Meet Jana Landon | Producer

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

Hi Jana, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I’m very risk averse but I follow the mantra of “Do it scared but prepared.” Preparation makes me feel more comfortable with taking risks. It took me 13 years to make the pivot to being a full-time creative! I left a very comfortable job in tech to follow my dreams but I had been putting in the work to enable this pivot for years. Much of the preparation involved getting more clear on what I wanted to do by doing it. At first, I thought it was acting but after three years of improv performance classes at UCB New York and a two-year, part-time Meisner acting program at the William Esper Studio I knew that acting wasn’t quite it. I learned that I wanted to be involved with getting stories made and taking ideas from script to screen (and stage!) whether I was in the productions or not. I wouldn’t have learned that I wanted to be a producer had I not spent significant time studying acting and, in the process, I met so many collaborators who I’m continuing to work with.

Financial preparation was another major key. I knew I was not going to have any significant income over the course of a two-year MFA program (not to mention making less starting out post-MFA) so about a year before I even began applying to schools, I started working with a financial advisor. My advisor has been instrumental in helping me save and budget while still thinking about my financial future. It’s given me so much peace of mind.

When I take a step back, even the comfortable tech job that I left was somewhat of a risk when I took it back in 2011. Yes, it was Google and it was successful but, it wasn’t the behemoth that it is now. I moved across the country from my family to Silicon Valley, to take a job in an industry that no one I knew had been in–and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a creative producer who recently pivoted from the tech industry. At Google, my Forbes 30 under 30 recognized work focused on advancing underrepresented communities in tech and as an AFI Producing Fellow, I’ve produced multiple films that center Black, API, and women’s voices. I’m building a career where I will continue to champion these communities by writing, developing and producing representative, commercially viable projects across all mediums including theater, which is where I got my start.

Right now, I feel so lucky to be creating full-time especially when the equity and inclusion work I did throughout my corporate career is under attack. I get to make art that centers representation and inclusion and the beauty of it is I don’t need anyone’s permission to make it.

I’m most excited that I’m no longer scared to say that I’m a writer. I’ve recognized the strength of my voice in telling comedic, satirical, and later in life coming-of-age/”reinvention” stories about Black women.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh no–this is going to be so wack. I basically live at AFI right now BUT I’m looking forward to the summer to finally immerse myself in LA. When I’m not on campus I enjoy:

–Yoga at One Down Dog
–Sunset at Barnsdall Art Park
–Massage at Leela Spa followed by ixlb DimSum next door
–Sipping martinis at Figaro Bistro (you can sit outside and people watch on a nice day!)
–Live Jazz on Saturday at the Dresden
–Auntie Jamz events at Hilltop Coffee & Kitchen
–Driving to Long Beach to visit family and write. It feels like a writer’s retreat for me!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout my parents, Karen and Johnnie, and my first principal, Margaret Harris at the Owl School in DC, for nurturing my ambition and never telling me to dream smaller or to make myself smaller. I have a small but mighty immediate family who is always rooting for me and guiding me (Pop-Pop, Uncle Karl, Auntie Vone & Uncle Fred, and my sister, Kaela, who keeps me humble!) A special shoutout goes to Deniese Davis, who encouraged me apply to the American Film Institute’s MFA Producing Program, which is changing my life. And thank you to the Black Women who I grew up with in the DMV, the ones I’ve met through Dartmouth, Google, and AFI, and in the Bay, New York, and LA. You are constant source of support, inspiration, and magic.

Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-k-landon-8a18ab54/

Instagram: janannigans