“For those of you who are sitting there… waiting for that opportunity to come to you, you’ve got to let your intention be known. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for what you want. Get out there. You’d be surprised. And people are helpful. People are really helpful when you’re kind and you ask for help.”
~Ana Benitez
Ana Benitez is one of the founders of Storyrocket.com, a leading internet site where thousands of writers from around the world showcase their works to producers and agents. Ana’s mission is to help educate writers on how to get their stories seen by producers and agents. As such, she’s an impassioned author’s advocate for the entertainment community. She also works hard at leading Storyrocket’s brand expansion and partnerships.
For the record, I’ve had the privilege of working with Ana on Storyrocket seminars and workshops, which was very fulfilling for me to do.
Of note, Ana is a 2-time Emmy Award-winning television producer with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Her TV career spans from broadcast news to “live” morning shows, to scripted and special events productions. She’s worked with Univision, Telemundo, Disney, Major League Baseball and many fortune 500 companies. She’s also been honored by the City of Los Angeles for her contribution to the expansion of culture and entertainment.
Ana’s been featured in the Huffington Post, Miami Herald, Wayfarer Magazine, L.A. Biz, as well as leading Spanish-language publications like El Mundo and La Vanguardia. She’s also an international speaker at “best in class” events throughout the United States and Latin America.
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Steve Cuden: On today’s StoryBeat:
Ana Benitez: For those of you who are sitting there, you know, waiting for that opportunity to come to you, you’ve got to let your intention be known. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for what you want. Get out there. You’d be surprised. And people are helpful. People are really helpful when you’re kind and you ask for help.
Announcer: This is StoryBeat with Steve Cuden, a podcast for the creative mind. StoryBeat explores how masters of creativity develop and produce brilliant works that people everywhere love and admire. So join us as we discover how talented creators find success in the worlds of imagination and entertainment. Here now is your host, Steve Cuden.
Steve Cuden: Thanks for joining us on StoryBeat. We’re coming to you from the Steel City, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My guest today, Anna Benitez, is one of the founders of StoryRocket.com, a leading Internet site where thousands of writers from around the world showcase their works to producers and agents. Anna’s mission is to help educate writers on how to get their stories seen by producers and agents. As such, she’s an impassioned authors advocate for the entertainment community. She also works hard at leading Storyrocket brand expansion and partnerships. For the record, I’ve had the privilege of working with Anna on Storyrocket seminars and workshops, which was very fulfilling for me to do. Of note, Anna, uh, is a two-time Emmy Award-winning television producer with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Her TV career spans from broadcast news to live morning shows to scripted and special events productions. She’s worked with Univision, Telemundo, Disney, Major League Baseball and many Fortune 500 companies. She’s also been honored by the city of Los Angeles for her contribution to the expansion of culture and entertainment. Ann has been featured in the Huffington Post, Miami Herald, Wayfarer Magazine, La Biz, as well as leading Spanish language publications like El Mundo, La Guardia. She’s also an international speaker at best in class events throughout the United States and Latin America. So for all those reasons and many more, it’s my great privilege to welcome to Story Beat today the extraordinarily innovative producer, Anna Benitez. Anna, welcome to the show.
Ana Benitez: Hi Steve, it’s so great to be here with you. Thank you so much for inviting me and um, um, thank you to all your audience who is listening to me today.
Steve Cuden: Well, for sure. I am so grateful for you taking your time to be on the show today. So let’s go back in time just a little bit. Let’s go back in your history where did your interest in show business first begin?
Ana Benitez: Oh, my God. It’s a little bit of a long story. I’ll try to make it short. Butay. Actually, when I went to college, I was pre med.
Steve Cuden: Pre med.
Ana Benitez: So I don’t think anybody would think of that. But yeah, I wasn’t a pre med horse and u, um, I thought of being a dentist and course.
Steve Cuden: Well, you’ve been in show business all these years. That’s like pulling teeth.
Ana Benitez: I know it is, right? But, um, yes, I wanted to be a dentist. So I went to a school that you may know or not may not know. It’s called Wheaton College.
Steve Cuden: Oh, sure, of course.
Ana Benitez: In Norton, Massachusetts. I was a women’s college when I attended. Still in the day, it’s today a co ed college. And you know, by the time I was a sophomore, ending my sophomore year, I was just not feeling the sciences anymore. And I’m like, oh my God, I need my mojo back. What can I do? And I started doing an internship. I went back home. I took a semester off, went back home and decided to do, um, an internship in a cancer hospital. Well, you know, as life takes you in different directions. I ended up interning in the public relations office and media office of the hospital. This is where we had to do fundraising. And we had a weekly show on television that they actually let me host back in the day because the other girl was at maternity leave. So it was like, uh, you know, I didn’t know this world. It was just kind of like a big guy opener for me. Oh, my God. They pay you to do this. They pay you to have fun. That was my thought. So, uh, I went home that day and I remember telling my parents, they cried that I was no longer interested in going to medical school or dental school, that I was gonna pursue television.
Steve Cuden: So they thought your life was over, didn’t they?
Ana Benitez: Oh, my God. My parents, uh, I don’t know if you know that. My parents were immigrants from Cuba, right? And so of course their dream was always to have a doctor in the family, you know? Uh, so it was like, what do you mean? So their dreams are shattered, this girl wasting her life. So I left Wheaton College, actually ended up in Miami. First started at, um, um, and then went to FIU, finished at FIU, Florida International University.
Steve Cuden: Right.
Ana Benitez: With a degree in communications. At that time, it was all set like public relations or television. It’s kind of like the two tracks that you could take, but you still had to take classes in both.
Steve Cuden: What drew you to public relations?
Ana Benitez: I thought this is something that every corporate headquarters needed, like a department. So I thought it had a lot of flexibility. I actually became president of the PRSSA, which is a Public Relations Student Society of America.
Steve Cuden: Wow.
Ana Benitez: You know, there’s no coincidence in life. I always say that, you know, when you put yourself out there. So always tell people, like, don’t be shy. Show up. Put yourself out there. Right? So when I was president of the PRSSA, we would bring in speakers, right, to talk to, uh, our students. And, um, I brought in this gentleman who was the head of the Miami Herald at that time. We did the event with him and he congratulating me for a really great event. And he says, oh, my God, you’re so talented. There’s people working right now that are not half as talented as you and whatever, if you ever wanna mentor, let me know. So I took him up, we went to lunch like a month later. I was close to graduating. That happened. So then after that, I went into PR for the United Way. Do you know what the United Way is?
Steve Cuden: Of course. Big charitable organization, right?
