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JACEY: Wrote about creating strong female characters
In her heart, Helen Jacey knew she was always a writer.
As a child, she got caught up in her imagination and often found herself writing short stories. After majoring in English and Greek in England, her love for writing became more apparent.
“I always wanted to be a screenwriter, so I took a course,” she explains. “When I got to the course, I froze because I thought that I had nothing to say and that has never happened.”
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If you go WHAT: British screenwriter Helen Jacey WHEN AND WHERE: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 in Room 216 in the West Wing of the main campus Santa Fe Community College; 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 at 410-A Old Santa Fe Trail, between Pink Adobe and Rio Chama HOW MUCH: $30 at the door for SFCC event and $15 for media day event |
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Since that moment, Jacey has gone back to school, earning both a master’s and doctorate degrees, and has become one of the leaders in screenwriting.
The London-born writer will be in Santa Fe on Wednesday, Feb. 20 and Thursday, Feb. 21 for two events.
She will present a three-hour seminar, “Writing the Heroine’s Story,” which brings knowledge and inspiration of characterization to new, imaginative levels. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Santa Fe Community College.
The second appearance will be for the New Mexico Film & Media Day at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20 at 410-A Old Santa Fe Trail. She will speak on “Gender Politics in Film: Finding the Woman’s Voice.”
“It’s going to be quite an opportunity for me,” she explains. “I’ve worked with some New Mexico filmmakers in the past, but have never been to Santa Fe. I’m eager to see the response we get from these events.”
In addition to being a screenwriter, she also is an author and story consultant and wrote the book, “The Woman in the Story.” It is considered the international handbook for creating strong female characters.
As a professional screenwriter, Jacey has developed projects for numerous U.K., European and U.S. producers, including Gareth Wiley, Harbour Pictures, BBC, UK Film Council and others. She is currently developing several feature film screenplays for producers in the United Kingdom and the United States, including a screenplay for Santa Fe’s Duchy Parade Films.
“I’ve been working with Peter (Kershaw) on a project for the past year or so,” she explains. “This is going to be a film that will be done in New Mexico and has a lot of potential with all of the characters being really well developed.”
Before becoming a full-time screenwriter, Jacey worked with humanitarian aid groups and traveled the world. She says it was a massive career change and it scared her a little bit.
“The job I had was interesting and I realized quite quickly that working in aid and gender programs gave me the direction I needed to go in,” she says. “I wanted to help writers create strong characters, both male and female, in their stories.”
As she became a story consultant she wanted to help writers think about characterization in terms of gender. Jacey says when she does seminars, there are usually 95 percent women attending. Yet the men, who attend are “absolutely fantastic and just brilliant.”
“I get women taking these classes with varying degrees of enlightenment and very politically correct,” she says. “What I also enjoy about these groups is getting the younger women who weren’t affected by second-wave feminism. It’s nice to get the mixture of different types of thinkers.”
Aside from traveling and doing her lectures, Jacey currently has four projects in the works. One of them is with Wiley, who was a producer on Woody Allen’s “Match Point.” The film is an epic love story and has a big budget.
“We’ve been working on it for seven years and finally we’re out looking for directors,” she says. “There is a strong female protagonist who falls in love with an American and everything is switched.”
Another project is a English film, “In Between the Waves,” which is follows a couple of young surfers and their adventures.
Jacey says she was brought on the film team because many producers thought the characters were too stereotypical.
“This one is a good example of being able to create strong male characters,” she says. “I do focus mostly on women characters, but the general idea is to be gender neutral and create the strongest characters that will stand out well in film.”
The events are being co-hosted by IATSE 480 and NM Women in Film.
SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.
