Virginia Travers is an Actress, Producer, and founder of Lunaventures, a production company that helps writers get their work funded. In this episode, her story gives insight into how being adaptable when choosing side jobs, has lead to a successful career in the film industry. Like many other creatives, she’s driven for Lyft and Doordash, all while selling art online. Today, we learn practical advice on how to pursue goals, why professional training is important and how her inspiration stemmed from working with her uncle Scott Amour (Ex- U.S State Department Vice Council turned artist, writer, photographer) before he passed away.
You can learn more about Virginia Travers and her team at www.Lunaventure.com.
Mentioned in the show:
Amora Brown:
Now we can start the interview!
Virginia Travers :
Alright!
Amora Brown:
Hi Virginia! Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you making time for us on Corpartainment.
Virginia Travers :
Thank you, Amora. Thank you for having me.
Amora Brown:
Absolutely. So I know that you've been working on films and writing and screenwriting and all that good stuff for so many years. Can you talk to me a little bit about how you got started?
Virginia Travers :
Oh gosh. Well, I've been working in film since 1994, but it didn't really have anything to do with the screenwriting part of film. I worked on set as a double for children. I'm not a big person. I'm five feet tall. So whenever they were filming a- something in the Bay area and they needed someone to double or to stand in for kids, they always called me. So I've worked on several films, pretty much all from 1994, up until about 2006. However, the screenwriting part came about because my uncle Scott Amour, who's no longer living, wrote a novel. Actually, he wrote three novels and I worked with him and trying to adapt two of his novels: Dreamer, and East of Java. We were about ready to do the third one and then he passed away. It sort of started a whole, I dunno, rollercoaster of other films and other film projects for me to work on.
Amora Brown:
Wow.
Virginia Travers :
Um I attached a very good screenwriter with me who is my co-writer, CV Herst. He's been writing with me now since 2008. We've got now four feature films and two television series that we bridge in and, and they keep evolving, you know, no matter what. Everytime you write something, you always go, "Oh, I need to change that." You know, they keep evolving all the time. So basically I got started because of my uncle and if it wasn't for him. I would never, I would never have done it. So...
Amora Brown:
Wow. That's amazing to have someone in your family that can kind of guide you through that. I know nowadays it's kind of hard to find a starting point, especially for me. I don't have much of a background in the arts at all. I always wanted to do acting and singing. I guess, for someone starting, what advice would you give to them to get their feet wet? Because it can be overwhelming with all the information out there. So how would you suggest nowadays a good way to start?
Virginia Travers :
Yeah. Well it depends really what you want to go into. If you want to go to acting, I would suggest signing up for some acting classes. Study study, study your craft and you know, there's, there are some good places here in San Francisco that offer excellent training. I mean there's Academy of Art University, of course and um... Oh gosh. The theater downtown San Francisco is quite good. Berkeley, Berkeley Repertory. Oakland has- you know, just go online and Google because there's, there are some really good places up here where you can get excellent training, but you're not going to do, you're not going to get anything unless you get training. I mean, you can't just all of a sudden say, Oh, I want to act. And then you hand out your resume to a casting director and they go, "what have you done?". You know, "I've done nothing" unless they're really looking for your type. You know, but-
Amora Brown:
Yeah, I was thinking about going on Tiktok and doing like pair, like monologues with people. Like I did a couple of them that were really, really fun, like this, like this acting challenge that was going on and like a Tiktok acting challenge. And I just went ahead and participated in a few of those and they were really fun. But do you think those are like the same as like, I don't know, like having a reel or could that be added to my real? What do you think?
Virginia Travers :
Right. Yeah, I think it would be good. Yeah. I have a friend that's an actor that lives up in Canada. When we made our screenplays online, he reads with us, he's a young guy, about 28. He uses- he does that all the time on TikTok. He works a lot for the Hallmark channel up there, the Hallmark they, they do a lot of Christmas, you know, kind of stuff up in Canada, he's in Calgary right now, filming, you know, but he does that. He goes on, you know, he's like, "yeah I've got this online class". He's all excited about it, but you gotta keep your skills up no matter what it's really, really important, you know. And Google, there's tons of groups on Facebook that are beneficial as well. I've been working with a Native-American actor based out of Oklahoma as well. And Dan hasn't done much at all, you know, but he's already been- because there's not a lot of Native-American- he is Comanche.