Ana Benitez: It’s an umbrella. So I was so happy because I actually got a job in my field after graduating. And again, no coincidences. When I was at the United Way, um, we had a press conference and Telemundo had sent not a reporter and a photographer, but only the videographer to our press conference. And I thought, oh, my God, they’re missing out. They’re not going to put any interviews on the air. And that’s not good for us. I was a rookie. I didn’t know. I was just going with my instincts. And so I told the photographer, if I get you an interview in Spanish with one of our guests, would you be able to run it? He goes, yeah, I think we would, but you need to talk to our assignment editor. And that’s going to come back next later on. So I said, okay, let me talk to her. So I told her, hey, I’m going to interview someone for you. I’m not going toa be on camera, but I’m gonna get you the sot, right, the sound on tape, right? For you to run later, right? And she thanked me for it. They ran it. So that was a, you know, check box. A month later, she calls me Anna. I have, uh, an opening at the news station. Would you like to come in for that and interview for that?
Steve Cuden: That’s because they didn’t see you at that point as a public relations person. They saw you as someone who produced something.
Ana Benitez: Exactly, exactly. And I just did it out of being me. You know me, I’m just like off the cuff. If I see an opportunity, something that could be helpful to someone too, you know, that’s something that s, I think is’s big of my life. I’m always seeing how can I help people get better or how can I help a situation. And with that in mind, I was thinking, let me help this. Uh, it helps the United wayight and it helps them. Right. It’s a win win. So I said, okay, let me just go ahead and do it.
Steve Cuden: So I want to talk about producing for a moment. And you’re right on it. This is something that’s important, isn’t it, that you’re able to connect people and events and things and see that bigger picture?
Ana Benitez: Yes, yes, absolutely. You have to have a vision and you have to be quick on your toes. Like.
Steve Cuden: Yes.
Ana Benitez: Uh, as we go into my career and you, we talk about production. I did. My big productions were live events. You know, there’s no taping and going back.
Steve Cuden: Right. There’s no second take.
Ana Benitez: No. And you have to be so ready because you have to envision if something will go wrong. And where’s your plan B and C? Because it will happen.
Steve Cuden: Is that how you think as a producer? That you need a backup plan and a backup plan to the backup plan?
Ana Benitez: Absolutely. Yeah. And not only do I think that way, I plan it ahead of time and I make my, uh, on air talent practice that. Hey, in case of this, this is what’s going to happen. Let’s go, let’s practice. Right. So I think you have to be on your toes, especially with live events, with live shows.
Steve Cuden: You had no formal training in any of this, did you?
Ana Benitez: No, I mean, besides my degree. But, you know, as everyone you know, there’s a big difference between having a degree and actually going and doing something. Of course, I think this is where, uh, passion takes over as well.
Steve Cuden: Well, that I can say with firsthand knowledge that you are a passionate person, that you really, you get all involved in it. That’s for sure.
Ana Benitez: Listen, if I say yes to something, I am 100% in.
Steve Cuden: I think you’re selling yourself short. You’re more like 140%.
Ana Benitez: Well, you know me right now, so I’ll take that as good, you know, I’ll take that as a yes.
Steve Cuden: I would much rather have your 140% than someone else’s 65%, that’s for sure.
Ana Benitez: Well, thank you so much. Thank you. So. Yeah. So, um, was just a lucky strike with this lady, and she was only there for another six months. She let me ghost her. And she got this amazing opportunity with the Department of Transportation at dot, and she left. And the only person that knew her job was me. So here I am in my early 20s as a head assignment editor in a news station.
Steve Cuden: Wow. Luck had a big part in this then.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. You know, I think you can do everything. Right. Right. And there’s this lady Luck, I don’t know how to call it, if it’s being in the right place at the right time, which, uh, I obviously was, but I also kind of built myself in there. So the job that I had gotten, she told me at the beginning, is like, and I’m interviewing you, but really you’re going toa be the assistant to the executive producer for news. But get this, the executive producer for news was in Spain.
Steve Cuden: Really?
Ana Benitez: This was an international operation, and that guy never came in.
Steve Cuden: So it was your place to run.
Ana Benitez: Right. And not only that, I had the time to shadow her all the time, not knowing she was leaving. Again, it’s just all coincidence.
Steve Cuden: How early on in that process did you figure you were actually good at it? Did you know you were good at.
Ana Benitez: It really early on? Because, uh, month one with her, I broke a really important story.
Steve Cuden: Oh.
Ana Benitez: And she told me, she’s like, I can’t believe you did that. And, um, how did you do that? You know? And again, it’s just instinct. Again, just moving, calling people, um, not being shy, asking for information. So back in the day, I know your program is called Story Beat, but back in the day, before all the things that we have now and abse and everything, you actually had to do a beat. You actually had to call every station, every police station of every city nearby, of every county, um, to see if there’s something important going on that’s part of the beat. And you just got to stay on top of it. And I. All of a sudden, and we’re hearing the radios, too. You know, you’re listening to, um, the radio to see what’s going on in the police stations and stuff like that. Of a sudden, I hear silence. Like, everybody came off that. That signal. And I was like, something’s going on here. That doesn’t sound, you know, that doesn’t sound right. So I started calling, and because I had befriended already a month in one of the PR guys in the station, I said, is something going on? I called him on a cell phone. I said, I don’t hear anything. There’s something going on. Right. And he goes yeah, there’s been a big shooting, there’s been a big this, there’s been. And I was like, we need to break the news. And so we sent the crew there. So for those of you who are outside of news and assignment editor decides what news get covered and also who gets to cover it. So what reporter and stuff. So anyway, I got thrown into this world of news, which I loved and I was crazy about it. I would watch newscasting and night. Um, and then I got an opportunity again. I got picked up by someone who says, I want to take you into programming.
Steve Cuden: Programming?
Ana Benitez: Yeah, the programming side. So no longer was the new side.
Steve Cuden: Now it’s, it shows, it’s scripted material.
Ana Benitez: Scripted material. Live shows. And I started doing magazine style shows. And I didn’t tell you something. So remember that gentleman that I brought in in college to speak to us from the Mammy Herald?
Steve Cuden: Yes.
Ana Benitez: All of a sudden I got a call from the competitor, which is Univision at that time, and he says, I want to hire you off. Tell them that you’re eating our shirt. You’re getting all of you re, you’re, you know, you’re getting all these things. And I said, uh, I’ll go for an interview on my day off. I only had one day off in the month. So I went there, I go in there and I bump into who? The same gentleman from the Miami Herald. And he was above the lady that was going to interview me. He tells the lady she’s hired.
Steve Cuden: Wow.
Ana Benitez: You know, it’s just things like that that happen, you know. But I think you plant the seeds. Right?
