“Before you write anything, you have to notice something.” – John Irving When I joined the Navy the thought of moving to Hollywood hadn’t crossed my mind. I was focused on passing my qualifications, not messing anything up, and getting a few hours of sleep a night. When it came time to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up (after the Navy), I could have ran a nuclear power plant and made a lot of money. But that wasn’t challenging enough so I decided to become a screenwriter. John Irving’s quote really strikes a chord because…
Author: Jackie Perez
Jackie Perez
Jackie Perez is a military brat turned engineer turned filmmaker. After five years of Naval service she left active duty and started a new career in the industry where she currently works as an assistant at Perfect Storm Entertainment and writes and directs short films in her free time. She is on advisory board for of Veterans in Film and Television, a graduate of the WGA Foundation Veterans Writing program, the founder of CAA Vets, and a Lieutenant in the Navy Reserves. Starting fall 2015 she will be pursuing a MFA in TV and Screenwriting through Stephens College and can’t wait to make her first feature film. She loves horror movies, has an environmental engineering degree from MIT, tries to travel outside the country once a year, plays the banjo, and has the most adorable hedgehog named Pickle.
We are in that span of time between Thanksgiving and the big two-week holiday hiatus when Hollywood winds down. Submissions slow to a trickle and everyone seems to have entered that “checked out” mode. Holiday parties are aplenty and when you come home all you want to do is bake some homemade cookies, light a balsam-scented candle, and curl up on the couch with your favorite holiday flick. At least that’s on my “want to do” list each night. But this year I’m catching up (and pushing forward) with all my personal projects. I am taking advantage of every free…
I like to do lots of goal planning and daydreaming about the future. Fantasizing about what my life will be like 5 years down the road (scripts on the Blood List, feature film under my belt to name a few). I’m also the type of person whose entire day gets thrown off if her lunch order is missing ketchup with the fries. So when things in the present start slipping and stop perfectly aligning to life wickets, I start becoming Very. Stressed. Out. Driving a warship through a Malaysian squid fishing fleet at 3am on no sleep is stressful. Being…
It’s fall and new intern season! Getting excited for Nancy Meyer’s THE INTERN and seeing the new group of bright eyed and bushy tailed faces walk through our door last week made me want to pass along some advice about interning in Hollywood. There are not many shortcuts one can take in the film/tv business, and unless you are lucky to know a neighbor, uncle, or parent’s college roommate’s sister who works in the biz and can get you an assistant job, you will most likely be starting your career as an intern. It doesn’t matter if you have a…
I never saw myself going back to school for a Masters degree. I thought about it and researched it, but the insane price tags and time commitments deterred me. I felt like I couldn’t afford to take time off to go back to school for a film degree. I already felt behind the curve because of my five years spent in the Navy. I had written and directed a few short films, but wasn’t confident about tackling a feature, which is what I came to Hollywood to do. This is the first of a two-part article that I will close…
Hello Ms. In The Biz! My name is Jackie Perez and this is my first article for the site. Before I moved to Los Angeles two years ago and started working in the entertainment industry, I had a totally different life as a Naval Officer running nuclear reactors on an aircraft carrier. It was a scary leap to leave all that behind and start a new career from scratch, but what I’ve found is that a lot of the skills I learned in my old career carry over to movie-making. Here are three fundamentals of Navy nuclear power that have…