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Tatjana Samopjan

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Meet Tatjana

Creative consultant, speaker, and coach specialising in development of TV series, movies, and documentaries that aim to reach large audiences.

I am not in the business of keeping people asleep. Stories shown on screens can point us toward a more direct engagement with our own life or numb us out entirely.

 

Guiding, challenging, inspiring, and provoking storytellers and creators toward their most honest, perceptive and captivating expression is my expertise and my passion.

Work with me
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About

What I offer

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CONSULTING

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COACHING

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Guidance and support to get storytellers out of their comfort zone

COACHING

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SPEAKING

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Lectures and keynotes known for their depth, clarity, and originality

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CREATIVE VOLCANO RETREATS

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In-depth coaching combined with powerful body-centred methods

I'm not in the
business of keeping people asleep 

Tatjana Samopjan

Consulting

Creating stories that wake us up to life

As a Creative Consultant, I draw from my development experience and extensive exposure to thousands of projects in different stages of development at European broadcasting and production companies, film academies, film and TV festivals, and funding institutions.

 

Part of my consulting work is providing astute assessments and analyses that help creative companies and funding institutions select projects with the greatest potential in terms of quality of content and its resonance with the audience.
 

"My goal is always to help develop an utterly captivating story, yet never mere entertainment. The kind of story that surprises, bothers, inspires, and may even challenge the way we see the world."

The other part is all about hands-on creative project development. My approach is best described as “Going Beyond Entertainment.” The goal is always the kind of story that wakes us up to life through a genuine exploration of both the light and the dark side of being human, while staying clear of simplification, naivety and cynicism. 

 

Entertainment gives us a respite from the pressures of our lives, which is an honourable function. In moderation, it provides comfort and a sense of easy connection to the world and other people. Made and consumed without awareness, entertainemnt can become an opiate that keeps us sleepwalking through our own lives. Skilful storytelling has always been used to both keep us asleep and wake us up. 

 

To support the quality of penetrating truth, authenticity, depth perception, and clear vision that great stories bring, I initially focus more on the creatives themselves than the story. Examining their actual life experience, beliefs, assumptions, and openness to uncertainty and not-knowing leads us to a deeper source of creativity. It steers the creative process away from derivative ideas and echoing the stories that are already in circulation.

 

Combining imagination with direct experience of reality - be it one’s own or one acquired through immersive research - gives power and authenticity to the story.

 

I work one-on-one, in writers’ rooms, in workshops, and intensive creative retreats that I lead. In recent years my explorations of contemplative traditions have informed and deepened my way of working.

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CONSULTING

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CONSULTING

Hands-on creative developement to bring more power and authenticity intoyour story

Guidance and support to get storytellers out of their comfort zone

DESIGN

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Consulting

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COACHING

Coaching

Nothing beats imagination rooted in life fiercely lived

As a Coach, I offer guidance and support - as well as disruption - to get the storytellers out of their comfort zone and into their most powerful, insightful, skilful, and authentic expression. I have a highly personal approach, and I see a strong connection between the life we live and the stories we tell.

"I don’t shy away from
unconventional methods."

For that reason, the work on the story will often entail some confrontation with the reality of the storyteller's own life. This turns out to be as true for creating a sci-fi opera as it is for a biographical piece. Nothing beats imagination rooted in real life fiercely lived.

 

I work one-on-one, in writers’ rooms, in workshops, and in intensive creative retreats that I lead. In recent years my explorations of contemplative traditions have informed and deepened my way of working. 

Public speaking
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SPEAKING

Lectures known for their depth, clarity and originality

Public speaking has become one of the joys of my life!

I take pleasure in crafting and delivering presentations that make eclectic and unusual connections between storytelling, science, music, spirituality, social responsibility, philosophy, and real-life experience. 

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New lectures are always brewing in my mind.

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Some topics I like to explore:
 

  • Deep structure, patterns and conflict in serialised stories 

  • Turning a TV series from a song into a symphony

  • The use and the abuse of the Hero's Journey

  • Storytellers as truth-sayers, healers and attention thives

  • Going beyond entertainment

  • Entertainment and responsibility

  • Stories we create and stories that create us

  • Hidden ideologies and reality as it is

  • What does it mean and take to Love Thy Characters?

  • Relationship between reality, imagination and truth

  • Buddhism and the roots of drama

  • The body as storyteller

  • How to engage in research with both head and heart

  • Connection between the life we live and the stories we tell

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Some people I have worked with and for

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

"The feeling in the audience at a lecture by Tatjana is like being at a rock concert or a self help guru’s pep talk; the audience is inspired, enlightened and shocked into seeing their own and others’ storytelling in a totally new light."

 

—  Andrea Reuter, Producer & Moderator

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Contact
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