Steve Cuden: So one of the other things I certainly know about you is you’re very shy and you don’t put yourself out at all. Just the opposite. Right. You’re very good at meeting people and talking to people and pulling from them something, whatever it is you’re trying to pull from them. That’s got to be a part of what your process is in terms of getting things to happen. Is that you’re good at getting people to open up to you a little bit. You’re very open and warm and friendly. Is that an important part of it?
Ana Benitez: Yes, it is. And I’ll tell you what, as you go into production and you’re working in teams.
Steve Cuden: Mhm.
Ana Benitez: I have one really great friend of mine and agent in Hollywood who, he calls it the hang factor.
Steve Cuden: The hang factor, okay.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. And he says, you know, sometimes when I hire writers for a team, they might not be the best writer in the group, but they have that hang factor, you know, It’s a factor that everyone gets along with them. They can break the ice when things are tough. They make everybody laugh, make people feel comfortable. Today, I think they call it a soft skill. You know, a hard skill might be like, hey, I know how to edit or I know how to do this, you know, technical stuff. But, um, these are soft skills that I think come in really important. And we all have some sort of a soft skill that we can use. You know, I’m really great, I think, at seeing people with their highest potential and seeing something in them that might. They might not even see themselves and pulling that out because, uh, as my career progress, and I just told you, I started with news magazine shows, and then I progress and progress and I ended up, uh, in the highest shows category of shows that you could do for a network, which is a special event. So the special events is the grant glory of your network. It’s your Grammys, it’s your big concerts, it’s the stuff that gets all the money. It gets tons of promotion, and it’s their highest rated shows. And I ended up being a special events producer again. I had no skill set of being a special events producer. I was a news assignment editor that got to be a producer of live daily live magazine style. And now I’m thrown into this world of special events.
Steve Cuden: That step from going from being a reporter basically, or working with the reporters to doing live shows, that was the step you needed to learn what it was to do a live event. Am I right?
Ana Benitez: Yes, yes. Um, the live event takes so much more than that. You’re working with a team. I worked, uh, with a team of over 200 individuals where, you know, I was at the lead. And you’re talking about everything from people who did staging and lighting and sound and backdrops and artists and, you know, makeup rooms and, you know, thought the whole thing came under you. I think they call me Grace under fire. Because when you’re live, when stuff starts going wrong, because it will right, it.
Steve Cuden: Definitely will go wrong.
Ana Benitez: I had a boss that would just start screaming her head off and she would actually be escorted outside of the control room because, you know, they’re trying to pull it together, right? The director and the, you know, and then I was just, more so far because I, I thought of A, B and C. I already had a plan.
Steve Cuden: You’re very cool under pressure.
Ana Benitez: Yes, yes.
Steve Cuden: What is your technique for that? Do you have a way that you deal with pressure that you think about, or is it just naturally you?
Ana Benitez: I think Um, a lot of it is. It’s just my personality that I. I think you can always get it out of something, right? If something is wrong, there’s always a way to get out of it. And especially if you pre plan for it. You know, like, you’re like, okay, what if this goes back? What if this goes bad? Like you right now, Steve, what if our connection goes bad? What do we do?
Steve Cuden: So you’re asking an actual question. Although I don’t need to answer the technical. I’ve had it happen on this show. It’s very hard for the listeners to know this if they’re regular listeners, because we then do this thing called editing in post production, and you don’t hear the problem. But generally speaking, uh, we either sit and wait for the problem to either self correct, which it frequently does, or sometimes people have to leave the show and come back in. But this all gets lost in the editing process, and the audience never hears it because this show doesn’t go out live. If it went out live, we’d have a whole different problem. Then I’d have to talk to the audience while whatever was going on was happening. But fortunately, I don’t have to do that because we have this wonderful little magic thing called editing.
Ana Benitez: Editing. That’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful thing. But, you know, there’s also beauty in live because there’s no retakes.
Steve Cuden: Well, I think the great thing about live, I mean, when you’re recording something like this interview, it’s we’re live when we’re recording it, but you have the ability to manipulate things later, as you are in most TV shows. But like you say in a live event, what’s beautiful is when you know you’re going out live. It is. The energy is very different. There’s a very high energy.
Ana Benitez: Oh, my God, the energy is amazing. It’s amazing. So I had a great network career. It was actually during my years of special events that I was nominated for four Emmys, you know, and I was lucky enough to get two. So that’s not bad. 50% of my nominations were wins.
Steve Cuden: That’s two more than I have. So.
Ana Benitez: And this is the thing, right? Uh, one of them. One of my Emmys, uh, I don’t know if some of your audience might remember a singer called Selena.
Steve Cuden: Oh, sure.
Ana Benitez: From Texas. She was assassinated. And I actually did her special. I produced her special in the Astrodome, the Houston Astrodome that broke all records of attendance. And this was, unfortunately, because she was such a beautiful soul. It was her last show, and I didn’t know that fell in my hands. So, uh, that was one of my Emmys for that show. I think it’s important in whatever craft you take, whether it’s you’re a storyteller and you’re writing books or you’re a producer and you’re putting things in motion, right. You’re putting everything together to create that magic on a screen. I just think it’s really important that you give it all you have and that you think outside of the box. Because a lot of people want to emulate. Oh, I want to do it like this person or like that person. And I say, what can you bring different to the table? Because that’s really what’s going to set you apart. For me, when I started doing special events, the audio was already mixed, right. So as you’re recording, uh, my audio guy would take all the audio and mix it. And so when you went back to edit in the edit room, you already had your audio and your. And your video together, and you just edited your show. Well, I decided that I wanted to create, like, more of a live feeling to my shows, to my special events. I didn’t like that mixed.
Steve Cuden: Did it feel artificial to you?
Ana Benitez: No, I just wanted to have the emotion that was in the room. Sometimes it doesn’t transmit, you know, through the airwave. So I started putting, um, microphones in the audience. All my audio was not mixed. It was 18 channels, 20 channels. And everybody said, you’re crazy. It’s so much work to mix it at the end. You know, just mix it and just go with it. And I’m like, no, I want that feeling. And I think that was one of my trademarks, that my shows were really. You felt like you were there as you edited your video. You saw the emotions of the audience. You were able to bring up the applause or the screaming or, you know, the dation of the audience. And you were able also to mix the music really wonderfully. So I think, you know, whatever you do, just make sure that. That you’re so passionate about it that you want to do something better, you want to improve it.
Steve Cuden: Well, when that energy comes through, whether it’s in a production or in a book or a movie or whatever, when the energy comes through anything, that’s absolutely the. I think the thing that makes it, what becomes great is that energy.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. So, I mean, through all those years of special events, you know, um, I worked with Disney, and we did all the Disney parades for television and the Disney Easter Parade, the Disney Christmas Parade.
Steve Cuden: So Talk about Disney for a moment. What was it like to work for Disney?
