Meet Marilyn Anderson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marilyn Anderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marilyn, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
As a creative person I am always thinking about new ideas, concepts or stories. In my case, I have numerous outlets for my creativity. I love writing screenplays – yet, as we know, a screenplay is just a blueprint for a movie — and for the movie to be made, it takes a lot of collaborators and money, too! The collaborators are the producer, director, actors, all the crew, and the financiers. Soooo, you can be creative and write a screenplay – but it can take a lonnnnng time to see the final result realized. Hollywood is a tough town – it can take many years… or even decades to get that movie made – I’ve had two movies produced, and they both took many years to reach the screen. I have two others that are supposed to go into production this year — but I wrote the scripts quite a while ago. So, to keep my creativity alive, I also write books, plays, and even articles.

By writing a book, you can just put your words down — and then, if you self-publish – you can get your “creativity” out almost immediately after you’re done the writing. If you go for a traditional publisher, or get a book agent — it will still take a good two years till your book hits the shelves… or Kindle and other digital platforms. But if you self-publish, you can get your book out almost immediately after you’re done writing it. Of course, I will go to an editor, first and design a book cover to make it as excellent as possible – but it’s a much quicker way to keep creativity alive and get the satisfaction of a completed project.

I’m also producing a short film now – and quite excited about it — and that is something that can also be done fairly quickly.

Something I’m also doing now to keep my creativity alive is doing speaking engagements. That’s fun and fulfilling because you get to see and meet your audience right away! I give talks about “How to Live Like a MILLIONAIRE When You’re a Million Short” based on my best selling book of that name.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’ve been writing for TV & Film for a long time. I wrote for shows such as Murphy Brown, FAME, and Carol & Company, that starred Carol Burnett, Jeremy Piven and Richard Kind. Although I usually write comedy, I can also “kill” six people an hour — unfortunately, not the people of my choice! LOL – I wrote multiple episodes of Friday the 13th – the Series.

I wrote and produced the family comedy film, “How to Beat a Bully” which is available on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play and lots of other platforms. It is a “Home Alone” kind of comedy with an anti-bullying theme. I’m quite proud of it – because the screenplay was optioned eight times by Hollywood and never made — so I decided “no more options!” Instead, I went out and raised the money – and made the movie! I also have two movies that are supposed to be produced in 2024 – one a romantic comedy, and one a thriller with a music element.

I’ve written several books – and do a one-woman show based on my book, “How to Live Like a MILLIONAIRE When You’re a Million Short.” I tell people how to SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS every year and enrich their life at the same time. It even won an award as “The Best Book on Saving Money and Living Well of the Year!” I love sharing my money-saving tips with folks, and it’s fun to do it as a show, because that way I can see the people and hear their awesome reactions right away!

I also co-wrote a mystery-thriller novel, “Dishonor Thy Father” with two other authors. I use a pseudonym on that one: M.J. Richards. It’s an extremely unique story that I’m pitching for TV or Film. It would make a fascinating Limited Series for television!

My newest endeavor is producing a short film that I wrote — it’s exciting to be able to just write a film… and then go out and shoot it. Because it’s only 10 minutes long, and has only 2 characters and one location, it can be done without a big budget, and without waiting for Hollywood to come calling! Once it’s completed, I will be submitting it to Film Festivals… and even hoping a studio or production company will want to turn it into a feature!
Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing my other movies, plays and books!

I am also now doing speaking engagements for groups on “How to Live Like a MILLIONAIRE When You’re a Million Short.” I love sharing all the wonderful information and giving audiences laughs, too.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities I have are creativity, passion, and ambition. I have always believed in myself, and believed in my work. And yes, I have resilience, too. There’s no question, if you’re in show business, you have to have resilience and be able to handle rejection. It doesn’t matter how many times you hear “no” – you just need one “yes” for a project to get made.

I think the most important quality for creative people is the ability to not get sidelined by negativity. If you KNOW your work is good… keep at it! Meet as many people as you can and keep going. Don’t listen to naysayers. It’s like what I faced with the first screenplay I ever wrote. After I had written it, I was in a screenwriting class – and the teacher was praising all these not-so-good scripts other students had written. Then, when he came to mine, he blasted it and had all these derogatory comments. The only reason it didn’t upset me was because, just the day before, I had gotten two messages – one from a top agent who loved it so much, he wanted to represent it, and one from a big star – who wanted to star in it! So, if I had listened to that “teacher” I would have been major depressed. Instead, I told him about the people that loved it! (Maybe the teacher was jealous and that’s why he said he didn’t like it, who knows!”) My script did end up being made into a movie several years later. So I’d tell people, believe in yourself; believe in your work; and don’t listen to naysayers. Of course — make the work as good as you possibly can — that’s the first thing!

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
Right now, I am interested in doing more speaking engagements. So my ideal clients would be women’s groups, synagogues, churches, community centers, financial organizations, or any other businesses that want to give great info to their employees, associates or colleagues . I give talks on “How to Live Like a MILLIONAIRE When You’re a Million Short” and provide tons of excellent information as well as lots of laughs, too.

I tell people all kinds of ways to do expensive things and have luxury experiences… without spending a lot of money… or frequently even FREE! For example, I tell people: how to see a Broadway show or local show… for only $5 or FREE: how to wear a $5,000 dress for only $30; how to go to restaurants for 1/3 of the usual cost; and one of my favorite tips:
How to Spend Six Nights at a 4-Star Resort in Spain… for FREE!

I also tell:
* How to go into your Closet and Come Out with Cash
* How to go to Harvard or Yale for FREE
* How to Find Money You Never Knew You Had
*How to get New Clothes, Furniture, and Home Goods… for FREE
* Ways to Save on Medical Bills, Prescriptions & Dental Work
*8 Rules to Live (Like a Millionaire) By

And tons of advice on how to live the luxe life for less!

Of course, I would also love to find “clients” to finance one of my movies -that would be the best! I also do script consultations to help new writers on their scripts and I work with new authors, giving information on publishing or self publishing. As a creative “Renaissance” woman, I’m involved in all these areas.
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Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photos in Pink Dress Only – Marvin Rinnig

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