Voyage Magazine Feature

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Beck-Hunter.

Hi Danielle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I believe in life we live through many stories, and like anyone, it depends on where you start. I became interested in writing through poetry at a young age and from there my love grew.

Growing up, my mom always talked about making a movie and I remember once believing that if I watched every movie in Blockbuster I’d know everything about film there is to know. As I grew up, my mom’s efforts to make a movie about her and my father was a project I didn’t have much participation in. It was her thing and I was busy with school and everything else teenage-related.

It wasn’t until my senior year in college when I took a screenwriting course that I took a real chance at writing a script and found how to apply my writing aspirations to the film world. I was hooked on seeing this career through and applied to every major network you could think of.

After being rejected from a Disney internship program and having no job prospects after graduation, I packed up and moved into my mom’s house, which at the time was in Atlanta, GA. I had no intentions of staying, but as I was a disappointed postgraduate I had nothing better to do than to read the latest version of my mom’s movie.

After a week of trying to avoid the subject, my mom finally said, “tell me what’s wrong with it”. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but the script truly was horrible and I could see why she was getting passed on by those she pitched it to.

I asked her then if she’d let me try to write it and from there started a beautiful beginning to my purpose as a writer and my career.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing good comes easy is the cliche right? Insert a symphony of eye-rolls lol, but jokes aside not only is the film industry so much more perplexing than most people think but being creative and having a passion can oftentimes make you feel that what you have to offer just isn’t enough.

I could likely go on for days about the many struggles I encountered to learn the film industry, co-creating a production company, working with family, and securing funding for projects, but the most significant struggle is the one I’ve battled internally.

As any kind of artist, it can be hard to believe you’re good at what you do when all you seem to hear is no, but I always kept being inspired and searching for opportunities to write whether it meant being paid or in most cases paying to write.

I have found a confidence in my skill, perspective, and unique voice that I’ve allowed to serve as my foundation, and stopped accepting jobs that feel misaligned with the messages I want to see in the world. I have found that this is when the best opportunities come.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have always been most enamored by stories told by and centering on people of color.

Being a bi-racial Jewish girl and growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin I was always searching for where people like me were represented. Telling my parent’s love story will forever be an opportunity and accomplishment that I cherish, but the experience opened my eyes to wanting to tell more true-life stories.

We all become obsessed with fictional characters on TV, but there’s a different kind of connection when you learn a story has true-life inspiration no matter how Hollywood it becomes in the process. I see all forms of writing and especially a film as one of the most pivotal tools in creating social change.

I don’t believe I quite have a specialty yet being so early on in my career, but if I were to jump into the future, or even describe my ideal projects would be ones that express truths and curate new ways to discuss social issues and inspire people. I think the only appropriate way to describe my writing style is free and purposeful.

I try to let a piece tell me what it wants to be and approach my characters like they are real people I am meeting for the first time. In my head, they are all the protagonists because I want the full picture to be made from a rounded perspective.

As a writer, I think my greatest strength is being okay with my work holding different meanings for different people, and being okay with it. I also love helping other writers bring their work to life and am hoping to announce in-person workshops by the end of this year.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I have always been inspired by author Tony Morrison and as of late Alyssa Cole. I’m currently reading When No One Is Watching by Cole and highly recommend it.