Ana Benitez: I was not hired by Disney, I was hired by the networks. So Disney was a client to say they were great, they were very professional, they had an outstanding team, they made my work a lot easier, even though it was grueling hours to do what we did. But, um, I think it was a fantastic team. So it was great. I mean, I. I don’t know if I’ve been so lucky that everywhere I went, I just found really great people in really great teams or if I was just part of that energy that created that momentum.
Steve Cuden: I was curious because I’ve had the good fortune, mostly good fortune over time, to have worked for Disney several different times in different capacities. And it’s always professional, it’s always top notch.
Ana Benitez: Yes.
Steve Cuden: That’s what I have found.
Ana Benitez: Yes. I have to agree.
Steve Cuden: There’s no amateurs there at all. They really know what they’re doing.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. And one of the things I don’t talk about much but doing my. All my network years, I was always an entrepreneur on the side.
Steve Cuden: Always an entrepreneur. Always doing your own thing.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. On the side. I always had nothing to do with television to compete with what I was doing, but I always had, you know, I came from a family of entrepreneurs, so I always said, okay, how can I make some extra money this way or that way or how can we, you know, when we talk about Story Rocket, I was so prepared because I not only had the know how of our business and what it kind of needed, but also I had the entrepreneur experience that allowed me to take that chance.
Steve Cuden: Why do you think you have that entrepreneurial spirit? We’re going to talk much more about Story Rocket right now. But where did that entrepreneurial spirit come from?
Ana Benitez: Oh, it definitely comes to my parents. You know, my parents are both gone, but, um, they came to this country with not a dime. Not a dime. My mom was a school teacher. My father was a businessman. He owned his own businesses. He had stores, started with zeros, started working at factories, really tough jobs. My mom going into picking tomatoes. I mean, it’s just brutal starts like a lot of immigrants. And then they worked their way up and I mean, God bless them, by the time they died, they have built, uh, you know, a really great business environment in Puerto Rico. They built up their stores. They. Even till today, those stores still exist. And, uh, a lot of the employees have been with us for over 40 years.
Steve Cuden: That’s something. That’s special.
Ana Benitez: That is something. Yeah. And that is something. And I think that is Something that, that I learned from my parents. I also, I think one of the lessons I take from my father, he always says the client is always right.
Steve Cuden: That’s a very good old fashioned way to look at it.
Ana Benitez: Old fashioned, but it’s so true. And it’s true today. Even on Story Rocket, even, even though Storyrocket is a SaaS system, um, a SaaS business, if you would, for.
Steve Cuden: Those that don’t know what’s a SaaS.
Ana Benitez: Business, software as a service.
Steve Cuden: Software as a service.
Ana Benitez: We’re that kind of a company.
Steve Cuden: So describe for the listeners what Story Rocket is. What do you do?
Ana Benitez: Story Rocket is really the brainchild of my partner of Ron. Um, he’s a writer and he was a network executive and he saw a lot of talented writers who, sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to get in through the door. And they just, you know, there was just none, there was zero. And you know, he was getting opportunities not only within our network but outside. You know, he went to Castle Rock, he went to, you know, he was able to open doors in different places and have, and be able to pitch. And so he’s like, oh my God, like there’s some really good stuff out there that no one’s seeing. Me on the inset. I always had to hire the same writers because those were the same vetted writers that were vetted by agents that had come through the door and nothing new. You know, they were good, they were great, but you know, there was no new fresh voices. And he says, why don’t we do something different, you know, and this is how Story Rocket kind of was born, through that idea of helping the unknown writers get through the door. And so we were looking like, how do we do a win win? Because if I put producers in there and you know, they’re just getting bombarded, right, with people like, look at me, look at me, pitch me, pitch me. It’s not gonna work either, right? Because producers still need to protect themselves, especially if they’re creating. They already have something in the pipeline that’s similar. They don’t want to get sued by someone saying, uh, hey, you stole my idea.
Steve Cuden: Exactly.
Ana Benitez: And so how do we do this and how do we give self published writers, for example, who really didn’t have a voice at that time. How do we, how do we allow them to like play in this game of Hollywood? Right? How can they even showcase their work? So this was, uh, a big experiment and we spent a lot, a lot of money and Story Rocket was born. And we didn’t know if it was going to work or not. We just didn’t know it was a big gamble. But, you know, we didn’t ask anybody for money. We bootstrapped it ourselves. And when I saw it, I said, I believe in this. I think there’s a need for this. I think we can help producers and we can help writers.
Steve Cuden: Did you beta test it in some way?
Ana Benitez: Yes, we bet test it a lot. So for those of you who do not know storyrocket.com. it is a global marketplace with, uh, thousands of writers from around the world that showcase their works to producers and agents by creating a pitch on our site. And, um, we can go into pitching later and what, what a pitch entails on the inside. But basically that’s. That’s the gist of that. Right? So you, if you’re a writer and you’re hearing me and you’re like, yes, I think my book deserves to be produced, then you can join us and create your pitch. And your pitch goes into a database. We have over 350 producers and agents on our site looking for content. I didn’t know whether this was going to work or not. We started with 50 people, and we did beta test it. We were lucky enough. Our, uh, initial idea, and this is where you need, as an entrepreneur, you need to be nimble. Our initial idea was to bring it to people that were graduating from the university.
Steve Cuden: You’re talking about authors of books, not screenwriters. Or are you talking about screenwriter.
Ana Benitez: No, we were talking about screenwriters at that time.
Steve Cuden: Okay, Right.
Ana Benitez: They’re. They’re graduating. They don’t know where to take the material. You know, let’s beta test it. And, you know, I was. We were lucky enough to get into four different universities. We got into University of Miami, and they allowed me to go into their master’s or MFA program and do two classes on story rocket and so forth and pitching. And then, um, I did something too, with, uh, University of South Florida, uh, University of, um, Florida State. Oh, and then two schools in Massachusetts also as well. So we were able to test it like that. Um, we quickly found out that no bonafide producer would go in there.
Steve Cuden: Why do you think that is with the stories?
Ana Benitez: I think it takes a bit of maturity and experience to come up with really great stories.
Steve Cuden: Well, that’s a fact certain.
Ana Benitez: Right. So when they’re coming out of college, they might know exactly how to write. Right. A screenplay, the formatting and all that, but, uh, the ideas just weren’t great enough.
Steve Cuden: They don’t have the life experience under Their belt to get into the heart of things.
Ana Benitez: That’s exactly it. So we pulled together a whole team of professionals, um, actually from all these universities and said, okay, this is what’s going on. I’ll show you the pitches. And we said well if we come out with this, you know we’re gonna fail. So we had to pivot. And one of the things I’ve always liked was like indie writers. Then I said why don’t we go to the real writing community?
