L.C. Spotlight: John Vasiliades — Emily Collins Writer

Welcome back to the Literary Copywriter spotlight where I feature professional writers with creative pursuits. Today I interviewed John Vasiliades, an award-winning copywriter who’s also reimagining how and where we read fiction. John works as a junior copywriter for Giant Spoon and has worked as a legal assistant and news intern for WFUV Public Radio

Let’s hear from John!

Literary Copywriter (L.C): Tell me about your writing journey. When did you first realize that a.) you are a writer, and b.) you want to make a living off of your writing?

John Vasiliades (J.V.): I studied political science in undergrad — on my way to becoming a lawyer. I Interned for a firm. Took the LSAT. Got my recommendations. But at the tail end of my senior year, I realized going into law would be settling. I had a few TV pilots and screenplays I had written for fun, tucked in my hard drive. And this weird daydream that I’d become a lawyer-turned-writer, like John Grisham.

That dream just became a lot simpler when I removed the lawyer part.

L.C. Please describe your writing career. How did you get started? Who are your ideal clients.? Do you freelance or work for an agency?, etc.

J.V. I took a screenwriting elective my senior year of college. My teacher was Jim Jennewein — who wrote classics like Richie Rich and The Flintstones. He not only inspired my childhood Blockbuster picks, but was also an amazing mentor. Professor Jim taught me how to write, not just for myself, but for an audience. The craft that comes with discipline. To treat the art of writing like plumbing as much as painting.

Which was exactly what I needed to flourish, and really push myself creatively.

After college, I went to the Creative Circus, an ad school in Atlanta. It was there that I learned about advertising specifically. I landed my first internship, and from that internship — I landed another at Giant Spoon.

My partner and I were the first creative interns in Giant Spoon’s history. And as of this moment, the only junior team in New York. This has given us the opportunity to really learn from all the amazingly smart people in our office, whether they’re in strategy, account, or creative. And it’s also given us the ability to step up to the plate. Working on everything from social posts to big pitches.

I love entertainment, so my ideal clients would be within that category. Which is why Giant Spoon is perfect. I’ve gotten to work on briefs for Netflix, HBO, Discovery, and BBC.

L.C. I love supporting writers who are also hard at work on a creative, personal project. This could be a novel, memoir, poetry collection etc. Tell me more about what you’re working on and what you hope to gain from the experience (book deal, more publications, career change, personal growth, etc.). I see you’re writing a series that explores a world where the public sector is dead. What inspired you to write this series, and who/what are some go to creative influences?

J.V. Agora is a Substack I created. Substack is for newsletters, but I wanted to see if I could reimagine the medium, and create five minute fiction — made for your inbox.

I write super short stories every Friday, all set in this world called Agora. It’s a universe where the public sector is dead. Where we’re governed, not by ineffective politicians, but faceless corporations.

This world was created out of anxiety. I love my industry — creative advertising is super fulfilling, challenging, and fun. It’s full of the smartest people I’ve ever met.

But 2020 was a dire wake up call for me, as I’m sure it was for a lot of us. Basically we’ve undergone decades of change in the matter of weeks. We are still processing it.

I think we have two options going forward. Stay on our course, which maybe wasn’t the most ideal to begin with. Or reimagine a new way. One where people like me in the private sector aren’t supposed to solve all of society’s ills. One where we’re expected to be good citizens as much as we are consumers. Where our choices aren’t made so deliberately for us.

My two inspirations for this project were A Brave New World and Black Mirror.

Our world gets compared to 1984 a lot, but in my view, it’s a lot closer to Huxley’s vision than Orwell’s. A Brave New World is just genius, and it’s super impressive that it was written in 1931.

Black Mirror poses the right questions. It hits you with a gut wrenching twist every time. That’s something I wanted to emulate with my stories.

I’m trying not to get too ahead of myself with this one — Substack is great because every email signup means something. It’s another person reading my stories. Unlike a “like” or a “retweet” there’s a permanence I admire. So as long as I keep getting one more email signup, I’m happy.

L.C. Feel free to share how you balance work, life, and writing. It’s okay, if you’re struggling with this. It’s all part of the process!

J.V. There’s no perfect answer to this. But putting everything on my Google Calendar (personal and work-related) helps a lot. And waking up early. My brain just works better. It’s like drugs. I like to think that one hour of morning time is worth three hours of afternoon time.

L.C. Say someone much younger than you says, “I want to be a writer, but I’m afraid I won’t succeed.” What would you tell them?

J.V. I’d say Google “impostor syndrome” and you might feel better. Everyone feels that way. My strategy is to fail, and fail so fast and with so much volume that by the time anyone realizes, I’m doing my next great thing.

Click to learn more about Agora