Meet Erin Enberg | Screenwriter and Director

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

Hi Erin, what role has risk played in your life or career?
A consequence of risk-taking is failure. It’s taken me a long time to learn that failure is one of the biggest teachers in life. I’m not sure how else you learn except through trial and error. Taking career risks, as it relates to the entertainment industry, personal artistic risks, or even moving to a new place, also helps you learn what you like and don’t like. Every time I make a film, I fear it might not be “good,” or what if I disappoint everyone who worked on it or supported it? But to stay in a comfort zone has its consequences. How else will you grow and learn from mistakes? Risks are 50/50, and you truly don’t know until you try. Moving to Los Angeles was a risk. Every time I write a script or make a film I’m taking a risk but I don’t see the risk of failure as something to be feared anymore. It’s more scary to never try. So, here’s to chancing it!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My films are character-driven dramas with comedic elements that seek to empower women and non-binary people in search of better circumstances and opportunities, often struggling to leave rural life for more opportunities in the city. Many of my characters feel out of place, whether it’s my short film “The Poet” about a vampire in the woods who wants to move to the city to become a poet, a time traveler who goes back to her childhood days to stop a murder in my TV pilot “Weird & High Voltage” or my forthcoming first feature film “Peaking in the Valley” about a woman searching for community after the summer of love ends in the 1960s.

My creative journey has been a meandering path. I’m from Maine (from a spooky Stephen King town) and always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker but I had no reference or context for how to make that happen. I worked in production for a long time in New England and then moved to LA in my 30s, which isn’t the typical story of the young twenty-something moving to the city. I found myself living in New York City and several other places before LA. I think having more maturity, life experience, production credits, and my own films made a huge difference in how I handled Los Angeles.

I’ve worked for NBC, MTV, TLC, A&E and once traveled around the country for three months on a renovated city bus assisting Emmy-winning cinematographer Chris Teague (Russian Doll, Only Murders in the Building, Acolyte). My short films have won various awards including Best of Fest and Audience Favorite and just a couple weeks ago, the Sponsor award for Best Short at the Hollywood Horrorfest for my short film “Reverse the Curse.” My screenplays have been finalists at Final Draft, Cinestory, Stowe Story Labs, and second-round at Sundance. I received a scholarship from Sundance Collab to attend their 9-week directing course and I’ve worked at HBO Max in Original Content and Warner Bros in Creative Advertising where I worked on the marketing for Barbie, Dune 2 and Wonka. In 2023, I was chosen as one of 10 directors for Blackmagic Collective’s year-long “Emerging Filmmaker Initiative” and their month-long Producer’s Lab for the development of my feature.

I have several upcoming projects I’m working on that I’m really excited about. One of them is a short film I’ll be directing called “Sole Mates” written by Suzanna Regos and produced by and starring Anthea Greco. The second is my feature film, “Peaking in the Valley.” Me and my producer, David Gittins, were fellows in the Blackmagic Collective’s producer’s lab and have been working on the next steps in the process.

That being said, it’s hard when you’re working on commercials or music videos that don’t get IMDB credit, or you have meetings with executives or producers that you can’t put on a resume, but it took years of work and networking, and relationship-building to get here. Then there are the close calls, where I almost got opportunities that, again, took years to even get to this point, but it looks like a failure on the outside. Several of these opportunities didn’t work out because of things beyond my control, like Covid. I’ve had to redefine what success means to me. During Covid and then the strikes, I had to move back to Maine and then back to LA, then back to Maine. I’m once again in Los Angeles and figuring out what a post-pandemic, post-strike world looks like. I dreamed about going to Los Angeles to make movies and TV as a kid, and I got to LA. I’ve worked at Warner Brothers and Max and have met so many actors and directors and writers I had only dreamed about before, so many people I admire. Some people go from zero to a hundred or are plucked out of obscurity with a big break, but for me, it’s been one small step after another building a foundation and friendships, and learning new skills and information. It’s taking a long time, but it’s also made me realize the small things are the best things. And at the end of the day, it’s really the people in my life that matter. My friends and family and health are all that matters in this world and in this hustle culture, it can be easy to forget that in survival mode.

A successful cinematographer I know asked me if I was happy, because the hustle and the grind can be taxing and “Hollywood” is an illusion, a mirage, that you keep walking towards and never get to. After he asked me I put a notification in my calendar that pops up every month “Are you happy?” It’s a nice reminder to sit for a moment and think about the direction I’m heading in and take stock of how I feel. I want to enjoy the journey and have a community of people I enjoy going through life with. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that it’s the people that matter, and how you treat people and help people whether that’s with personal things or career things.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite thing to do in LA is hike. I love how easy it is to hike in the city. If someone is visiting, I like easing them in with a hike at Fryman Canyon/Willacre Park in Studio City, where there are lots of trees (and the Tree People at the top). In spring, the trails are surrounded by yellow wildflowers as if it’s the yellow brick road.

Then I might take them to the backside of Griffith, at the trail that starts in Mineral Wells Picnic area and goes up to Amir’s Garden. From there we can go to a lookout over Griffith Observatory.

Later, we can go to Griffith Observatory at night, my favorite place in all of LA. That’s where you can experience the magic of the whole city – and definitely see a show at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium.

We’ll be hungry with all this hiking, so after Griffith, we can stop by Basecamp Dinette or World Empanadas in Burbank.

If we’ve just finished hiking at Fryman in Studio City we can swing by Aroma Cafe or Royalty Juice Bar for a smoothie and a sandwich.

If we need to do some work or just chill out, the Brand Library in Glendale is the perfect spot. You can sit on the grass out front, take in the current art exhibit, or hike on the trails. Of course, after a hike there, we’d have to stop by Yoga-Urt just down the street to grab an ice cream.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My friends and family back in Maine have supported me and cheered me on as I’ve gone through the ups and downs of the entertainment industry – and during a pandemic and strikes. I feel like my journey here in Los Angeles has been with them like we’re all in it together. I love sharing pictures of the new things I’ve experienced here. We’re all on the ride together and I could not make it without them.

Website: https://www.erinenberg.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erin.enberg/

Other: https://vimeo.com/erinenberg

Image Credits
Bahareh Ritter
Mike Strout
Sokvonny Chouk
Tracy Orzel