November 4, 2024
We had the good fortune of connecting with Chelsea Marcantel and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Chelsea, what are you inspired by?
I’m inspired by people. The diversity of what people are into, how they relate to each other, how they move through the world, how they overcome some things and double-down on others. I could talk about and to people, listen to their stories, forever. I’m rarely bored. I find compelling stories in everything. My selection process, as a writer, starts with figuring out what stories I like will be interesting to a bunch of other people — which hyper-specific story I’ve glommed onto has universal appeal. I’ve written about competitive air guitarists, female stage magicians, tiny house builders, the Amish, squatters, con artists, witches, etc. And I’ve found that human beings are so much more alike than we are different. What inspires me to keep finding and writing stories is that I want to spread the word about how most people truly good at heart and doing their best, and that it’s worth staying open in your life to finding and loving them.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I like to say that I write about humans as small group primates. I’m particularly interested in groups that have their own niche value systems that set them apart from the mainstream, and what happens when an event occurs that the value system hasn’t prepared them for. Also: what if someone wants to get into that group and can’t, or out of that group and can’t? Did I mention I mostly write comedies? Comedies based on a lot of research.
I think what sets my work apart is that I don’t make fun of my characters; the situations are funny and a lot of times people are taking themselves too seriously, but I’m never mocking or sending anything up when I’m exploring a subculture. I love my characters, because they’re grounded in interviews and explorations I’ve done with real people. I hope that audiences feel that groundedness when they experience my work. And that my work makes them more curious about and more generous toward their neighbors.
I grew up in a loving family who supported me emotionally, and never downplayed my goals. I was a good student who could self-motivate, and traditional schooling worked for my brain. I was very clear on the things I wanted to do at a young age, and my drive was indefatigable. So I had all that going for me. But I was also raised in the middle of nowhere rural Louisiana, in a location and family with absolutely no way to connect me to the world of entertainment. (When I was growing up, absolutely nothing was shooting in Louisiana.) So I knew from the beginning I was going to have to make my own path.
After undergrad and a first round of grad school in Louisiana, I moved to Chicago where I started doing theatre with anyone who would have me. I’m so glad I moved there, because the barrier to making theatre in Chicago was just showing up. There was no gatekeeping, no snobbery. It was the most welcoming scene in the world, and I made friends for life and met my husband there. I cut my teeth doing three storefront shows at a time for no money, while holding down a series of 9-5 jobs during the day. It was a crazy time, but you have the energy for that in your 20s. Chicago is where and how I started to find my voice as a writer and director, but I knew after about six years there was no way I was going to ever make a living doing art there. So when my husband was offered a job at a regional theatre in Virginia (he is the amazing sound designer and audio engineer, Miles Polaski), I took it as a sign that it was time for a reset for both of us.
Living in Virginia was good for our marriage and we made some great friends, but it wasn’t great for my career. Leaving Chicago made me kind of persona non grata in that scene, pretty much “out of sight, out of mind.” I felt like all the relationships I had spent years building just went *poof,* and nobody wanted to do my plays anymore. So I started thinking about maybe applying to graduate school for writing, but I knew if I was going to uproot our lives again, there was really only one place I wanted to go — Juilliard in New York. It had been my dream school for undergrad, but I hadn’t even applied because there was no way my family could have afforded it. But the graduate program for writers is tuition-free. It felt like a moonshot, but my husband encouraged me, and through what felt like a wild twist of fate, I got in on my first application.
When I got to Juilliard, people immediately started asking if I’d written a pilot or a screenplay. I’d had my head in the theatre world for so long that I didn’t even realize playwrights were writing those things, so I had some catching up to do. Juilliard didn’t offer classes in screenwriting, so I started taking those classes on the side in NYC, while attending my playwrighting seminars, and working (because I wasn’t paying tuition, but I still had to pay rent and eat, etc). It was another big growth period during those years — but I guess my entire career has been a growth period. I think as an artist you can never really stop.
