Meet Zhanerke Koilybayeva

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

Hi Zhanerke, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was 28, I was working in an office as a manager, just making my boss rich. I felt that something was wrong, and I’m not happy with it. I bought self-development courses. And there was a question: if you were very rich and you didn’t need to earn money to survive, where would you work? I thought about it, and I thought I would do films. Then I just decided to become a filmmaker. It was a tough decision to change your life without any money or friends in the film industry. Then later, I met a producer who asked me to write her a script. I did it for free, and I was so proud of myself that I shared it with my friends. Then my friends reminded me that when we were teenagers, I used to write some stories and share them with them. And also, my cousin added that when we were seven, I also wrote a little story. So that made me believe that was my talent. And I should be working in this field as a screenwriter.Because I was thinking, I wish there were these kinds of films, and I used to lie to my friends that I watched this TV show, which I made up in my head. I guess we just needed something to talk about. So I was lying—there is a TV show about this girl, and now she’s doing this and that. I don’t know what happened later, because I need to watch the second episode.Later, I started to write those stories in notebooks. I remember that we didn’t have Internet back then, and I had to make up the stories because there were no such TV shows. My friends loved to read those stories. I didn’t know it was a script back then.So please remember what you liked to do when you were a child; I think it is the foundation of your vocation.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Sometimes I start thinking that nobody needs my art. Nobody needs my scripts or films. But when other people ask me for advice, I let them know that their work is important. But when it comes to me, I get scared, and I have a writing block. I know that I should keep writing, even if it’s bad. I will learn from our mistakes. But I still always have a block, and I do not believe in myself. I wish I were the person who believes in his powers and keeps writing. But it is too difficult and too hard. Sometimes I think I am useless; I don’t have any talent. But then I watch some motivational videos where they say everybody has a talent. I don’t believe it. Sometimes I write because the deadline is coming, and I promised people that I would bring something. And then I hate myself because I didn’t spend enough time to make it good. And I tell myself every day that I don’t have a talent and that I should be just working somewhere and getting a salary to pay for my bills.
I tried to explain to myself that I should have talent; who else if it’s not me? I don’t believe my own words. I tried to tell myself that I’m good enough, but I think I’m not good enough. Sometimes I feel that I’m useless. But I still keep writing. And it hurts me every day to do something without believing in it. But I keep writing. So if you are reading this and you think that you don’t have a talent, please know that you are not the only one thinking this way. And we should keep moving =)

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.
Well, I would definitely take the person to dance some salsa, eat some Korean barbecue, shopping at Ross, and definitely would join my friends sets.

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?
I just produced seven episodes of horror web series. Please check it out on my YouTube channel. A group of four friends (Peter, Jisel, Rick, Tony) have a youtube channel devoted to playing flash tag on haunted or abandoned places in order to tell people ghosts. They discover a witch’s mark that gets tattooed to their forearm causing them to slowly rot as if they were being burnt to death. Friends must find out who the witch was and why she did it in a town where nobody wants to speak about that, the time is ticking and the truth slowly uncovers.

Website: https://zhkoilybayeva.wixsite.com/zee-screenwriter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewitchmarkweb/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanerke-koilybayeva-756861261/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chanel.koil

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ez0ZHD3DjVk?si=HK0XfcED5b518Kf6 

Image Credits
Kushagra Jain