Steve Cuden: Book authors.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, book authors. Those are the people who really need our help. There’s plenty of them out there. They want an opportunity. They can’t get through the door. Why don’t we do it this way, we test it again. And that’s how Story Rocket launched with the professional book authors.
Steve Cuden: Were you fascinated by writers and authors prior to Storyrocket?
Ana Benitez: I am and I still am. And I’m fascinated by creative people. Those are my favorite people in the world. You know, they take nothing. Right. Where does is an idea come out of it that sometimes it fascinates me. Right. Especially when they, they do some crazy story like how did you even think of this? What’s going on in your head?
Steve Cuden: Right.
Ana Benitez: For.
Steve Cuden: Mhm. Sure.
Ana Benitez: So I love creative people, whether it be a writer or a musician. I think musicians are brilliant too. Yes.
Steve Cuden: Clearly you excel in connecting people in the realm of storytelling on both sides of the fence, whether it’s the creative side or the business side.
Ana Benitez: Yes.
Steve Cuden: You’re good at connecting these folks. What do you tell your, the people that are on Story Rocket who ask you about how do they, can they make their stories better or their pitch better? What do you advise people?
Ana Benitez: Okay, so let’s talk about pitching because really pitching is the hard of Story Rocket. But it is the heart uh, of our industry. Right.
Steve Cuden: And it’s the single hardest thing for most authors to do.
Ana Benitez: Do. Exactly. So whether you’re pitching for a first time or have been in this industry forever, you’re still pitching. You’re not going to get away from that.
Steve Cuden: You never stopped pitching.
Ana Benitez: You never stop pitching.
Steve Cuden: So Steven Spielberg is still pitching.
Ana Benitez: Exactly. So you know, the sooner you get that, that uh, pitches the cornerstone and if you understand what a pitch looks like, what it is, and then you understand how to be able to pitch it live, which is the hardest thing. Right. People think it’s easy. No, it’s not easy. It’s super hard.
Steve Cuden: And frequently nerve wracking to authors who tend to be loners. They spend a lot of their life alone in a room staring at a screen and then they have to go talk to people. And sometimes that’s really hard to do.
Ana Benitez: It’s so hard. You know, it’s really hard. Um, we were one of the sponsors of the awesome Film Festival, their pitch contest a few years ago. And I sat through so many pitches because it starts off with like hundreds of people coming to pitch, right? They get like a couple of minutes and you’re out. And then that gets eliminated to like a smaller number and a smaller number. And finally the top 10 have to pitch life to M. Three Hollywood executives on stage at a venue which is a loud bar just full of people either shearing or heckling. I mean, this is so hard. Talk about hard.
Steve Cuden: Hard. Yeah, it’s very hard.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. But, you know, the sooner you get over it, I think anybody can do it if they put their minds to it. And actually some of the people that. The guy who won that night, he was the shyest person. He wrote a story. Uh, a story. Basically, I’ll just give you kind of like a premise. It was like the 40 year old virgin, okay? And he looked like it and he wrote it and he acted like it and he won. And I think is because one thing you can’t fake is authenticity.
Steve Cuden: That’s for sure. You cannot fake that, you know, and.
Ana Benitez: And a lot of people say, oh, I want to be like such a person, or I want to be like such a person, or my book is, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like you want to be yourself. You might not be everybody’s cup of tea. I know I’m not, and that’s okay. But I am myself. I am true to myself.
Steve Cuden: You can’t be everybody’s cup of tea. That’s not the.
Ana Benitez: Exactly. You can’t. And the sooner you realize there’s not going to be everybody cup of tea, but there is an audience out there for what you’re doing and believe in what you’re doing and just be passionate about it.
Steve Cuden: Interestingly enough, when you’re a writer and you’re trying to sell your work, you don’t need everybody to like your work at that point. You just need one person to like your work.
Ana Benitez: That’s it.
Steve Cuden: One champion. But then eventually you need a lot of people to like your work. But not in the beginning.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. And I think if people realize that, they’d be less critical because if they realize they just need to be themselves and, um, not try to imitate someone else, you know, say, oh, you know, Steve Cuden is so cool. I want to, you know, I’m gonna pitch like Steve Cuden. Do you know Steve Cuden as Steve Cuden? You know, he’s amazing because he is Steve Cuden.
Steve Cuden: Well, there are days when I’m not so sure, but that’s another story.
Ana Benitez: We all have those days, Steve.
Steve Cuden: I know we do. What are the things that you find most surprising in the way that authors write and approach their work to the positive and the negative? What are the things that surprise you that are good and bad?
Ana Benitez: Well, on the bad side is they’re so rigid about what they’ve written that it’s almost going to be impossible to give it to someone else to create a screenplay out of it. Because there’s. So this is a deal. When you take a book and you’re adapted to screenplay, Steve, you know that it’s going to be changed a million times.
Steve Cuden: A million times. And it may not be left with all the things that are in the book. It may be very different.
Ana Benitez: No. And it’s impossible. Uh, a book with 300 pages that you have to narrow down to less than two hours on screenplay, you know, it’s never go going toa be the same. So a lot of people, when they see a movie, they’re either disappointed, are like, oh, I like it. It’s kind of similar to the book. But you know, a lot of people are always disappointed and you can see why. But I think with writers that want to take their book to screen. Right. Which is what we’re talking about, writers that want to take the book to screen. You have to have some flexibility your about your story and how someone will might take it and adapt it. Unless you want to try to adapt it yourself, which Steve, you did just an amazing. We had a sold out class that.
Steve Cuden: You gave on adaptation. Yeah, right.
Ana Benitez: Screenwriting for authors adaptation. Unless you take the opportunity to do it yourself and you can. I think you know someone like Steve who gave this brilliant class and I mean, people only had amazing things to say about the class afterwards. You don’t always survey, um, to see if we want to bring the class back to see if people like it, to see if we can improve it. Um, you got all five stars.
Steve Cuden: Oh wow. Yeah.
Ana Benitez: And I think it’s because people saw the possibility that they can do this. You showed them the ropes, but you also gave them that confidence that they can do it. So if you’re going to be so rigid on your material, take a class of Steve Cuden. Try to screen right yourself.
Steve Cuden: Suddenly your interview has become my PR.
Ana Benitez: That’s Right. That’s one of the bad things that I see when people want to, um, take their books, screen. The other thing is they don’t want to get prepared for pitching well.
Steve Cuden: Because they’re afraid of it. It’s fear.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, it’s fear.
Steve Cuden: And it’s hard to figure out how to make that pitch because you’ve got a whole book. How do you turn that into or a whole screenplay, whichever one. And how do you turn that into 30 seconds or a minute or even five minutes? How do you do that? It’s. And make it sound good. And that’s hard. It’s just hard stuff to do. So what do they do? That’s right. What’s the stuff that you see all the time. That’s great.
