Jen Waters

Film/theatre Journalist, Screenwriter, Singer, Playwright and Songwriter

Burbank, California

Member Since:
September 2018

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

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About Jen

Jen Waters began playing the piano in her parents' Hershey, Pennsylvania, home in the second grade. In the fourth grade, she saw her first musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS. Although she enjoyed learning classical pieces on the piano, sometimes she would write her own songs instead of practicing her assigned lesson. Thus began her love of writing lyrics and melodies. She wrote her first song in the seventh grade and hasn't stopped since.

During the summer of 1994, Jen attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. In 1999, she graduated as an S.I. Newhouse Scholar from the School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a major in magazine journalism and minors in music industry and in English and textual studies. She took the TV, radio, and film classes in sound production. She also took classes at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. During her junior year, she studied abroad for a semester in London, England. Upon graduation, Dean Rosanna Grassi awarded her with the Henry J. Wolff Prize for the graduating senior deemed most proficient in journalism.

She has worked for such Pennsylvania publications as HARRISBURG MAGAZINE, THE PATRIOT NEWS, and THE TIMES LEADER. She also worked for seven years in the Washington, D.C., media, writing mostly human-interest stories.

"Yellow Roses," a song Jen co-wrote, became the grand-prize winner in the country category of the 2005 Session-I John Lennon Songwriting Contest. She has performed at various places such as the ASCAP Writer's Showcase at the Kennedy Center with host Stephen Schwartz, Genghis Cohen, Hallenbeck's, Hotel Cafe, the Koffeehouse Sundance Film Festival Chateau, and the Durango Songwriters Expos. Since 2010, music-industry veteran Judy Stakee has mentored her.

In August 2014, Jen released a 33-song collection through Pen Jen Songs called WHIMSY. She also released ten spoken-word stories and poems that she wrote and performed in a collection called WONDERLAND. In April and May 2016, she re-released the WHIMSY songs as WHIMSY FOR ONE and WHIMSY FOR TWO, each with an original Christmas song. In November 2016, she released nine spoken-word stories that she wrote and performed in a collection called WINTER WONDERLAND.

She had three releases in 2017. HANDWRITTEN, a 22-minute recording of her grandparents' historical-fiction World War II love story, was released in February. The following month presented PURITY, a 12-song collection with a pop-classical influence. In October, she released IMPOSSIBLE THINGS, ten original spoken-word stories and poems. Her blog Pen Jen's Inkwell features her latest children's short stories and poems.

Combining her love for music and children, she founded Pen Jen Productions and created a children's novel and musical series, THE WHIRLWIND CHRONICLES: THE MAGIC MUSIC BOX, THE HORSE GATE, and DREAMS OR DUST. She also wrote KISSES, a feature film musical screenplay based on the life of Milton S. Hershey, which she plans to adapt for the stage.

Her current works in progress include several children's novel and musical series: THE MARY NOSE MYSTERIES, THE DILEMMAS OF DAISY DIMPLE, MANDY DANDIE'S PINK LEMONADE, THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, LEGENDS, ALL ANGELS, and THE HARP OF IRIS (part four of THE WHIRLWIND CHRONICLES).

She is an ASCAP member and a nominee for the ASCAP Joe Raposo Children's Music Award. She has hundreds of pop tunes yet to be written.

Gender:
Female

Badges

Certifications

Photos

Letter of recommendation from Rosanna Grassi, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, nominating Jen as a Syracuse University Scholar.

Letter of recommendation from Ron Minard, editor of HARRISBURG MAGAZINE, to the Members of the Newhouse Awards Committee at Syracuse University to nominate Jen as a Syracuse University Scholar. She got her start in writing through editor Ron Minard.

Credits

IMPOSSIBLE THINGS (2017)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Family, Music and Musical) Voice over performer, Story Writer, Executive Producer
PURITY (2017)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Music) Singer, Songwriter, Executive Producer
HANDWRITTEN (2017)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Family, Biography, Music and Musical) Voice over performer, Story Writer, Executive Producer
WINTER WONDERLAND (2016)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Family, Music and Musical) Voice over performer, Story Writer, Executive Producer
WHIMSY FOR TWO (2016)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Music) Singer, Songwriter, Executive Producer
WHIMSY FOR ONE (2016)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Music) Singer, Songwriter, Executive Producer
WONDERLAND (2014)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Family, Music and Musical) Voice over performer, Story Writer, Executive Producer
WHIMSY (2014)
Music by Pen Jen Songs (Music) Singer, Songwriter, Executive Producer

View all 8 credits

Awards

ASCAP's Joe Raposo Children's Music Award Nomination
(2017)
Honorable Mention in the USA Songwriting Competition for “Where There Are Dreams”
(2009)
Honorable Mention in Billboard World Songwriting Contest for “Where There Are Dreams”
(2009)
Honorable Mentions in Billboard World Songwriting Contest for “Yellow Roses” & “Bridge of Sighs”
(2007)
Honorable Mention in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest for “Yellow Roses”
(2007)
Honorable Mention in the SongDoor International Songwriting Competition for “Yellow Roses”
(2006)
ASCAP Songwriter’s Showcase at the John F. Kennedy Center with host Stephen Schwartz
(2006)
Grand Prize Winner in Session I of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for the song “Yellow Roses”
(2005)
Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association, Second Place Religion, for feature article “Pop Psalmists"
(2004)
Silver Angel Award Winner from Excellence in Media for feature article "Herald from Heaven"
(2002)