Meet Marla White | Screenwriting Consultant/Author

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

Hi Marla, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Never wish life were easier. Wish that you were better.” — Jim Rohn

As an entrepreneur, there’s so much to learn outside of your area of expertise. Marketing, bookkeeping, social media – it’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times and think, “I just want to help writers with their scripts and write my books, this is too much!” I keep this quote on my fridge to remind myself to get just a little bit better at one thing every day.

Every time I see it, it also reminds me that fate will step in when you least expect it. I found that quote on the tag of my Good Earth tea bag – how random is that? I received exactly the right message at the right time from one of a million bags of tea. Sometimes the universe makes me laugh.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Everything I do involves storytelling in one form or another.

My screenwriting consulting business was born after sitting through a lot of meetings where strong ideas were poorly presented. I wanted to use the knowledge I’d gained from years of working in development and teach writers how to pitch their stories. The more I worked with clients, the more I had them ask me to help them grow and develop their scripts. That was the part I loved the most about working for production companies anyway. When the tides changed as they do in LA, I found myself out of a job and decided to make the leap to coaching and teaching. It was a move I thought was brilliant until I looked around and found that there are dozens and dozens of other coaches out there so, yay me!

It has definitely been a challenge to find my brand (those two words still make me shudder) but I’ve learned to lean into my humor and down-to-earth nature to stand out. It’s a struggle every day coming up against the bigger names out there but knowing I’m giving my writers valuable information they need to know in my own particular style makes it worth it.

As if that job wasn’t hard enough, I also became an author, which everyone knows is super easy and pays really well (it doesn’t, I’m kidding). I’ve just always loved telling stories about quirky people and places influenced by real people and events in my life. I’d written screenplays and nearly got into a fellowship program, but at the end of the day, I knew if I wrote novels, at the very least I could self-publish and someone would read it. Fortunately, a publisher bought my first one, thanks to CJ Bahr letting me know about them. But selling it was just the first step. It took months of editing but eventually my first “Cookie Book” came out. And then the real work began in learning on the fly about marketing and finding readers. Even though the monetary rewards aren’t high (yet) seeing reviews that talk about how my book gave a reader the break they needed after a hard day was a bigger thrill than I could have imagined.

Writing and story sense about scripts come relatively easily to me. Marketing for both businesses? Such an uphill struggle! But once I got over the fear of not being perfect, I started to have fun with it. It’s still a constant struggle, I have yet to really conquer my fear of TikTok, but getting to meet and talk with new customers/soon to be friends is worth the effort.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite spots depend a little bit on the time of year. If it’s summertime, absolutely one of the days would end with a trip to the Hollywood Bowl. It’s always a great time and doing a potluck with friends at the picnic tables beforehand is the best.

If my best friend comes to visit between Thanksgiving and January, we’re absolutely going to the Mission Inn in Riverside for the Festival of Lights. Not exactly in town, it’s an easy day trip. I’d go down early to see the Inn during the daytime and have a leisurely lunch on the Spanish Plaza.

If their trip falls between October and April, a King’s game is a must. Drinks at Tom’s Watch before going in to watch the team warm up. Nothing like having a hockey puck hit the glass in front of you at ninety miles an hour to make you jump!

For a visit any time of the year, Universal Studios is at the top of the agenda. What can I say, I’m a movie and TV geek. There isn’t an attraction or show that I don’t love. One day would be spent in Griffith Park, going to the Observatory and hiking around to see some of the spectacular views the park has to offer. Dinner that night might be at the Kahuna Tiki Sushi & Tiki bar in North Hollywood. Most of the seating is outdoors under trees, with fountains adding to the ambiance, but you wouldn’t know it from the street since it’s behind a tall wooden fence. Two days at least would be dedicated to Catalina Island. Again, not exactly in the city but such a uniquely Los Angeles place to visit. Taking in a movie at any one of the amazing movie theatres we have is also on the list. Don’t take those sound systems for granted, people. You won’t find them in every city.

I’m not really much of a beach fan, being more drawn to the mountains myself, but I feel like you can’t have someone visit from out of town and not take them to the Santa Monica pier. Mexican food would be a must, but my favorite restaurant closed during Covid so I’m still looking for my next favorite one. One afternoon would include a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden in Lake Balboa, especially if they’re a Trekkie like me since some of the shows have been shot there. Then on to MacLeod Brewing Company in Van Nuys to sit out on their sunny patio and enjoy a couple of beers with one (or two) of their specialty pizzas. After all that excitement, a nice massage at Burke Williams would be an incredible way to end the week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A huge thank you to my friend and fellow author CJ Bahr, who was there to support me when I began my consulting business and was also a huge part of my selling my first book to a publisher. I also owe a huge debt to the folks at CineStory for giving me the encouragement to believe in myself when it was very easy to be filled with doubt.

Website: www.pitch2script.com

Instagram: @marlawriteswords

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlawhite/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarlaAWhiteAuthor/