Meet Tamar Feinkind | Screenwriter and Mom

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

Hi Tamar, why did you pursue a creative career?
Being in the arts is all I’ve ever done. At the age of seven, I acted in my first play. A year later, I started playing violin and continued for ten years. Not only did I somehow participate in every school play – either through acting, doing costumes, or assistant directing – but I went to theater camp every summer. Though I loved the self-expression that acting provided, I more preferred the exploration of humanity that reading and analyzing texts allowed. When people asked what I liked about acting, they expected me to say that I wanted to be a star. Instead, I always talked about how it made me better understand people.

Still, in college, I told myself that no one goes into the arts. I went to Northwestern and was a pre-med theater major. I thought I’d be a doctor. But my junior year, I had to choose between taking physics and taking puppetry – a class taught by the head of Steppenwolf Theatre’s props department that was offered once every two years. In other words, it was my last chance to take it! Physics, however, was the final class I had to take in order to complete my pre-med coursework, allowing me to apply to medical school. I promised my father, a doctor, that I’d take physics over the summer… but he knew better. Puppetry was a phenomenal class. I got to craft and sculpt, write a play, and perform it. And once I had dropped all of my math and science classes and found myself only taking art, theater, writing, and English classes, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. I was finally being honest with myself – I just wanted to make art. It’s a hard path to accept, but it makes me happy.

I’ve since stopped acting – it turns out I was more interested in understanding and capturing human nature than I was with performing. Today, I’m able to balance being a mom to my soon-to-be three daughters while being a writer. I write in the mornings, and come 2pm, I’m a mom. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I write screenplays – they lean toward historical drama because I’m endlessly interested in how humans do the same thing over and over. No matter the era, people are the same. And the past is often more scandalous than the present!

If I’m not writing historical drama, I write family comedies with heart. Families are hilarious and messy, and those are just the ones that don’t hate each other. My themes typically center around one’s return to family, Judaism, feminism, self identity, and social justice. In the past, I ran a storytelling workshop for mothers and before that I helped run a theater company in Los Angeles that performed new works.

Nothing in screenwriting or Hollywood is easy. No matter what level of professional you are, everyone feels the same fear – Will I ever work? Will I ever work, again?? Will this project matter? Will my next one? I suppose you would overcome these challenges by becoming some sort of zen meditation guru, but most people struggle with some sort of impostor syndrome as they struggle to keep their ego in check. As for myself, I think my saving grace is my ability to split my life in two – between my family and my creative life – and my inability to quit. I pour myself into my family, and I buoy myself with writing. I try to make time for friends and family. Sometimes I fail miserably, but somehow I managed to get a manager I respect and who works hard for me. We’re moving forward on a few projects. Time will tell!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love helping visitors plan LA trips! I feel like LA gets a bad rap, especially from East Coasters.

First, I’d ask them which part of the city they’re staying in. Most people stay in West Hollywood or Hollywood, so start there! You have to do the touristy things – go to Grauman’s, see the hands in the cement, go to the wax museum, eat at Musso and Frank’s. And be sure to visit the Hollywood Museum and see the very cool Lucille Ball exhibit in the Max Factor building! At night, check out No Vacancy. If you’re not too hungover, the next day you can hike Griffith and check out the Observatory, or even go horseback riding and see the Hollywood sign! From there, swing down to the east side and walk around Los Feliz. Check out Wacko’s Soap Plant, eat at Il Capriccio – my favorite – and see a movie at the Los Feliz Theater or head down to The Vista! The next day, I’d hit up West Hollywood. Have pancakes that make you want to bust at The Griddle, swing down to Third Street for some shopping, have a light lunch or even just some fresh squeezed juice at the Farmer’s Market at the Grove, and eat dinner… anywhere. Jones, Norah… Madre or Pura Vita if you’re vegan, drop some coin at Dan Tana’s, enjoy sushi at any number of places… There are too many good restaurants in West Hollywood. After dinner, check out a concert on the Strip or see if you can catch a free concert at Plummer Park or LACMA! Maybe head to Santa Monica and go for a nighttime stroll along the beach. Or drive all the way up the PCH and have drinks and clams at Gladstones. One of the days, you can take a day trip (or 2-day trip) to Arrowhead or Ojai…

I could go on. And this doesn’t even cover central LA. Leimert Park has awesome events like a jazz festival, street festivals, and fantastic food, and West Adams has a ton of new, delicious, restaurants. Have you seen the Watts Towers?? There’re too many spots to talk about!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Thanks to my husband, Eric, for his belief in me and to my daughters who love hearing my stories. Also, thanks to my parents for their unflagging enthusiasm and support.

Website: https://www.TamarFeinkind.com

Image Credits
Doug Welch
Eric Horowitz
Quinn Boyle