Ana Benitez: That’s great. Is that they took a gamble on themselves. It takes Scots to put yourself out there.
Steve Cuden: Well, that’s it. But you know what? You can’t be an artist unless you’re willing to show your art to other people. Otherwise, it’s just you in a room.
Ana Benitez: Right. You and your mom.
Steve Cuden: You and your mom or your dad or whoever it is. Yeah. You. You have to be, uh, willing to put it out and let the criticism come your way. And that also is really hard. And then for someone who’s, as you say earlier, rigid, that’s even more difficult.
Ana Benitez: That’s really. And I think, uh, if people think, okay, I want to take my book to screen, the first thing they need to be is introspective a little bit and say, I need to come out of my shell. How do I do that? How do I do that?
Steve Cuden: You know, that’s a personality issue, though, isn’t it?
Ana Benitez: Yeah. But, you know, personalities could be molded. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of introverted people. Like I told you, the gu. The one out of hundreds of people. And I talked to him afterwards, he was so painfully shy that it was just hard to even congratulate him. But on the stage, he was brilliant.
Steve Cuden: Hmm. He somehow overcame his own nerves and fear and did it.
Ana Benitez: Yes. There’s ways around it. I mean, some people think it’s their altered ego on stage or when they’re pitching. I don’t know what takes the, you know, internally to get there, but I know you can, because when I saw those men win, I just couldn’t believe it. My jaw dropped. But he was brilliant on stage. Try talking to him outside of stage. And you know what?
Steve Cuden: Um, Robin Williams was shy.
Ana Benitez: Painfully shy. If you met him in an elevator and just talked to him one on one he wouldn’t look at you, he would look down. But if he. The elevator was full, he had an audience. All of a sudden, he’s on.
Steve Cuden: So that was the thing. He needed that audience.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. And I think, um, you find a way. Shy people can file a way around that.
Steve Cuden: So you also, on Story Rocket, you not only have lots of authors on your site, but you also do these various special events in. You’re sort of constantly doing them.
Ana Benitez: Yes.
Steve Cuden: Is that because you understand special events from your past?
Ana Benitez: I think it’s in my DNA at this point, yes. Um, so we have different things. So, you know, normally people who have heard of Storyrocket, they think, okay, it’s a pitch site. It’s where I put up my pitch to see if I can get discovered. That is correct. But it’s just. Just a little part of the equation because I think specifically authors, they need, um, to learn our industry, and they’re so behind. Right. So if you’re a screenwriter, you’re more connected to the entertainment industry because you understand the industry a little bit more, or maybe you’ve worked in the industry or its peripheries. But authors are so far removed that we understood, uh, in our early days that we needed to help them, um, come up to speed. And so I came up with the idea of Story Rocket Live. So Story Rocket Live is a free event. We bring in amazing people from our industry. You were in our Story Rocket Live featured?
Steve Cuden: Yes, I was.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. It’s a free event. It’s open to our community, but it’s also open to any writer that wants to come in. And it’s basically how we pay it forward. It’s part of our mission to help out. I mean, we’re here to help. And so they hear from people like you. They’ve heard of, like, entertainment attorneys and intellectual property attorneys. They’ve heard from NBC executives. We have Mike Stger coming up shortly. I mean, so we’ve had so many luminaries from our industry just come in and take questions live or take a theme up so that they understand and they feel a little bit more connected. That’s Story Rocket Live. And then on the educational side, we offer a few courses throughout the year. Which is. One of the courses is the one that you did on Adaptation.
Steve Cuden: I’m just curious. You have this background also in public relations and marketing, and I know that you work very hard at that part of the business as well.
Ana Benitez: Yes.
Steve Cuden: So let’s take the listeners a little bit through what you do or need to do in order to Market an event or market the site in general. What do you do to market? How do you make it happen?
Ana Benitez: Well, um, I can’t take full credit. I do have someone that’s helping me out at this point in. In my life, but it’s a lot of things. And today there’s only. You have to be kind of a little bit omnich channel.
Steve Cuden: What does that mean?
Ana Benitez: That means that your message is in different places, not just only in one place, because the audience is so fragmented. So it’s not like I could just turn in a channel says, oh, this is the author channel. This is where all the authors are. Let me just put an ad there. That would be really easy.
Steve Cuden: Sure.
Ana Benitez: But authors come in a myriad of different genres and tastes and likes and ages and genders, and you want to reach as many of them as possible. So we try to put our message through a lot of different social media. Um, I believe in Story Rocket Live also as a way of helping disseminate our message in a heartful way. As you know, we’ve been in partners with Bauker for many years now. So, Barker, um, most of you, um, that are authors know Baur because they are the company that provide the ISBN number, um, for any book that’s printed in the US all its territories and Australia. So it’s a company that’s been around from the 1800s. It’s one of the most reputable companies, um, in publishing. And they, you know, we’ve been partners for, I think, five years now, for a long time. And so they also help disseminate our message because they believe in our mission. Um, so, you know, it’s just different ways of going through it. Dig just is knowing who you are and what you want to talk about. I think a lot of people don’t understand, like, when they have a book, there is an underlying theme.
Steve Cuden: So the story, you mean, or beyond that?
Ana Benitez: Yeah, to the story into that book. And if they tap on that theme and start promoting themselves, whether. And I would just pick one channel to begin with because it’s. It’s just too. To many without help, as, you know, a lot of these authors are solopreneurs, right?
Steve Cuden: Yep.
Ana Benitez: So I think when authors start thinking of their book as, uh, a brand.
Steve Cuden: Something switches here as opposed to just something that they did.
Ana Benitez: Right. Like, oh, this is a great book. No, this is a brand. I created this book, and this is a brand. And how am I gonna expand on this brand? Let’s say it’s a children’s book. So how am I Going to expand on this children’s book, I might say. I want to go to schools and talk at school events and bring the schools to the teachers of the social studies so they could use that as one of their reference books. And then I’m going to be a speaker at, uh, these events for children. And then I’m going to create the plushie for it or the card game or a coloring book, which is super simple to do. And, uh, it doesn’t cost a lot of money. I’m going to create made stickers. So you have to. Of whatever you are and whatever genre, there’s a way to brand.
Steve Cuden: You’ve got to think of the book as a product that has, beyond it, just the writing on the page.
Ana Benitez: Exactly. You have to think of your book as something that has legs.
Steve Cuden: That has legs. And how many people do you think that are on Story Rocket have managed to think their way through that and have been able to take advantage of that?
