Funny Girl Candee Kramer Gets Serious About Screenwriting

I’ve interviewed dozens of screenwriters about their craft, and I find this common thread among them: screenwriters are BRAVE! Bravery comes in many forms, and for writers, I’ve seen it in their willingness to be vulnerable, and their propensity to risk leaving everything comfortable behind to pursue an often-rocky career path in screenwriting.

Candee Kramer, a screenwriter, and a semi-finalist in our “So, Write Your Bills Away” Sweepstakes,” is a shining example of taking your career into your own hands when life leaves you unsatisfied.

“I knew I wanted to be a screenwriter when I discovered drinking on the job and staying employed are mutually exclusive,” she joked.

“I was looking to change careers since my personal freedom was being choked by a corporate career in middle management, and I was looking beyond the constraints of a desk job. Writing seemed to be perfect – have a laptop, can travel. I neglected to factor in the poverty part.”

Paid or not, Candee kept working to hone her craft.

“My gift to myself after an early retirement was a laptop and an online class in screenwriting,” she said. “So, I took a screenwriting class and found out that screenplays are formulaic and faster to write than novels and so I was hooked…and I could drink in peace. I wrote my first script for practice. I just read it again after years on the shelf, and I liked it. Time for a rewrite, though!”

Candee is currently rewriting that first script she ever wrote, keeping one of her favorite pieces of advice in mind.

“Your script is like a child,” she said. “You birthed it, watched it grow, and hopefully it matured. At some point, writing, rewriting, and editing doesn’t improve it significantly, so let it go. Let it fly on its own and see what happens.”
She continued. “Write what you know but focus on high-concept scripts that check as many boxes in the four quadrants as possible, namely males/females and under 25/over 25.”

Candee charmed me with her wit, a skill that’s not necessarily easy to do over the written word. Even her emails made me laugh out loud! So, it was no surprise to me that her dream is to write comedy.

“I like to make people laugh, so I’d like to make a living writing comedy for TV, film, or even the stage."

To read a sample of Candee’s screenwriting, click here. You can also follow along on her screenwriting journey on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, IMDb, and her website.