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THREAD: May 15, 2000 is the Copyright date on my first screenplay. It was called DEATH GAMES, and it was a wannabe @kevwilliamson teen horror movie. I was 15 years old, a Freshman in High School. It got me a Manager, who agreed to sign me without knowing how old I was. 1/14
My age was revealed when I returned the agreement co-signed by my dad. The Manager called and asked if the 2nd signature was my writing partner. I confessed, "No, it's because I'm 16." I said 16 instead of 15, because it felt more adult and my birthday was coming up soonish. 2/14
DEATH GAMES never sold, but it was pitched around, and there was interest in producing it as a TV movie for the WB Network (now known as The CW) starring cast members from Dawson's Creek and some of their other shows. This was hugely exciting to me. But it never happened. 3/14
After that, I wrote a teen comedy called SWITCHING SEX, which was optioned twice, and to this day is still in the hands of a producer/director in Paris who wrote a French adaption of the script to be produced. But it hasn't come together (yet -- you never know). 4/14
In 2001, I wrote a hostage thriller called WRONG NUMBER, which was also optioned and got close to getting set up with Peter Hyams directing. I even re-wrote the ending, which involved a helicopter escape, because Hyams had a lot of helicopter knowledge and didn't buy it. 5/14
After that, I wanted to write something different. I had written three fairly formulaic genre movies (horror, teen comedy, thriller) that all got attention. So, I foolishly spent the next two years writing 3 features that were all quirky & boundary-pushing (aka unsellable). 6/14
WRONG NUMBER eventually sold in 2006 (5 years after the first draft) to an indie company. I was in my 6th semester of college. I crammed my class schedule and graduated after 7 semesters & used the money from the script to move to L.A. and start working for free as a PA. 7/14
None of those early scripts were every produced. I started getting frustrated about writing things that no one could see, so I quit writing for a long time and put all of my energy into learning every aspect of Production so that I could one day direct my own work. 8/14
I worked as a P.A., Production Coordinator, Line Producer, Production Manager, Co-Producer, 1st AD, and Editor on a ton of different bad indie movies. I started following the production work, moving to Louisiana for 2 years, and then Connecticut / New York for 5 years. 9/14
In 2012, leaning heavily on favors from all of the Crew friends I had made, I started directing my own short projects. Eventually, I started writing again (after avoiding it for about 7 years). 10/14
In 2014, my wife and I decided to move back to L.A. to pursue my directing career. I had no leads and no work lined up. I took a job as a Producer's Assistant at Sony. In theory, the job was a big step backward, but I saw it as a chance to get my foot in the Studio world. 11/14
As an Assistant, I spent every spare moment and lunch break writing new stuff (pilots, pitches, features). I worked for that Producer (eventually becoming his Creative Executive) for 2 1/2 years until I got offered a job to direct an ultra-low-budget thriller in 2017. 12/14
Since 2017, I have written/directed/edited 4 micro-budget features that have all been widely distributed (TV & VOD), yet you likely haven't heard of them. They're all flawed films, but I poured my heart and soul into each one, because it's taken a long time to get this far. 13/14
I honestly can't believe it's been 20 years since I finished writing that first screenplay in 2000. It's been a long journey, but in many ways this is just beginning. I guess the best advice I can give is this: work hard, and be dumb enough to never quit. To be continued... 14/14