Because of Juilliard, I was able to get a fantastic agent and great managers and eventually start working in TV and film. Neither my husband nor I really ever felt settled in New York, and I was coming to LA a couple of times a year and really liked the vibe here, so we made the move in 2018 and have never regretted it.
I think the biggest thing that being a writer has taught me about overcoming challenges, is that everything happens in increments. When you stare at a blank page and think, “how am I going to fill this?” the answer is always “one word at a time.” Life also happens one day at a time. I think there’s such an emphasis now on getting things right immediately, about being perfect and having all the answers. Especially with social media and everyone cultivating a “personal brand” and thinking they have to be an expert to be taken seriously. But life is a learning process. Life happens in drafts. You can take things step by step. That’s beautiful. That’s okay.
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.
Oh, man, playing tourist in the city where I live is my favorite thing!
Monday (in the Valley):
— breakfast at Basecamp or BeaBea’s in Burbank
— Take the Warner Brothers lot tour; upgrade to the Turner Classic Movies version if you’re a real film history geek
— For lunch, visit a sushi restaurant on Ventura Boulevard. It has the highest concentration of sushi restaurants anywhere in the US, and the second highest outside of Tokyo.
— go shopping on Magnolia Blvd in Burbank, making sure to hit up It’s a Wrap, Stay Home Friend, audrey * k, Tansy, and The Iliad Bookshop
— have supper at Castaway in Burbank, overlooking the lights of the Valley
Tuesday (Miracle Mile)
park once and visit
— The Academy Museum
— LACMA
— the La Brea TarPits
— have lunch in a museum cafe and dinner at one of the amazing family-owned Ethiopian restaurants a short walk away on Fairfax Ave
Wednesday (Los Feliz/Silver Lake)
— Have brunch at Fred62 in Los Feliz
— Shop along Vermont Ave and Hollywood Blvd
— take in a move at the Los Feliz 3 or the Vista
— dinner somewhere on Hillhurst, like Tacos tu Madre, Little Dom’s, or MessHall
Thursday (Culver City)
— do an Airbnb experience in the morning — you can find all kinds of Angelinos who will share (for a fee) their hometown highlights with you, from making foley with a foley artist, to getting a guided tour of street murals, or a photo hike up to the Hollywood sign
— check out the Museum of Jurassic Technology in the afternoon; it will redefine your idea of what a museum can be, it’s an art project like nothing else in LA or anywhere
— grab a drink and dinner at Stanley’s Wet Goods or Fifty One Kitchen
Friday (Malibu)
— Take a wine hike or 4×4 tour at Saddlerock Ranch; you get to tour the vineyard, learn about winemaking in California, and drink along the way
— have an early dinner on the beach at Duke’s Malibu, but leave half an hour before sunset
— catch the sunset at Palisades Park in Santa Monica
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would be absolutely nowhere without the support of my community of care. I live thousands of miles from my family, and I don’t have children. My friendships are the relationships that I plan to carry into old age, and we work on reinforcing those bonds constantly. We support each other professionally, but we also do things like take each other to doctor’s appointments and share Costco family memberships and help each other with home projects. I love my husband, he is my partner in everything, but we aren’t meant to do everything alone or even in pairs (having one person as your whole support system is too much pressure!). So my community of care is absolutely the scaffolding on which I’m building my life in LA. On a professional note, I have amazing managers at Heroes and Villains Entertainment who believe in me and treat me like a friend and an artist, which its the kind of relationship with representation that it’s taken me a long time to find. I have to give my reps at HVE and CAA top recognition for being solid and human and really fun to be around as well. And there is no way I’d be anywhere at all as a writer without the love and support of my mentor, Marsha Norman. I was first her student at Juilliard, then I became her writing assistant, and now our relationship is like family. Every step I’ve ever taken in my career, she was cheering me on the hardest, giving me the advice I needed. Mentorship is crucial for artists, especially women. I wish everyone could have a mentor like Marsha.
Website: https://www.ChelseaMarcantel.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-marcantel/
