About

J.E. (Janet Elizabeth) Swainston

The Logline

An ambitious writer/director/producer passionately fights to make it in the world of filmmaking both in and out of Hollywood.

The Pitch

Forged in a small town in Southern Ontario, Canada with the chance to learn and make films bleak and non-existent, my passion for writing focused like a laser on the stage, but by the time I was 16, after seeing a little film called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, my passion was engulfed by film. 

I began to write scripts, terrible ones at first, learning as I grew.  I was then required to make a living, as running away to Hollywood wasn’t practical for a small-town girl from Canada.  I started work in office administration assisting, moved into retail, found community theater and eventually found my way back into film. 

I bought a camera, made some short films, directed a feature for hire and began to plan my career in earnest.  Then tragedy struck and I became disabled, awaiting an operation to restore my life, but that didn’t daunt me.  I continued to learn and grow as a screenwriter, found Twitter and joined the screenwriting community.

As of today, I write features and series, host table reads for other writers under my company banner of Northern Unicorn Films Ltd., read other writers, and keep working towards that dream of being a working screenwriter.

Check out my original scripts here.