Ep 005: Chance Conversations & Creative Chops with HBO’s GIRLS Writer Producer Sarah Heyward

Today on the Podcast: Sarah Heyward.

If you've ever had an unexpected chance conversation, which truly changed the trajectory of your life and career (maybe you fell upon a creative project or a new community or a business mentor, agent, or coach), then you know it wasn't simply about being in the right place at the right time.

Yes, there may have been some initial serendipity that fell in your favor. But for you to have experienced sustained success and satisfaction? A true transformation? Where your present and future look and feel nothing like your past? That was ...

Luck Meets Preparation:

And this, my friends, is what inner and outer Creative Direction is all about — both for your beliefs and your creative business or brand.

Because here's the truth:

Every one of us has experienced some stroke of luck (or grace) at one time or another. However big or small, there's not a person on the planet who hasn't had some moment of blessed happenstance. The question is not, "Why doesn't that kind of synchronicity happen to me?" The questions are ...

"Why don't I notice it when it does? What's draining and distracting me? How do I make myself more available next time? Who do I need to be? Where do I need to go? What do I need to think, feel, and do? When an opportunity opens, how willing am I to put myself 'out there' and simply start where I am? When the going gets tough, who will I turn to? How will I keep going? What stories will I tell myself about what it all means?"

A writer of Television, Features, and Fiction:

Sarah's creative chops turned a chance conversation into a seat at one of the most coveted writer's rooms in Hollywood. Her work has earned not only six seasons of writing and producing credits on HBO's hit GIRLS, but also garnered a Writer's Guild of America award and the ability to pick and choose next projects.

And while she's gotten to work with Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow, Tina Fey — to name only a few — she's just getting started. Even better? She takes nothing for granted and she's having a really good time in the process.

Turns out it's not fame or fortune that's made the success so worthwhile. Listen in and find out what has. Then make sure you're on our Insider Invite Only list for a chance to hear Sarah on an upcoming Dreamcatchers District panel, live in LA.

In this Episode We Talk About:

• How getting fired was the best thing that ever happened

• What made her stand out from other screenwriters

• The vulnerable question that made day 1 on set so much easier

• Why the GIRLS writer's room was truly unique from the top down

• What she learned working with Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow, and Tina Fey

• How she handled continuous feedback, critique, revisions, deadlines

• Why exploration and play are foundational to creative confidence

• Where the lessons of the writer's room overlap with relationships, therapy, empathy

• Why mentors are ageless and who she turns to for different needs

• How she navigates being a woman in Hollywood & the things she wished she'd said

• The #1 thing she refuses to bond with women around & how she vents with purpose

• Saying "goodbye" to GIRLS, the fertile void, and how she avoids the "sophomore slump"

• Why it's "all been done already" and, yet, it's "never too late to start"

Get Ready to Hear All The Behind-The-Scenes Stories & Insights that Sarah is dropping.

Mentioned in this Podcast:

• Follow Sarah: Instagram , Facebook ,  Twitter

• Watch: GIRLS on HBO , City Guys , Bored to Death , Friends With Money , Tiny Furniture , Sex and the City , Bridesmaids

• People: Jonathon Aimes , Nicole Holofcener , Jennifer Konner , Lena Dunham , Judd Apatow , Tina Fey , Lesley Arfin

• Read: Seth Godin's Ted Talk , Purple Cow 

• Workshops: Iowa Writer's Workshop

• The Dreamcatchers District Creative Direction: For Your Beliefs and Business, Ask Me How

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