WRITER’S BIO – SUSAN EILEEN JIZBA
Growing up as the Black Sheep Liberal, raised by a family of Conservatives, Susan Eileen Jizba has always felt like an outsider. Susan is a LA based writer who loves to create driven female characters that echo her personal quest to find her “own tribe”; a home in which she is heard, understood, and can fully express her own unique authentic voice.
Fascinated with the polarity of how men and women view the same world very differently, Susan obtained a BA in Psychology from Claremont McKenna College. Inspired to express a feminine viewpoint in the fictional world, Susan learned the craft of screenwriting through UCLA Extension. Motivated to learn the industry and master its evolving marketing game plans, Susan worked at Disney, Beacon Pictures, Sony, and Samuel Goldwyn Films.
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LOGLINES: Features | Short Screenplays | Short Stories
Listed below are the loglines of the original, award-winning writing (features, short screenplays, short stories) written by Susan Eileen Jizba:
FEATURES: Loglines
TITLE: THE PORTRAIT
FORMAT: Feature | Supernatural Romantic Mystery
LOGLINE: When a talented artist with psychic gifts is commissioned to paint the portrait of a skeptical British antique art dealer at his country manor, she must unravel the dangerous mystery of her own tragic past life in order to rediscover the love she lost and the home where she truly belongs.
See link for 16th Century Manor / setting that inspired THE PORTRAIT: https://www.pinterest.com/susaneileenjizba/the-portrait-written-by-susan-eileen-jizba/
TITLE: THE WISE WOMAN
FORMAT: Feature | Supernatural Dramatic Mystery
LOGLINE: A woman whose childhood psychic talents helped uncover an extraordinary archaeological site, must battle her childhood demons, as well as dangerous outside forces, when she agrees to help an archaeologist’s son find his missing mother and reveal controversial ancient truths about the sacred Goddess. The threats against them are very real, as their discoveries are poised to result in a revolutionary change in the way people see the world.
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TITLE: WOLF MOON MANOR
FORMAT: Feature | Grounded Supernatural Drama
LOGLINE: A successful businesswoman, who had long ago rejected her magical heritage in order to fit in to the mainstream culture, has to reassess the choices of her past when her mother’s dying wish, forces her on a scavenger hunt in which she must decide whether to reclaim her authentic nature and ancestral manor with it’s risks and dangers, or continue to live a life of lies.
My short story “The Ballad of the Mystical Witch, Maeve Saille Wolfe” is the prequel to my feature WOLF MOON MANOR. See below link to the related prequel / short story:
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TITLE: GUILTY
FORMAT: Feature | Drama / Murder Mystery
LOGLINE: A homicide detective, who is also a rape survivor, is assigned to solve the brutal murder of a rapist.
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TV SERIES / PILOT: Logline
TITLE: FORMOSA PLACE *
FORMAT: One-Hour Serialized TV Series | Workplace satire
LOGLINE: When a sleazy Hollywood player starts to lose his Midas touch, he becomes obsessed with annihilating the newfound fame of the company’s laidback pot-dealing delivery guy and his crush, a fresh off the bus, talented aspiring screenwriter.
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SHORT SCREENPLAYS: Loglines
TITLE: THE AWAKENING *
FORMAT: Short Script | Supernatural Mystery
LOGLINE: On Halloween night, a woman attempts to conjure the spirit of her deceased grandmother, but unknowingly ends up awakening powerful mysterious forces within herself instead.
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TITLE: A YEAR AND A DAY
FORMAT: Short Script | Romance
LOGLINE: A Wedding Planner and an Accountant take a leap of faith at a small Italian villa overlooking the sea, as they dive headlong into an adventure of the senses, in pursuit of the true love that has always evaded them.
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TITLE: JUST FOR FUN: A HORROR LOVER’S FANZINE
FORMAT: Short Script | Horror (adapted from my short story)
LOGLINE: A callous young man learns a little too late that his careless words and actions can have deadly consequences.
Link to related short story:
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TITLE: THE MAGICIAN *
FORMAT: Short Script | Spy / Action Adventure
LOGLINE: A mysterious woman poses as a contact, “The Magician”, to assist an engineer fleeing with the blueprints of his top-secret invention, by helping him escape danger and catch a departing train; but is she his ally or an enemy? Is it a trap, or his only way out?
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SHORT STORIES / FLASH FICTION: Loglines
TITLE: “The Ballad of the Mystical Witch, Maeve Saille Wolfe”
FORMAT: Rhyming Short Story | Historical Fiction
LOGLINE: A 17th Century mystic, wise woman, and witch, Maeve Saille Wolfe flees the oncoming religious civil war and persecuting witch hunts in her ancestral Irish lands to embark on a journey to the New World to find and found a sanctuary for wild creatures and old growth forests, creating a safe place to pass on her ancient knowledge and wisdom until the time was right to take on the powerful forces of the Patriarchy.
This short story is the prequel to my feature WOLF MOON MANOR.
Link to short story:
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TITLE: “Blame it on the Moonlight”
FORMAT: Short Story | Magical Realism / Romance
LOGLINE: An ambitious store clerk realizes he’s missing out on life and love when a mystical woman with a pet bat mysteriously shows up at his shop on the night of the full moon.
Link to short story:
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TITLE: “The Gray Ledger” *
FORMAT: Short Story | Supernatural Feminist Horror
LOGLINE: A simple reconciliation of accounts turns out to be much more than one woman bargained for. A feminist horror tale with a twist.
Link to short story:
http://susaneileenjizba.com/index.php/the-gray-ledger-by-susan-eileen-jizba/
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TITLE: “Just for Fun: A Horror Lover’s Fanzine”
FORMAT: Short Story | A Horror Fable (also adapted into a short film)
LOGLINE: A callous young man learns a little too late that his careless words and actions can have deadly consequences.
Link to short story:
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TITLE: “The Poppet” *
FORMAT: Micro Fiction / Flash Fiction | Horror Story (100 words)
LOGLINE: A Halloween prank backfires horrifically when a girl creates a small creepy doll, a poppet, in order to scare her sister.
Link to short story:
http://susaneileenjizba.com/index.php/the-poppet-microfiction-by-susan-eileen-jizba/
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TITLE: “A Simple Request” *
FORMAT: Micro Fiction | Suspense / Thriller (100 words)
LOGLINE: A woman’s simple request to borrow an awl tool from a bookmaker, quickly switches into dangerous reciprocal request from the bookmaker.
Link to short story:
http://susaneileenjizba.com/index.php/a-simple-request-a-tiny-tale/
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*AWARDS AND HONORS:
Original TV Pilot:
FORMOSA PLACE
Honorable Mention – Scriptapalooza
Honorable Mention – Pilot Quest
Short Film Scripts:
THE AWAKENING – Placed in top 15 – NYC Midnight Short Screenplay Challenge
THE MAGICIAN – Finalist – Cinema Street Women’s Short Screenplay Competition
Short Stories / Micro Fiction / Flash Fiction:
“The Gray Ledger” – Placed in top 15 – NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge
“The Poppet” – 1st Honorable Mention NYC Midnight 250 word Microfiction Challenge
“A Simple Request” – 4th Place NYC Midnight 100 word Microfiction Challenge
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SPECIAL TRAINING
UCLA Extension – Screenwriting Program
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS / NETWORKING
Greenlight Women Member / Founder of the Greenlight Women Writer’s Support Group
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