Make Your Own Break was founded by Award-Winning Writer/Performer and Producer Jennifer Lieberman to help writers and performers realize their creative goals by providing the tools to learn how to produce independent productions with little to no resources.
After years of pounding the pavement and knocking on doors with no success in breaking into the entertainment industry, Jennifer decided to take matters into her own hands and created the solo show Year of the Slut. This show proved to be her break and the play went on to win the Audience Choice Award in New York City and is now the #1 Amazon Best Selling novel Year of the What? and was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2022 Global Book Awards for Coming of Age Books and the 2022 IPPY Bronze Medal for Romance/Erotica Ebooks.
Since deciding to make her own break Lieberman has appeared in over 30 international stage productions, has produced over 40 independent film and theater productions, and has helped over 100 creatives make their own break through her coaching and consulting work. She has penned a number of stage and screen plays and her short films have screened at the Festival de Cannes Court Métrage among other international festivals. She is currently gearing up to direct her first feature film.
What does a day in the life of Jennifer Lieberman look like?
This is a tough one, because I’m only on a regular routine while on a project, and each one varies drastically as the hats rotate from writer to producer to actor. When I’m writing, then I’m at the computer all day every day during that project’s schedule. If I’m producing, it depends if we’re gearing up prepping or if we’re on set or in the treater. If I’m acting, I’m focused on my character and keeping my instrument in tune, etc…
My morning routine is my saving grace, it helps create a sense of consistency from day to day, 2-3 hours every morning where I can focus on yoga, meditation, reading, and allot time towards long-term goals that still need consistent follow-up although not at the forefront. This is the time I make sure I do the things I don’t want to let slide no matter what: taking care of my body and my mind is #1. Scripts take anywhere from months to years to perfect, once ready it’s more months to years to raise the funds and put the team together, and more months executing the project; so it’s common to have several projects all moving forward at different stages. These few hours in the morning also allow me to check in on my long-term ventures. The rest of the day is then spent focused on the project or tasks at hand for the current gig.
Tell us about Make Your Own Break.
After the success of my first project, I took a few business classes to level up my game, now that I’d stepped up a level in my career I needed to get a handle on the business side of things. I learned that living life as a freelance creative, I am my business and I had to start conducting myself as such. In these classes I also realized that I could help my peers achieve the same thing I did: give myself that golden opportunity to showcase what I was made of in a tailor-made show for myself, instead of continuing to wait for someone else to hand that opportunity to me. I knew I could help other frustrated out-of-work actors & writers create vehicles for themselves…with little to no resources, resources being the #1 thing stopping people in all industries from “going for it” whatever “it” happens to be for them.
Tell us about Amazon’s #1 Bestseller, “Make Your Own Break: How To Record & Publish Your Audiobook in Seven Simple Steps”
During the OG lockdown of 2020, I recorded my novel into an audiobook in my closet. I made some pretty huge mistakes that weren’t prevalent until I had recorded the entire book and was editing the audio. Yeesh, I had to trash the first go and start from scratch. That’s when my friend Stacy (www.thememoirmidwife.com) suggested I write a how-to book to help other indie authors avoid my mistakes. So I did.
Your #1 Amazon Best Selling novel “Year of the What?” was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2022 Global Book Awards for Coming of Age Books and the 2022 IPPY Bronze Medal for Romance/Erotica Ebooks. What led you to this novel?
My novel “Year of the What?” is an adaptation of my award-winning solo show “Year Of The Slut.” This is the project I created as a showcase piece to show what I was made of. I wrote it, produced it, and played 10 characters. This show was the first big break of my career. This is also the production that led me to the business classes where I decided to start the company Make Your Own Break.
The show won an award at a festival in New York City and many friends and colleagues encouraged me to adapt it into a novel, so I did. I gave up many times (this is where that persistence I mentioned before becomes important). It took many years of getting jazzed, running out of steam, focusing on something else then coming back to it. Finally, I got it to the finish line…and the title was an issue and got flagged with every single ad I tried to buy on Amazon and all social media. This was a huge issue and finally after a year and a half my friend Stacy convinced me to change the title. And here we are with 5 literary awards. “What’s in a name?” Touché Mr. Shakespeare, touché…
What is next?
I’m thrilled to have several projects on the go and finally be back in action after an almost 2-year pandemic hiatus. We are in post-production for my latest short film “The Vegan Fairy” directed by my long-time collaborator Dan Nastro, who was just nominated for his first Emmy (way to go Dan!). We are also in the development stages of my feature film script, a racy dramatic romance. There are a few more things but I’m not quite ready to talk about them yet.