I had the pleasure and honor of recently meeting a very successful working screenwriter named Paul Guyot. We were discussing the Kate Hugo screenplay and he asked me a question I had never been asked before. “Why you? You’ve never written a screenplay before. Why not share your idea with someone with more experience and let them write it for you?” (I’m paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea). The question took me by surprise, but my immediate answer was that I felt an affinity to the character - Kate Hugo was me and I was Kate Hugo, and I wanted to tell the story in my own voice (a phrase I had learned recently from Paul’s book*). I wanted to maintain control over the story and create something that was fundamentally mine. The thought of someone else writing it or playing the character of Kate never crossed my mind.

Since that conversation, I’ve had a lot of time to ponder his question further. Why me? Really…WHY ME? Maybe I was just too naive to know that there was another option, but I keep coming back to the simple answer: why NOT me? No, I’ve never written a screenplay before, or a short story, or a play, or a poem, or anything really…but after reading about Kate Warne, America’s first female Pinkerton Detective, I felt a sisterhood of sorts with her. I want to be more like her. She bravely talked her way into a exclusively male career way back in the 1800’s and I was awed by her self-confidence. She proved she could not only do the job, but because of her creativity and cunning, she was an exceptional agent - much to the chagrin on her male counterparts.

Let me back up slightly and explain that this screenplay is NOT about Kate Warne, but it IS inspired by a true crime that she solved using very unconventional methods back in 1858. I named my lead character Kate as an homage to her. You can read about the actual case in the book “The Pinks” by Chris Enss.

I have loved acting since I was cast as a freshman by Julee Cruise in a high school one act play (Julee became an amazing world-famous singer, musician and talent in her own right - Google her if you don’t recognize her name). After high school graduation, practicality led me away from the arts and into engineering where I worked for a defense/aerospace company. I’m not saying I was exceptional at my job like Kate was, but I definitely know what it’s like to prove my worth in a male dominated field.

Imposter syndrome is a dark cloud that follows me into every new endeavor, but for whatever reason (I am still trying to figure that one out), I’m not afraid to try new things and jump into the deep end of the pool (figuratively only - I’m not a strong swimmer).

My resume over the years goes something like this: musical theater geek, manufacturing engineer, makeup artist, board member of the EMA (Entrepreneurial Mothers Association), operations engineer, board and ensemble member of Waypoint Theatre Company, fine artist, member of the UA School of Art Advisory Board, copper & silversmith jewelry designer…and now writer, actor, and executive producer of a feature film.

Why now? Stay tuned.

With warmest regards, Elizabeth

*Kill The Dog: The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth by Paul Guyot