Ana Benitez: A few I’ve seen. A few not, I want to say is the minority. We gave, uh, a class earlier in the year called Storytelling and Selling, which was all about that, about the different avenues that you could take your book and understanding that and just realizing that maybe you’re not doing enough for your brand. So if you have one book you can think of, uh, for example, can you think of a prequel or a sequel? So where is that? Where’s your theme? Can you expand on that theme? Who is your main character? Is that somebody that you think that could kind of stand alone and go in a different direction? So there’s many things that you can do with a book that people just think, oh, I just have one book, one little book.
Steve Cuden: Would you say most of your authors are in a genre of fiction of some kind or most of them in literature, which is all over the map. What would you say is the general gist of it?
Ana Benitez: It’s fiction.
Steve Cuden: But is it genre fiction? Is it mostly in either mysteries or sci fi or.
Ana Benitez: We have 32 genres on Storyrocket.
Steve Cuden: 32 genres.
Ana Benitez: So, you know, you’re looking at everything from sci fi to memoirs to children to mystery to thrillers to graphic novels. It’s a lot. It’s a, uh, it’s a lot of. I mean, at this point, like I told you, we have thousands of members from all over the world. So it is, it is a lot of different material.
Steve Cuden: And do you think that you could do it today without the Internet? Oh, no, no. You have to have it. I mean, your site’s on the Internet, so clearly That’s a big piece of it right there.
Ana Benitez: Yes, yes. And there’s a lot of things that happen, I think, to allow story rocky. We were at the right time, at the right place. We started before COVID and then when Covid hit, our business expanded exponentially because.
Steve Cuden: People were at home, were actually writing.
Ana Benitez: Right. And also there was something else that was happening which is what has allowed all of this, which is in, uh, 2012, 2013, Netflix came out. No bona fide actor would go out and do something with Netflix at that time. Everybody laughed at Netflix, but Netflix had something different. They were taking a gamble on unknown writers, unknown stories, and they started hitting home runs. So the industry had to change. And I think streaming was projected to be a bigger thing like a decade later. But it’s, you know, it just exploded. And then one after the other, all, all the networks had a follow suit. Every network today has a streaming channel and we see more and more streaming channels. But what does that do? There’s a demand for content. Now we’re seeing like the reverse. For example, before, if you were not a New York Times bestseller, you are not even being looked at. It’s just, it just wasn’t happening. But let’s take a look at the Queen’s Gambit. The Queen S Gabbit was written in 1983. It had absolutely not a following. It did not have social media, it did not have anything. It was just a great story.
Steve Cuden: Oh. And in the most exciting action packed thing in the world, Chess.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. I mean, I’m telling you, it’s like what?
Steve Cuden: It’s just, you can’t imagine making Imine movie out of chess or TV show out of chess.
Ana Benitez: It’s a series. Yeah, it’s a series. And um, it’s wonderful. If you haven’t seen it or anyone hasn’t seen it, I really recommend it.
Steve Cuden: But the thing, it’s wonderful. It’s great.
Ana Benitez: Netflix took over and they said, we like this, we’re going to produce it. Right. It wasn’t a New York Times bestseller, but by less than a month later it became the number one bestseller.
Steve Cuden: Yeah, huge.
Ana Benitez: And then the same thing happened with the. What is the Briton series?
Steve Cuden: Bridgerton.
Ana Benitez: Bridgerton. Thank you. You know, the same thing happened. It wasn’t on the map, it wasn’t a New York Times bestseller, but when the first the King and I came out, it became a bestseller within three weeks and all five books of the series became bestsellers. So we’re seeing the opposite.
Steve Cuden: I do think one of the uh, books that really Helped to change the thinking in Hollywood was the Martian. The Martian, which was a self published book. Self published and suddenly became this massive movie with big movie stars in it.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, it was a blockbuster movie. Absolutely.
Steve Cuden: With Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, yeah. That’s one of the things I talk about. You know, 50 shades of gray, the Girl on a Train. These were all self published books. Some of them, um, like 50 shades of gray, after being self published for a while, got picked up by a traditional publisher. But still they all started a self published that made it, uh, to screen. I’ve seen a lot of surprises on Story Rocket. I’ve seen uh, someone get picked up, producer, uh, picks this lady up. She’s not a young lady. She had an interesting story but you know, it didn’t really do anything for me much. But it got picked up and now she’s got representation in Hollywood, you know, her career takes off and she told me I was about to give up, uh, when this opportunity came knocking on her. JS I was about to give out.
Steve Cuden: That happens more often than, you know, where somebody’s at the end of their road and then something happens and suddenly off to the races they go. That does happen.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. So, you know, one of my big things is never give up.
Steve Cuden: Never give up. I think that that’s a very good thing as long as you’re not hurting yourself.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, I mean if you’re writing books, you know, I don’t think you’re hurting yourself. But um, that’s true. You know, a lot of people give up on their dream and maybe that, you know, success is in the next corner and you just, you got yourself out of the game. So I say, you know, really never give up. I mean, you just got to stay on it. It’s hard. It’s a hard game. You know it. You’ve been in Hollywood, we’ve been in this entertainment industry for a long, long time.
Steve Cuden: So long time.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. Um, and we’ve seen crazy things and we’ve seen things get produced that really you’re like, why did they produce this? It’s horrible.
Steve Cuden: Well, it’s cliche, but you cannot succeed if you give up. Yeah, it’s the only way to get there is to keep going.
Ana Benitez: Well, I say, you know, what is your job number one as an author or an entrepreneur? And it’s to give yourself a shot.
Steve Cuden: Well, to write you have to write. That’s the first thing.
Ana Benitez: Right. But then it’s to give yourself a shot. What are you going to do? Are you just going to like I said put it on your desktop. Collecting digital dust. That’s not going to get you anywhere.
Steve Cuden: No, you have to. You have to lay it out in the world. There we’re back to the, you know, uh, the author that’s too shy to show their work to someone. You have to get over yourself. And if you don’t, then you have no chance with. If you don’t show it to people, you have to show it to people or else they don’t know it’s there. So that’s part of the. The job of the writer is to get out of their own head and out into the world. That’s part of the job.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. So, I mean, we’re behind camera people. I was never. I mean, I was kind of thrust it through story rocket to be. To become the spokesperson for. For a company, um, because our CEO is a writer and he doesn’t want to be on camera.
Steve Cuden: Yeah, but you’re not shy.
Ana Benitez: You’re not shy. But one thing is not to be shy. Another thing is to be on camera.
