SUCCESS STORY PAULA CIZMAR Writing toward a dream

Paula Cizmar's work reflects her experience growing up in Youngstown.
By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Screenwriter, playwright and instructor Paula Cizmar has a natural rhythm to her writing. She believes that is something she acquired growing up in Youngstown.
"I think a lot of that has to do with having piano lessons all through school. I think it gave me an idea that there was an art world out there," said Cizmar.
She continued her explanation of the relationship between music and writing.
"One of the great things that writers need to do is study music, especially a play or novel or screenplay. They're like writing a work of music. There are different paces, different tones and different rhythms. There's a sound to words. Music is certainly the most emotional of all the art forms. It is the writer's path to translate the emotions of music into words," Cizmar said.
Even her favorite writers had backgrounds in music.
"I think the ones that have musical training are just a little more attuned to their senses," she said.
Her talent as a writer was recognized as a young child.
"When I was a kid, for some reason, I was always writing poems. I remember one of my third-grade teachers took all of my poems and had me draw pictures for them, and then stapled them all together in a little book. I had wonderful teachers, especially in elementary school," said Cizmar.
First experience
After graduating from Chaney High School, she entered the Honors College at Ohio University, where she had her first taste of the world of journalism.
"I always like to do things different. My first stories were for the sports page. I ended up interviewing athletes and going to events that I might not normally have gone. I really liked that. No one expected a woman to be there. I was writing the odd sports, lacrosse. They had a motorcross rally. I did that. Journalism taught me how to write fast in the crunch," said Cizmar.
She completed her studies at OU, and her practical side helped her decide what type of writing she should pursue.
"I knew that poets made about a dollar a year. So I knew if I really wanted to be a writer, that I could write poetry all my life, but I would have to come up with something to support it. Journalism seemed like a good idea at the time," said Cizmar.
Her stint as an intern at the Detroit Free Press influenced her to choose a different writing style. She wrote crime and political stories for the city desk.
She began writing magazine articles, but found the investigative work for her journalistic pieces took time away from her creative endeavors. Finally she switched her concentration solely to creative writing.
"I really always wanted to generate my own stories. I had to make a choice; it was either going to be creative writing or journalism. Journalism was getting in the way," she said.
Her relocation to the West Coast helped solidify her writing choice.
"I had some actors as neighbors who wanted me to write a play for them. They wanted work. I realized that they could get produced. When they did get produced, I got into scriptwriting," said Cizmar.
A worthy pursuit
Since making the decision to pursue creative writing, Cizmar has written screenplays, plays and works as a staff writer for the PBS series "American Family."
Her work has been performed onstage and as readings in London and across the United States from Maine to California.
For any playwright, the fact that his or her work is performed onstage in New York is a thrill beyond words.
"Basically I said to myself, 'You really don't have to do anything ever again.' It was just so exciting. Who could imagine growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, and knowing nothing about the theater and not being related to anybody in the arts and having no connections whatsoever, and then you find yourself walking down a street off-Broadway and there's your name on a marquee," she said.
Her inspiration
Cizmar's upbringing in Youngstown comes through in her work and her choice of projects.
"I have very, very strong working-class values. I have an incredible sense of discipline, strong work ethic. I definitely got that from the Mahoning Valley.
She has also seen similarities in her background to the characters that she writes for in "American Family."
"Working for 'American Family,' even though it's a Latino family, it's also a very hardworking blue-collar family. I'm able to relate to their trials and tribulations because of growing up in Youngstown," she said.
The biggest challenges that Cizmar faces in her writing career is having the time and money to complete her writing projects. To address these problems, she is an adjunct professor at University of California and an instructor for the writing program at UCLA Extension. As an instructor she has also found success. In 2003 she won the Outstanding Instructor of the Year award for screenwriting at UCLA Extension.
Despite the bumps in the road, Cizmar continues the path, which she began in grade school.
"I can't imagine doing anything else. The joke I have with my husband, 'I'm not qualified to do anything else.'"