Elizabeth Arredondo: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Content Creator

An Interview With Susan Johnston

Be your own advocate. Often times as creatives and as women, we can be apprehensive about putting ourselves and our work out there. As I’ve gotten along in different career paths, I’ve realized that it’s actually expected that we will just clearly ask for what we want. Men do this all the time, in every aspect of their careers. It’s so much easier once you realize that it’s okay to do this. No one is going to be mad at you or not like you anymore. The worst thing someone can say is “no,” and then, at least you did everything you could to put yourself and your work out there. You will gain respect and feel good about yourself no matter the answer.

As a part of our series called “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth Arredondo.

Elizabeth Arredondo’s career straddles screenwriting and artificial intelligence. In the world of AI, Elizabeth helps leading technology companies build and design the personality, backstory, and voice of artificial entities. In the world of screen and TV writing, Elizabeth holds an MFA from USC’s Writing for Screen and TV Program and has written on staff for COLD CASE (CBS) and MONSTRESS (HBO Max).

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

Looking at my work back as far as I can reach, one theme stays consistent. I have always written about women in STEM (even before I was a woman in STEM). The women I write about are smart; but they are also funny, messy, confused, prickly, passive aggressive, sometimes self-centered, other times distracted by romantic relationships. In other words, not perfect experts saving the world, but human women who work in STEM spaces. In fact, my mom was one of these women. When I was 15, I woke up one morning to find that my father had died suddenly of a heart attack. My mom, who was a social worker by training, took the reins of my dad’s precision tooling company. She threw herself into the very male-dominated world of machining in the Boston area. She figured it out and ran that company for 25 years, taking it successfully through two recessions; surviving when so many companies didn’t as the landscape of manufacturing in this country changed. Was she an engineer or machinist by training? No. Did she have any idea what she was doing at first? Definitely not. She probably felt like her whole world was shattered and was scared to death it would all come crashing down. But she never let us see that, and it never did. She is my hero.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I first walked into the basement office at the robotics company Catalia Health, I was a true fish out of water. I’d just moved up to the Bay area with my husband for his start-up. Since earning my MFA at USC, I’d worked in TV. I never imagined I’d be standing in a place that looked a lot like Doc’s lab in Back to the Future, meeting an adorable robot named Mabu. Over the next three years, I led a team of engineers, designers, and medical professionals to create Mabu’s personality and backstory. We designed interactions with the chronically ill patients Mabu was built to help. We worked with artificial intelligence experts to give Mabu the ability to remember earlier conversations and make decisions about what to say next. We saw our work not only produced, but actually helping people. I became deeply immersed in this challenge and later continued this work as a Visiting Scholar at MediaX at Stanford University. Then, I had the opportunity to write on staff again for MONSTRESS, a show that was developed for HBO Max. Suddenly, I was using narrative muscles again and I loved it. I started thinking about how I could utilize my background in screenwriting and my experience in tech to inspire more women to explore STEM. I met many talented women in robotics, but the sad truth is that women are woefully underrepresented in tech. STEM spaces can be intimidating and exclusionary to explore. At the same time, there’s a vacuum of fun, entertaining content about women exploring science and technology. That’s why I decided to write a rom-com set in the social robotics world.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your content creator career?

Some of the most interesting experiences I’ve had as a content creator have been in user testing sessions for Mabu the robot. Our team observed many people interacting with Mabu before we actually designed her conversations. We used this testing to hone Mabu’s personality and to figure out how she could be helpful to people struggling with a chronic illness. For our early testing sessions, we used a technique called Wizard of Oz testing where we set a 3D printed robot shell in front of people with a bluetooth speaker inside. I hid in another room, and spoke through my microphone. I let the volunteers lead the conversations, and responded in Mabu’s character. This way, we were able to get a sense of how Mabu could be most helpful. The very human side of this testing was that in talking to many people in different stages of a struggle with chronic or terminal illness, sometimes I had some very intense conversations while playing the character of Mabu.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