Steve Cuden: Well, that’s true, but I think if you’ve. Here’s the thing. Pretty much everyone, with rare exception, is uncomfortable getting on camera for the first time. And then if you do it a few times, you get comfortable with it like anything else. But it is a little unnerving if it’s not your real thing. And. But once you’ve done it once or twice or three times. Okay. I’ve, uh, been there, done that. I didn’t get hurt from it. I didn’t, you know, I didn’t pass out. Then you’re. Then you’re okay. You can just keep going. And the more that you do it, the better you get at it. I think that’s, uh, true for anything, basically.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. I mean, people think that you’re Teflon or something. Like, I still get butterflies. I mean, I’ve spoken in big stages at south by Southwest, at the awesome Film Festival, at the International Book Fair in Spain and Barcelona, uh, and different place. You know, I still get butterflies.
Steve Cuden: Oh.
Ana Benitez: If.
Steve Cuden: I think if you don’t get butterflies, there might be a problem there.
Ana Benitez: Yeah.
Steve Cuden: The butterflies are actually your friend because it means that you’re thinking about what you’re doing, that you really care about what you’re doing, that you’re bringing energy to it so that you make yourself look as good as possible. Butterflies are a good thing. That’s a good stress.
Ana Benitez: Yeah.
Steve Cuden: You know.
Ana Benitez: Do you still get butterflies?
Steve Cuden: Oh, I get. I got butterflies before this show. I get butterflies before every show me.
Ana Benitez: Because you know me.
Steve Cuden: Yes. But, uh, it’s still a performance of a kind where you’re doing something where the public is going to hear this. Um, they’re not going to see it, but they’re going to hear it. And so even to this day I get a little nervous. And if I don’t get nervous, uh, that worries me. It’s like, why am I not nervous? So, yeah, I think nerves are a good thing there. It means you really care about what you’re doing. I believe it was Jeff Bridges who told someone, and I’m forgetting who it was at this point, but that you should think of as nerves, as nervousness, anxiety. In the case of doing a, uh, performance as your friend, you need that little friend on your shoulder to give you that little boost as a friend.
Ana Benitez: That’s a good one.
Steve Cuden: It’s a good way to think about it. You know, it takes a little bit of the onus off of it. So I’ve been having a lot of fun for the last hour or so with Anna Benitez. Just having a great time talking about story rocket and authors and people that are trying to find their way in the world of the arts. And so we’re going to wind the show down a little bit. And I’m wondering, you’ve already told us a lot of really great stories, but do you have a story that you can share with us that’s either weird, quirky, offbeat, strange, or just plain funny?
Ana Benitez: Well, I’mnna tell you a story that you knowuse it happened to both of us in a way.
Steve Cuden: Okay.
Ana Benitez: So as you guys heard before Steve did, ah, an amazing masterclass for our community, for the Storyrocket community. And so we are gung ho about following each member that signs up, um, and pays for this class to make sure they show up. So there’s one person that did not show up, that did not activate their account, that did not do this and that. So we’re worried. So we’re calling him day and night. We’re emailing him, we’re sending him text. Make sure to get to this class. Make sure to get to this class. Well, I get a text and a call at 7:30 in the morning one day.
Steve Cuden: This is after the seminar right before.
Ana Benitez: So we already knew he wasn’t coming right before. Okay. And he says, I’m so and so. And I just want to tell you that my house was raided. They took my computer, my phone, um, everything. I was a whistleblower and the investing. What is it that like the FBI. But the state FBI came in and they had a warrant, and they just took everything. And they just, like, ransacked my house. And I’m like, uh-huh. Uh huh. Like, I’m thinking. I’m thinking, oh, my God, how many excuses? And then he and I said, so what are you working that this happened to you? Goes, I’m a police officer. Do you remember that?
Steve Cuden: I vaguely remember it, yes.
Ana Benitez: Vaguely remember that. So this person, I’m thinking it’s either the biggest story that I’ve ever heard to try to get off of a master classes, or I feel really bad for him.
Steve Cuden: Well, it beats the heck out of, uh, My Dog Ate my home.
Ana Benitez: Yeah. Oh, my God. I mean, he’s like, I don’t have a phone. I don’t have this. I’m just calling you from a front phone. I’m like, oh, my goodness.
Steve Cuden: Okay. Well, I think that’s a pretty good reason if you no longer have your computer. And then it’s pretty hard to do the masterclass without it.
Ana Benitez: Oh, it was very hard. It was very hard. So what did we did? Because we’re good people, we comped them for the next one. Right. So.
Steve Cuden: Well, that was good of you. That was very nice.
Ana Benitez: Yeah, that was nice of us.
Steve Cuden: Right, so, last question for you today, Ann. Um, you’ve given us huge amounts of advice throughout this whole show, but I’m wondering if there’s a solid piece of advice that you like to give to those who are starting out either as authors or in TV producing or whatever, uh, that you like to tell them, or maybe somebody’s in a little bit trying to get to that next level.
Ana Benitez: You know, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for what you want. And I’m going to tell you a story. So in the network, there was this, uh, associate producer who, who was really great. He was really great. And he was definitely could do the job of an executive producer, but he never asked for that job. So what happened? Somebody else got that job. Somebody else got it. Not as good as him. And he came back and he says, why? You, uh, know, I clearly have put in the time. I’m clearly great. I’ve done all this work, blah, blah, blah. My shows get really good ratings. Why was I passed up? You know what the answer was? You did not ask. You did not ask. And, you know, for those of you who are sitting there, you know, waiting for that opportunity to come to you, Opportunities don’t normally come to people. I know I’ve had a lot of opportunities, but I’ve kind of planted the seed along the way. You’ve got to let your intention be known and get yourself out there. Don’t be shy. I mean, I’ve given a lot, like you said, I’ve given a lot of really good advice. But I think because authors are so shy, I get it, you know, they like writing. You know, they want to sit in the DK by themselves and write all day. They’re not really comfortable in the social scene. Get out there. You’d be surprised. And people are helpful. People are really helpful. When you’re kind and you ask for help.
Steve Cuden: I think that’s really excellent advice. And I’ve never really heard anybody on the show say it quite that way that you, it isn’t likely to just come knock and at your door, success or opportunity or whatever, that you have to go out and make it. And I think that that’s really sound and solid advice. And, um, I’m glad you said it because that’s the truth. You have to go. Make your way.
Ana Benitez: Make your way. Yeah.
Steve Cuden: Anna Benitez, this has been an absolutely wonderful hour on Story Beat, and I can’t thank you enough of your time, your energy and your wisdom through all this great stuff that you’ve been doing and Storyrocket. Check out storyrocket.com do.
Ana Benitez: Thank you, Steve. This has been great. Thank you. And thank you everyone for listening in.
Steve Cuden: And so we’ve come to the end of today’s StoryBeat. If you like this episode, won’t you please take a moment to give us a comment, rating or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to? Your support helps us bring more great Story Beat episodes to you. StoryBeat is available on all major podcast apps and platforms, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Tune In, and many others. Until next time, I’m Steve Cuden, and may all your stories be unforgettable.
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