079 - Just Tell Your Story with Erica Messer

Erica Messer has been an accomplished showrunner, executive producer, writer and creator of dramatic television series for over twenty years. Erica recently served her ninth and final year as Executive Producer, Showrunner and Head Writer of Criminal Minds, a series that consistently ranked as TV's number one suspense thriller and is listed among a select few shows to have broadcast 300+ episodes over fourteen seasons. In 2018, Erica completed her first documentary feature film, The Biggest Little Farm, after six years of painstaking hard work. The documentary had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September and has gone on to win many awards at various film festivals, including seven nominations for the Critics' Choice Awards for Documentary Films. Erica is a working mother and very familiar with juggling the demands of Hollywood with those of parenthood. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her family.

In this episode, Jennifer and Erica talk about Erica’s incredible journey as a television writer, executive producer and showrunner. They share their experiences and talk about the difficult challenges they’ve both faced as female writers. Erica speaks to how she and her husband Kenny have been able to balance a hectic work life schedule. Erica talks about some of her more recent projects, including her documentary, The Biggest Little Farm, which is now available on iTunes and Hulu. Finally, Erica provides some sage advice to aspiring writers everywhere and encourages each of them to fulfill that burning desire to tell their own story.

Full show notes: https://milfpodcast.com/79