Daniel Dias, Sara Ataiiyan, and Julio de Oliveira.

Website: elaineperrotte.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elaineperrotte/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-perrotte/

Image Credits
all the pictures were taken by me.