Laura Messer Jackson

Literary Copywriter Spotlight, 8/10/20

Welcome to The Literary Copywriter Spotlight!

Welcome back to the L.C. Copywriter Spotlight where I feature professional writers and copywriters with literary pursuits. This week I interviewed Laura Messer Jackson, a Sr. Copywriter and award-winning screenwriter.

About Laura Messer Jackson

Laura is a Sr. Copywriter from the ad agency world. She studied PR in Mississippi, French language in France, and got her Master's in Advertising from UT Austin ('12). She's also a screenwriter with a growing list of scripts and awards. She and her husband live with their weirdly tall rescue dog in Austin these days. Laura has freelanced for the past year with various agencies and tech clients and is now looking further west, to LA, for her next opportunity. She's working on merging her love of copywriting and screenwriting into a career in the entertainment industry. Laura sometimes closes her laptop to watch British murder mysteries made for elderly people, go on early morning runs, and learn how to cook the perfect baguette (still hasn't nailed it).

Portfolio: https://stronglywordedwoman.com/

Let’s hear from Laura!

LC: Tell me about your writing journey. When did you first realize that a.) you are a writer, and b.) you wanted to make a living off your writing?

LMJ: My writing journey started with a love of diligent note-taking. Tedious, detail-laden journals and planners have catalogued my life since elementary school. (I even got to read some of them at a very fun Mortified show in Austin!) I don't think I realized until my late teens that my infatuation with tracking my thoughts and feelings was tied to a desire to share them with others. I started taking journalism and fiction classes in college so that I could learn how to share my observations. The first time I swapped short stories with someone, I was hooked. One of the best things about being a writer is that you get to read so many things from other writers. It's the best thing!

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

LMJ: So, I went to grad school (UT Creative) for advertising on a hesitant hunch. I had double majored in PR and French Language as an undergrad and only wanted one thing when I graduated from college; to live in France and write short stories. I had a job lined up and everything, but found out the day before my college graduation that the funding fell through. I had to quickly pivot because I didn't know how to take all of my different goals and turn them into a viable plan. I wound up working for a few months and talking with people from my journalism classes about different career paths. That led to a plan of becoming a copywriter, which was a concept I had honestly never really heard of. What really drew me to the world of copywriting was the combination of critical thinking, human insight, and the undeniable fact that you have to love writing. And that's what has kept me here!

In portfolio school, we focused a lot on the 'Big Idea'. I've spent my career as a concept-first copywriter. And you know what? Some clients really don't care about that! A lot of clients just want digital marketing campaigns that lead with a benefit and end with an action. Which makes sense if you've never really seen what concepts can do! So, I sometimes find myself helping clients see that concept-first work grounds and strengthens the work, no matter the budget or strategy. Most of my career has been spent on creative teams at ad agencies. The past year, however, I've been freelancing. Freelancing has been a fun mix of agency-hopping and direct client work. I've really enjoyed meeting so many different people and learning how to really listen to them.

Now that I've been doing this for over 8 years, I've learned what kind of work and teams make me happy. I'm on the hunt right now for a full-time gig that gives me those things. Freelancing has been a great way to keep up the hustle while also giving me the freedom to find my happy place. I like to make work that people want to spend time with. And I like to make it with people who genuinely love what they do. I love: Big campaigns for TV shows and movies, Copy on tangible products that people want to hold and read, Videos that make you laugh when you didn't even think the brand had a sense of humor, Building a brand from the ground-up that has a personality and creating content that expresses that (instead of just trying to lead with a benefit and end with an action). For me, it's less about ideal clients and more about the team I'm on and our collective approach.

LC: I love supporting copywriters 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.). 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!

LMJ: About three years ago, I had a realization. I was bored. I wasn't doing the kind of work that left me satisfied, and I didn't quite know what to do with that feeling. So, I sent out an SOS to a few writers whom I trust. And you know what they all said? You have to write more. You have to share your writing more. You have to to find a community who supports and challenges you. All the things I had learned so many years ago were back to remind me of their significance. So, I did all of it. With the structure and motivation of NaNoWriMo, I devoured "The Writer's Journey" and wrote a book full of essays about my time living and learning in France. "Frenching in Public" was enthusiastically written out of a need to connect with myself and with the world around me. Also, I wanted to confess some of my embarrassing moments and make people laugh. From there, I had an even more meaningful realization. I wanted to write scripts! What better way to create content that people want to spend time with than to create television and film?! I started going to workshops, night classes, writing groups, festivals, you name it; I was gobbling up everything I could about screenwriting. For the past two years, I've been working on transitioning my career to that of a screenwriter. I've got some specs, a feature, a pilot, and a few other things in progress. I love it so much and can't wait to see where it can take me. (Spoiler alert: My husband and I are currently working on a plan to move from Austin to LA to see how far I can take this screenwriting dream.)

L.C.: Writers are needed but often undermined/unappreciated. Especially those of us with literary goals in mind! If applicable, could you speak to how you’ve faced/overcome challenges in your career? It’s okay if these challenges are ongoing (they often are). Feel free to share any words of wisdom you may have from mentors, literary heroes, etc.

LMJ: Oh man! What an important part of the journey. I felt profoundly unprepared for the nuanced challenges that come with being a copywriter. I knew how to write, how to receive feedback, and how to talk to people. But I had to learn what to do with an imprecise brief, how to stand up for myself to get the information I need (and learn what to do when the info won't come), and how I'd be constantly told to push the work in one ear, while the other ear is constantly being told to wrap it up and save the pushing for the next project. Beyond that, I think one of the biggest challenges has been in figuring out how to search for a dream job and advance my career. I feel that I'm a writer who doesn't fit nicely into one certain path or box, so I haven't often known where to turn for my opportunities and guidance. But when it comes to writing advice, I'm constantly turning to C. Robert Cargill's twitter. He's practical about daily writing goals, optimistic about setting and achieving larger goals, and sincerely interested in showing writers that your path won't be predictable. Here's his pinned tweet to get the inspiration fired up!

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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?

LMC: I would say that oftentimes we think we understand what we want to feel happy and successful, but it's essential to pick those goals apart and really understand what they're made of. Success doesn't have to be a singular, top-of-the-mountain prize. Success, and writing for that matter, is much more enjoyable when you set out to achieve it in smaller, more prolific ways. I felt successful when I started a writing group. I felt successful at the first table read of my script. I feel successful when a client says "Oh my god, I love that! I would have never thought to have said that!". If you know that you're not happy unless you're writing, then sitting down to write is the reward. What comes after is just cherries.