Inspired by our famous Writers at Work interviews, “My First Time” is a series of short videos about how writers got their start. Created by the filmmakers Tom Bean, Casey Brooks, and Luke Poling, each video is a portrait of the artist as a beginner—and a look at the creative process, in all its joy, abjection, delusion, and euphoria.

Today’s featured writer is the playwright Katori Hall, whose American debut, Hoodoo Love, first appeared off Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 2007.

“My First Time” will return with a new set of authors, including Ben Lerner, in a few months. In the meantime, be sure to watch the previous interviews in the series:

• Donald Antrimon Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, his first novel
• Sheila Hetion The Middle Stories, her first collection
• Tao Linon Bed, his first collection
• Christine Schutton Nightwork, her first collection
• Branden Jacobs-Jenkinson his play Neighbors
• Gabrielle Bellon The Book of …series, her early cartoons
• J. Robert Lennonon his debut novel, The Light of Falling Stars