The friendships I formed with the engineers I worked with changed the way I see the world. These are people (and robots) I never would have had a chance to meet in the normal trajectory of a TV writer’s career. This experience forms the heart of Robot Party. The protagonist, Selena, is a woman with a background in the arts who finds herself immersed in the male-dominated world of technology. Like Selena, I actually found a lot of kinship with the engineers I worked with. Although we were nerds in very different ways (I didn’t have much to add to in depth conversations about video games, and they didn’t have much to say about Andrew Davies’ Jane Austen adaptations), I discovered that engineers and writers share a lot in the way we need to work, the space we need to be given, and the analytical skills necessary to solve the puzzles that come up in designing interactions between people and robots.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’ve been lucky to meet inspirational mentors in the different paths of my career. Two people stand out, one on the screenwriting side of my efforts and one on the AI side. After I graduated from USC, I worked as an assistant for Kevin Dowling, a Producing Director on a show called Close to Home on CBS. A Producing Director sets the visual tone for a series, hires the episode directors, and directs several episodes themselves. Kevin taught me about telling a visual story, from blocking, lighting, and casting to storytelling through production design details like what someone might hang on an office wall. I also learned to look at scripts on the page through a visual lens, which is invaluable as a writer. When I made the transition to writing for AI in the bay area, Cory Kidd, an MIT roboticist and the CEO of Catalia Health, taught me the importance of user research and of thinking of interactions non-linearly, and from many different points of view. As a writer, I think supportive peers are also incredibly important. Friends who look at your work with “eyes of love,” who lift you up, give you honest feedback when something’s just not working, and help you push yourself into uncomfortable places. I have a few good friends from my MFA program at USC and from a writing fellowship I was in right after graduation called the Writers’ Arc that I am also very grateful for.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne I’m a strong believer in the power and nuance of comedy and dramedy. This quote reminds me that even though the stories I write aspire to be light and entertaining, there always have to be deeper meanings in my imagery, relationships, and character arcs. I strive for dramatic layers, emotional resonance, and complex subtext, while making sure that my work is also fun and funny. This can be a very difficult line to walk and it is hard work to achieve just the right balance.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

In keeping with my mission to create fun, exciting stories about women in STEM roles, I have two projects I’m currently working on. One is called North Star; a pilot script inspired by the Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots (WASPs) during WWII and the teenagers in the French Resistance. It follows Ginny, 16, a young renegade pilot, mechanic, and smuggler in a California of the future under fascist control. When her best friend is captured during a job gone wrong, Ginny finds out her whole family is involved in secret Resistance activities. She is also caught in a love triangle with her copilot and her best friend. Another project I’m really excited about is a modern take on one of my favorite books, Pride and Prejudice. Longbourn Hospital reimagines the Bennet sisters as doctors, nurses, and volunteers in a modern hospital in pastural Vermont run by their dad, whose health is failing.

Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?

I think it’s really important to write about real women exploring science and technology. To show them fumbling, not always getting it right, being involved in romantic relationships, confused by friendships, all the while pursuing their work. If we don’t create these characters, girls will continue to grow up thinking that these spaces are just not for them, or not even thinking of them at all. I ended up working in robotics, but I never would have thought to pursue that in school. Women should feel comfortable exploring science and tech just because they are intrigued, just because it’s cool and fun, without feeling they have to be the best of the best just to be allowed in, or to give up everything else in their life. So, we need to create these characters on screen and make STEM spaces just normal places for women to be. That is my mission; to create fun, relatable, accessible content about women exploring STEM.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Listen first until you understand your situation … Whenever I take the time to get the lay of the land in a new writers’ room, a tech company, or a writers’ workshop, I am always glad I did. For example, when I first started working in robotics, I needed to just listen for a few meetings and then ask a lot of questions to start to understand the lay of the land because the work was just so different from where I was coming from.
2. … On the other hand, don’t listen so much or so long that you’re afraid to talk. You don’t want to wait so long that you get anxiety about contributing. My general feeling is that if you already understand the material of the conversations around you, you might want to wait just a little bit until you fully understand the group dynamics and have something really positive to contribute. If you don’t yet understand the material of the conversations, for example, if you’re a writer brought on to help a group of roboticists, don’t be afraid to ask the questions you need to in order to start understanding.
3. Sometimes it’s an advantage to disagree or have a different point of view. As important as it is to start off on a positive note when you contribute to a creative collaboration, it’s also important to recognize when disagreeing or offering your very different point of view can be essential to the process. I wish that I had not been so shy about doing this earlier in my career. It took being the only writer in the room for me to feel comfortable disagreeing openly with a whole group of people.
4. Be your own advocate. Often times as creatives and as women, we can be apprehensive about putting ourselves and our work out there. As I’ve gotten along in different career paths, I’ve realized that it’s actually expected that we will just clearly ask for what we want. Men do this all the time, in every aspect of their careers. It’s so much easier once you realize that it’s okay to do this. No one is going to be mad at you or not like you anymore. The worst thing someone can say is “no,” and then, at least you did everything you could to put yourself and your work out there. You will gain respect and feel good about yourself no matter the answer.
5. Trust your gut about your own work, even when you’re outranked. This is such a tricky one. I don’t mean be inflexible about notes and feedback from showrunners, CEOs, or executives. What I mean is that there is a voice protecting some very personal, intrinsic parts of our work. A voice that might tell you as a staff writer, “I don’t think we’re actually done breaking my episode,” or that might leap to the defense of a certain tone when your representatives suggest a sharp contrast. A voice that screams “NO!” when a possible director wants to make small change after small change that turns your quiet character piece into a homicidal thriller. These are all real examples of creative issues I’ve faced where I chickened out of listening to my inner voice. Each time I ignored it, the work suffered and I regretted it. Honor that voice. Find a diplomatic way of pushing back. Something I have found works wonders is asking questions until everyone in the room sees there is a problem. This also really helps you to fully understand the other side, and then you can suggest possible solutions.

