Influential Woman · Entertainment Writer and Writing Professor USC
Bonnie Garvin
Writing Professsor, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Her Story
About Bonnie
Bonnie Garvin is a professor at the University of Southern California in the writing division, where she teaches screenwriting. She also owns Storytelling Lab, through which she offers private creative writing classes for adults, with a focus on freeing women to express themselves and embrace their creativity, including specialized memoir writing workshops. Garvin began her writing career in the late 1980s and has been teaching writing for the past 20 years. Her notable professional achievement includes the film The Killing Yard, for which she received a writing award and an Edgar Award nomination. She holds a university degree originally intended for teaching and pursued additional classes in playwriting that led her into a writing career. Garvin is a member of the Writers Guild and supports organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. She donates to St. Jude's Hospital and Operation Smile.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Bonnie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to never taking no for an answer. I'm relentless both in a good way and a bad way. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and carve out a place for myself where I could support myself and really want to get up in the morning. I always throw myself into things I love because if I don't really love it nobody else is going to love it.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to do what you love and not chase the dollar but really chase the thing that you find emotionally satisfying. Who cares if you do it or don't do it, you have to do it for yourself or there's nothing else. You have to start with something that you love and makes you feel good.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would advise young women to be who they are, write what comes right from the heart, write the things they care about, and believe in themselves enough to overcome obstacles. It's really hard but you can't think of it that way. You just have to look at your journey, get on that path, and stick to it and not pay attention to what everybody else is doing. There will always be someone better than you but that has nothing to do with you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is AI which is really terrifying because creative jobs are pretty easy to lose. We're becoming a nation of post-literate people where people don't read anymore and only gather news from Instagram and different places. People will lose their creativity and their incentives and their ability to educate themselves. Education no longer has value and that's really scary.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Kindness and helping other people are most important to me. Being supportive of people in their journey. I like to think of myself as a champion of people particularly when they're having difficult circumstances and sort of pulling people up. It's about coming to understand the world doesn't revolve around me.
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