Jacquie Walters never thought she would be a writer.
When she graduated from the University of Virginia and headed to Hollywood, she had every intention of being an actor. But when she became frustrated with the audition process, she thought of the people she admired.
“A lot of them were famous female comedians, like (fellow UVA alumna) Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and they all started as writers,” Walters said. “Then it was like a light bulb went off in my head.”
Now, Walters is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and the author of “Dearest,” her debut horror novel about a new mother who welcomes her estranged mother into her home.
But before her writing career took off, she was an undergraduate student at the University, acting in plays with the Department of Drama and living on the Lawn during her fourth year.
On Grounds
When Walters, a Virginia Beach native, applied to college, she knew she didn’t want a conservatory, though she knew she wanted to be an actor. As a high school student, she toured nine schools in eight days with her family. She knew as soon as she stepped on Grounds she wanted to attend UVA.
“It was just that feeling. I genuinely fell in love with it,” Walters said.
Walters – pictured here at Final Exercises with then-University President Teresa A. Sullivan – is a self-described “poster child” for UVA. (Contributed photo)
UVA sweetened the deal, offering her the opportunity to be an Echols Scholar, which allowed her to design her own major and take courses ranging from biological psychology to playwriting (Walters designed a major in film and drama).
“That helped, too, because you have UVA saying, ‘We value you and we want you to come here and have academic freedom and take whatever classes you want,’ as opposed to other schools that were saying ‘OK, make sure you pick 13 backups for all your classes, because you probably won't get into your first choices.’”
Upon arriving at UVA, Walters became a self-described “poster child” for the University, becoming a resident adviser, an orientation leader and a Lawnie during her four years. She took classes, including one on stage fighting, that enhanced her acting skills and proved valuable when she developed characters as a screenwriter. She also designed a course with associate drama professor Doug Grissom, examining plays that had been adapted into movies and trying her hand at adapting Grissom’s stage play, “So Careless,” into a screenplay.
For her fourth-year thesis, Walters wrote, directed and performed a one-woman show about a young girl who made up stories to entertain and comfort herself. The characters were derived from the plays of Tennessee Williams, a writer with whom Walters became fascinated after performing “The Glass Menagerie” earlier in her time at UVA. She worked closely with professor emeritus Richard Warner at the time.
“There are so many drama faculty who were important to me on so many levels,” Walters said.
In Hollywood
Upon graduating, Walters set out for Hollywood with the goal of becoming an actor. But the audition process was grueling, and she grew tired of feeling like her career was out of her hands. She became a producer for a National Geographic reality show called “Building Wild,” believing maybe that was where her talents lay.