Virginia Travers :
So there's not a lot of Native-American actors out there. And, and so he's, he gets cast in a lot of things down in Texas and Oklahoma that area, you know, but he he's had no training. And I said to him, I said, "well, you know, Dan, you really need to get some training". You know, I don't know that area real well, you know, so I didn't know who to recommend him to, you know, but you just go online and Google "acting schools, acting coaches". I mean, no matter what you're bound- I mean, of course with the pandemic, you know, everything has changed and everything is, is, you know, online or on Zoon now, you know? So it makes it a little bit different. So that's- as far as acting goes, the reason I got started as a double was because when I was in college. I grew up, I lived in England. I didn't live in this country. So I basically was, was educated in London and I studied film and theater in England and I worked for a small repertory company. There did a little theater in London. And so I had this kind of like weird resume that I put together. It showed that I did have some theater and theatrical training and some training. So that was a big help even though I never really used it, but just having that makes a big difference.
Amora Brown:
Yeah. I think training is really good as well, too. Is it, is it important because you need the practice or is it important because there's just certain things that you can't learn on your own when you're doing the craft over and over again?
Virginia Travers :
Yeah, it's, it's, it is, it's both. It is both. I think it's important because the producer and directors, that's what they look for. They look for people that have had training, you know, that's the first thing they go, we want to see your resume and to see what they've done. And I think that's the main thing you want to work. That's what they're, that's what they're looking for.
Amora Brown:
I'm trying to think for like someone that's working a nine to five job, what is some ways that they can incorporate taking classes and building their skillset while they're holding like 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, a full-time job. I know you- remember you used to drive for Lyft. So something as flexible as that might be a really good option for people to consider.
Virginia Travers :
A lot of a lot of Lyft drivers, particularly in LA and Los Angeles area, they drive for Lyft, but they, you know, they're screenwriters or actors. And sort of like before they used to wait tables. You know? Now they drive for Lyft and Uber. So it is, it is, it's something that, that is what has been really good. Door dash as well. Now they drive for Doordash. So I didn't have that opportunity when I was younger and working because they didn't exist. But I always worked weekends. That was one thing that I- I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you know, so I had a certain amount of days where I could focus on my you know, my, my art or my writing or my film work. Or- I'm also a virtual artist, you know, so I, you know, I paint, I can, you know, get my artwork out there and, you know, so I always have maybe three days, three or four days where I could actually work on it. Uso working weekends is something that I suggest, you know, for, and also if you work weekends, you tend to make more money. For me, that's the way I looked at it.
Amora Brown:
Okay. Yeah. I considered going down the tech route and just working at some different tech companies on the corporate end, because I figured you'd make more money that way. And you would have accure PTO, sick time and, and you didn't have to work weekends. And so I said, "Oh, well, maybe if I can work for a tech company that has all these cool perks, then I could go into acting and stuff on the side". It can work both ways. Like you can work for Lyft and drive for Lyft and have flexibility that way you could also work for the corporate version of Lyft where you're working on that way as well, too. I guess it just really depends on about being like creative and, and seeing opportunities in different roles. Someone had a question for you. His name was Chris Markel and he's an actor and also a writer and he makes films as well too. And his question for you was, do you think filmmaking chose you or do you think you chose filmmaking?
Virginia Travers :
Ooh. I think that it was, again, I think it was both.
Amora Brown:
Ah, Okay.
Virginia Travers :
As a small child, I was one of these kids that would be glued in front of the television watching reruns. I mean, I grew up when we had rerun movies on television, so that was our videos. Right. And I mean, I was just a little kid and I was just be like "Oh my God, this is amazing. This is-", you know? And I would watch the movie from a different standpoint from the average viewer. So in a way I think maybe it shows me, it said, "okay, this is what you're going to eventually do when you grow up". I'm over 60. So my life has taken many different twists and turns, but I raised a couple of kids, you know, in between I've traveled all over the world. But again, I'm one of these people, who's a firm believer in following your passion. As long as your passion is beneficial to other people, then you're going to succeed.
Virginia Travers :
And that's kind of what I, what I try to do. I wanted to work in film when I was working with my uncles, because I thought, no matter what films create employment, and that was the big plus for me, they get there's 250 people per film that work on set. So you get, you're creating jobs, you're creating positive energy. So that was another aspect of my going into film. But I, I truly believe that it's not going to- you shouldn't do it for the money. You know, you do it for, because it's a passion. I come up with stories and ideas because they come to me, you know, and I go, "Oh my God, let's do this. Let's try that". You know? So that's kind of, you know, that's kind of where it's at. Is it's quite- in India, they call it following your Dharma and, you know, its not that karma is Dharma. But it's, it is, it's basically the same thing, you know, find your passion. Yeah. That's, that's the main thing for, I think for young people that they need to do is find your passion
Amora Brown:
And don't give up on it. Even if you need to have a full-time job,
Virginia Travers :
Right, don't give up on it.Yeah.