When you create a film, which stakeholders have the greatest impact on the artistic and cinematic choices you make? Is it the viewers, the critics, the financiers, or your own personal artistic vision? Can you share a story with us or give an example about what you mean?

Because of the nature of being a writer working from the blank page, it’s my own artistic vision and that of other writers and artists whose work I admire that have the most influence on the early choices I make. I have a small network of peers and mentors whose opinions I respect and seek out. I also believe human research is an essential part of the development process. For example, in crafting the college scenes for Robot Party, I was lucky enough to find a very insightful young woman currently in college whose brain I could pick about dialogue and social dynamics. I also interviewed colleagues who studied in university social robotics labs about workflow and student relationships. Interviewing is an important component of my character development process in both screenwriting and AI personality design.

You are a person of great influence. If you could spread an idea that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can prompt. :-)

What a great question. I am going to go with a writ “Do unto others.” If we can all do our best to treat other’s work, ideas, and career goals as we hope our own will be treated, this would create not only a kinder world, but a more innovative and exciting one. Think about how you have been helped in big and small ways. Think about how you felt when someone you greatly admire first encouraged you. Even if it feels like you’re not in a position to help someone else yet, keep your mind open to how you can pay this forward in even small ways to peers and the writers and artists coming up after you.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might see this. :-)

If I could have lunch with anyone, it would be Elizabeth Banks. She is my dream director for Robot Party and her career is so inspiring to me. I absolutely love her work as a comic actor, especially in 30 Rock. I’m obsessed with that show and Bank’s portrayal of Avery is one of my favorite arcs of the series. Her transition into directing and producing is exciting to me, especially looking at it through the lens of a male-dominated space that she was able to break into so successfully. I feel that because of her understanding of nerdy niche interests through her work on the Pitch Perfect franchise and her bravery in directing an action movie (Cocaine Bear), she would understand my vision of inspiring young women to be similarly brave about exploring typically male fields of study and industry. I think she would really connect with my protagonist Selena’s struggles between her relationships and figuring out who she is intellectually because of her work with characters in this age group. She would really make the comedy in the relationships of Robot Party sparkle. Plus, I would just really love to meet her!

How can our readers further follow you online?

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ elizabeth-randall-arredondo-3255361 Twitter: @ejrandall

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LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ elizabeth-randall-arredondo-3255361 Twitter: @ejrandall

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.

About The Interviewer: Susan Johnston is a Media Futurist, Columnist as well as Founder and Director at New Media Film Festival®. The New Media Film Festival® — honoring stories worth telling since 2009, is an Award-winning, inclusive, and boundary-pushing catalyst for storytelling and technology. Susan was knighted in Rome in 2017 for her work in Arts & Humanity.