We were lucky to catch up with Lenny Schwartz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lenny , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I like to create something out of nothing.
A topic or a project comes my way usually and what ends up happening is that I get obsessed with it. So much so that I can’t think about anything else. That is when I need to dive and delve into whatever world is presenting itself to me.
My work ethic stems out of the enjoyment of creating that work and shaping it into what I feel needs to be shown or told from the subject.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have been writing and directing original plays since 1996 and usually produce 2 original shows a year.
I have been sort of all over the place with the work. I have written comedies, drama, historical plays, and more.
I work with the brand we created Daydream Theatre Company to produce these works. We have produced shows in RI, NYC, PA, MA and other places around the country.
We have produced countless plays including Kubg Fu Babies, The Scarecrow, Bill Finger: Rise of the Bat, The Inside of His Severed Head, Ditko and the upcoming The Motion Picture Camera of Louis Le Prince.
I just like a good story that I feel needs to be told.
I also write screenplays and I am directing a film presently called The Haunted and the Hunted.
I have also written a graphic novel called Chazen: Unfiltered and recently wrote the comic book The Legend of Captain Bottleworks.
I try to keep the writing as accessible as possible but also challenging for some audience members.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Work everyday on what you’re creating, even if you’re just taking five minutes for it.
2. Nobody is more important or more special than you. Everyone is faking it and has imposter syndrome.
3. Do the work.
The biggest obstacle is overcoming that fear that you’re going to fail. I still have many moments like that. That’s when you just go to work. You do it.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The daily challenge is to find the time to create and do what you love.
Everything is a challenge. Everything.
Getting out of bed in the morning? A challenge. Being secure financially or emotionally is a challenge.
You face them. You go up against them.
My current challenge is finishing the film I’m directing and doing the best job possible, while also realizing that I am getting older and need to finish it while I still can walk. But I’ll get there.
I just have to go to work and do it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Lnnyschwartz
- Facebook: Leonard Xavier Roberts Schwartz
Image Credits
Photo by Lloyd Wallace McWilliams III
