Meet Lauren Fleishman | Screenplay Writer & Creative Consultant

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

Hi Lauren, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I had a quarter life crisis at the age of 23, attended Vipassana (a 10 day silent meditation course) where a little voice inside my head said “Move to LA and become a screenplay writer for a top tv show, then create your own. You will make change in this way”. Prior to that, I was a college grad, total booky nerd obsessed with law, politics and the false idea that systemic change can magically happen within a severely corrupted system. I see art, creativity and authentic expression of the self as a more effective way to make bottom up change.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always been fascinated by taboo topics, namely: sexuality, spirituality and death. These are the themes I most enjoy writing about. I am most proud of any time I am able to take real life experience or pain, either my own or others’, and transmute it into art to learn from or be entertained by! I wrote and produced a play in New York called “USED” right before the pandemic shut down Broadway. The story was based on my own experience researching high end sex work, using this as a metaphor for a world based on transactional relationships. The cast, crew & director did a stellar job exploring the theme, connecting it to the problems of the world at large.

I am 34 and not anywhere where I thought I’d be professionally! I thought I would be Forbes 30 under 30, on the cover of the Hollywood Reporter and a multimillionaire running a top show on HBO before the age of 35. (I blame the career of Lena Dunham for these expectations!) Where I am is an equally exciting place! I’m 8 months pregnant, learning about mommy things, writing a book and optioning a tv show based on my life. I’ve learned two BIG lessons the absolute HARDEST ways.

Lesson 1: Stop making elaborate future plans with your brain, start getting connected to your gut and heart. This connects you to your source, which gets you in “flowstate” leading you on MUCH better adventures with a higher probability for sustained happiness.

Lesson 2: If you’re going to do drugs, do them consciously & ceremoniously with presence and joy. When I say drugs, I mean anything that alters or severs your connection to your gut & heart….there’s lots of drugs, sugar is a drug, you fill in the blanks!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
So fun! I’d take out of towners first to some popular touristy things they secretly know they want to do, like the Hollywood sign hike, Rodeo drive, Hollywood Blvd with a police escort then lunch at Beverly Hills Hotel & dinner at Sunset Tower upstairs.

Then! We’d go a little bit deeper into some lesser known spots, like the Griffith Observatory hike…taking in all the views, I’d take us to breakfast at the Punchbowl in Los Feliz (best smoothies ever!!) kundalini yoga with Tej, dinner at Sunset Marquis to stumble upon an unsigned musical genius at the piano.

In this story the Cinerama Dome & Arclight Cinemas are still open (someone make this happen!) we’d see lots of movies there, tons of comedy at the Comedy Store and make friends with a lot of shady characters who take us to fun underground parties and art exhibits.

For the finale, I’d take them to Tuna Canyon trail in Topanga to this graffiti cliffside spot and bring some friends who can play instruments and have a picnic as the sun sets.

At some point, we’d get sick of peopling, go to a farmers market, spend $1,000 on strawberries at Erewhon and post up at home cooking, detoxing, not answering our phones for a few days.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Tammy Ann Casper & Shonda Rhimes. Shonda Rhimes, of course, as she is a prolific showrunner who has enacted so much cultural change through her own authentic and unique creations. Tammy Ann Casper for believing in me, hiring me for my first industry job at Grey’s Anatomy and showing me the book “ Ask & It Is Given” by Esther & Jerry Hicks.

Website: Laurenafleishman.com

Instagram: @Lafleish

Image Credits
Photographer: Vandi Angga Photographer: Bartosz Jankowski USED Photographer: Mark Ashe