Amora Brown:
I think like the thing that I noticed when I was working in corporate is that like, there are a lot of people that had all these creative aspirations at one point, but then they needed to pay the bills. So then they went into work and they never looked back into creative endeavors, but I hope that like, I can share some light through my podcast about how people can do both, because it is totally possible to do both.
Virginia Travers :
Right.
Amora Brown:
Do you have experience working with people who had like, I guess like nine to five jobs while they were also on set?
Virginia Travers :
Well, my, my co-writer CV Herst, he's a microbiologist and that's what his day job is. He works in a laboratory all day long.
Amora Brown:
Wow.
Virginia Travers :
He's working obviously on the COVID-19 virus vaccine, and you know, so that, that's what he does for a living. And so he does have a regular nine to five job. One of my other co-writers who wrote a screenplay with us about in 2015, Tom Walsh you know, we're all older, we're over 50, but he works for a company based down in Modesto, but he lives in Santa Rosa. So that's a bit different, but they, they create labels for packaging. He was one of their main executive officers there and he reps the re- he oversees all the labels, all the manufacturing of labels for for a bottle of wine, you know, they need a label for it.
Virginia Travers :
So that's what they do, they produce labels. So I know several people that are managed to have a nine to five job and still say creative. Met with me was a little bit different because I'm also a painter. And before I was working in film on a regular basis, I created, I guess I over 200 images of my artwork and turn them into a printing business and marketed them, you know, in different venues. But my main thing was I would on the weekends, I would do arts and craft fairs here in California. And sometimes I would have to go all the way up to Oregon and Washington. And, you know, when you go to like a big, fair craft fairs, you know, the booths are all set up and all the artists are there. I had my little booth set up with all my artwork, and I actually had a business where I was selling refrigerator magnets of my artwork for many, many years.
Virginia Travers :
And what happened was when I first started working with my uncle Scott shortly after I had a really bad accident and I broke my back and my knee you know, I'm fully recovered now. So, but I, I was laying up for a year and a half and I was my back and my knee at the same time. So I could no longer do the art fairs because the lifting was just too much for me. Obviously I couldn't do strenuous. So I had to give that up. And-
Amora Brown:
I'm sorry to hear that.
Virginia Travers :
In a way. I look at it as a good thing, because it got me to focus more on my screen writing and content creating for film and television. So, and then, you know, I, I started driving for Lyft.
Amora Brown:
Wow. Well, what is an interesting question that you may want to ask the next interview?
Virginia Travers :
The next I'm sorry. Oh, the next person you're going to interview?
Amora Brown:
Yep.
Virginia Travers :
Okay. Do I need to know the background of this person and what they do?
Amora Brown:
No, you don't need to know the background. They're all creative artists slash entrepreneurs in our own rights.
Virginia Travers :
Oh, okay! That's- I wasn't quite sure. Okay. well, let's see. Why do you think that art or music or theater (or don't) make a difference? Why do you think that the arts are important and why do they, you think they, that they make a difference? What draws you to be creative?
Amora Brown:
That's a good question.
Amora Brown:
Virginia, I want to thank you for visiting us today on the show Corpartainment. It was so nice to have you on. I'd like to know how can we keep in touch with you? Where can we find more of your work?
Virginia Travers:
You can always go on our website, which is Lunaventure. It's all one word Luna and venture.com. And all of our projects are listed on there. And we update it. I update it, you know, maybe once a month as to what's going off with our projects. And sometimes I put little things on there when we've gone to conferences and things like that. So it's, that's, that's how they can reach us.
Amora Brown:
Any new films that should be coming out soon that you've been working on?
Virginia Travers :
Not right away, you know, because of the pandemic. We haven't been able to film anything this year, but we do have one, which is a casino heist film. It's called Payback in Manila. And it won- its a finalist right now in a film festival in Baja Mexico. So we're hopeful that, that it will kind of launch it into the production stage, but that that's just one.
Amora Brown:
Wow. That's super exciting. Definitely keep me in the loop with that, but thank you so much for having- for visiting the show!
Virginia Travers :
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for having me and best of luck. I mean, I think this is going to take off. I'm glad that you're doing this and that hopefully you'll be able to inspire other people as well.
Amora Brown:
I hope so too.
Amora Brown:
That's the plan. I'm doing this as my first podcast and you're like the maybe fifth or fourth person that I've interviewed so far and I have some upcoming interviews coming up. So I'm excited about all this and to see where it goes.
Virginia Travers :
Awesome. Best of luck to you.
Outro:
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