Comedy/Dramedy/Theater/Film: An Interview with Actor & Screenwriter Ellen Ancui

"When I worked on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, I loved that we had live audiences for the rehearsal and the shoot. It made it feel like we were doing a new play each week"

In October 2021, Ellen Ancui and I met at the CineStory Foundation’s annual feature-writing retreat up in the mountain town of Idyllwild, California. Ellen was friendly, funny, warm. She moved with cool-girl ease among the 30 or so participants who were there to meet with mentors in the film industry, professionals who had read our scripts and driven up the mountain to offer notes and career advice.

It turned out that Ellen and I lived less than two miles from each other, and after our return from Idyllwild, we began taking walks with Ellen’s squirrel-curious dog Mabel and meeting on occasion for dinner. To say I’m a fan of Ellen as both a person and a writer is doubtless to state the obvious. I was so pleased she was game for an interview.

Ellen Ancui

Ellen is soon embarking on a major project—she’ll be directing and producing a short film, Saverio, that she also wrote. More on this below. ❤️

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Christine/Bookish: You've written features, TV pilots, and for two web series. You've also written and performed plays. If you could always choose your format, what would it be?

Ellen Ancui: I feel like TV is the best of all worlds - it speaks to my joy around collaborating with other writers. I also like that you have hard deadlines and quick turnarounds. I can tweak and rewrite my scripts endlessly, but with the hard deadlines of TV production you are forced to be done - and that’s good for me! I also like that you often write on the fly while filming due to unforeseen issues or if a joke isn’t landing.

When I worked on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, I loved that we had live audiences for the rehearsal and the shoot. It made it feel like we were doing a new play each week, which spoke to my warm spot for theater. So, yeah, TV is the dream, but believe it or not, I started writing my first novel, and perhaps once that’s done, I can turn it into a TV series.

Mabel, Ellen’s resident squirrel expert

CS: How has being an actor informed your writing?

EA: I credit my acting background for my writing character-driven stories. For me, it always starts with the protagonist and the transformation they will experience. Even though I’m not on the stage or in front of a camera, I embody my characters and go through their emotional journeys when I write, so it kinda feels like I’m still acting. I also imagine other actors bringing the text to life, and in that way, I strive to give performers juicy characters so they’ll want to take on the role.

I guess that feeds into my dialogue as well, though I do employ a writer’s eye there to make sure I’m economical with story and character. That’s always the struggle for me—finding the balance between character driven dialogue and exposition that doesn’t sound expository.

CS: You write very funny scripts and I know you have a background in standup comedy. Can you comment on how you came to comedy-writing (and performing)?

EA: Comedy was always around me from as far back as I can remember. My parents met in the Catskills one summer—my dad played the trumpet with his band there—so they grew up watching the great comedians of their day. My dad loved to regurgitate shtick, and I can recall him ribbing me and saying, “These are the jokes!” in response to my eye rolls.

My parents were also big theater buffs. I started seeing Broadway musicals when I was four, and they took us to stand-up comedy on Long Island where my two older sisters and I grew up. I probably saw Joan Rivers perform five times by the time I was bat mitzvah’d. I also grew up on sitcoms and variety shows—Carol Burnett was my North Star and I never missed an episode of Saturday Night Live.

I naturally became a class clown because making a fool of myself earned me friends. That translated to writing sketches and satirical songs for our high school’s senior follies, and I always thought I would be a comedian.

Then I got the acting bug and just wanted to perform heavy roles—the more tragic the better. But that came crashing down when my acting teacher told me I had a comedic gift and to lean into it.

I remember being disappointed at the time—I wanted to play Medea and Lady Macbeth. But comedy served me well for my one-woman shows, which I describe as a collision between Catskills shtick and edgy, feminist angst. For me, the levity and breath from humor allow me to pull the rug out and tug at the heart strings.

Ellen’s production company

CS: You're always such a generous advocate for other writers and creators. Was there an early mentor or friend who inspired you to be a person who so generously connects and supports others?

EA: I can’t think of one person in particular, though I remember being inspired by an acting teacher I had the summer before college. He was a member of the theater company, the Wooster Group—Willem Dafoe was a member, too. They created their own pieces and were all so tight. I remembered thinking I wanted to be part of a company like that. After high school my two best friends and I created a summer theater company and brought together kids from all over Long Island.

Then when I moved to New York City after college, I asked a writer friend whom I admired to lead a writing group for me and some friends. That grew into a monthly performance series called BROADS, for women writers and performers. That developed into writing and performing one-woman shows, which then evolved into founding a theater called Solo Arts Group.

At first it was a way to support other solo artists, but then it expanded into dancers, comedians, visual artists, and authors, all using the space to develop new work.

It just made sense to be surrounded by other people trying to do the same thing you wanted to do, and to try to champion one another. 

CS: Please tell us how readers can support you/find your work.

EA: I’m about to direct my first short film, Saverio, and if anyone can donate to that fund, I would be eternally grateful! I’m also about to launch a comedic podcast with my friend about sex and aging for women.  

Saverio fund: https://www.supportourstory.com/saverio; IG: @saveriothefilm

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Ellen’s LinkedIn bio: Experienced film, TV and theater comedy writer with a range of projects. My work tends to be female-focused and sexually irreverent, using humor to reveal the humanity and absurdity of ourselves and the world we live in. Feature screenplays and TV scripts have placed as finalist, semi-finalist and quarter-finalist in numerous competitions, including but not limited to: Austin Film Festival, Final Draft Big Break, Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay awards, and PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.