“Excited” is just too bland a word. Elated? Ecstatic? Revelrous? Take your pick. I was feeling them all when Eric C. Jones of the Tobias Literary Agency offered to represent me as my literary manager for screenwriting work.

I queried Eric with my one-hour TV pilot THE BAD NEWZ in early July and he got back to me about two weeks later with a request to meet. Shout out to Melessa Sargant and the Scriptwriters Network for helping me prepare for the meeting. My feature HAPPY JACK won TSN’s 2022 Hollywood Outreach Program, and Melessa has made herself available to help in any way possible ever since. I thought my call with Eric in late July went well, but you just never know if you and your work is going to be just right for an agent or manager.

So when one week later, sitting on the shore of Lake Tahoe during a camping trip with my brother, I saw Eric’s email extending an offer of representation, suffice to say I was jubilant. Maybe it was just the thin mountain air, majestic mountains and the workings of a double IPA, but I was a little emotional, too. Every step in this process to become a published novelist and paid screenwriter is a challenging one. The odds are long. It’s one hell of a journey.

What’s next? Well, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are certainly muddying the waters, but when things clear, Eric and I will hopefully find happy homes for my scripts with producers/production companies who are going to be hungry for new work. Or, hopefully, someone will see the same spark in my work Eric did and hire me as a writer for a new project. It’s exciting to even put that hope in words. The journey might be long and hard, but I’m still making my way.

Good News for The Bad Newz

THE BAD NEWZ went on a hot streak this spring and early summer in film festival and screenwriting competitions. With the awards, it vaulted into the top 18% of all projects listed on Coverfly and also made Coverfly’s The Red List as one of the top 20 television pilots for the month of July.

In the past few months, THE BAD NEWZ placed as a semifinalist in the Scriptmatix Fellowship, Richmond International Film Festival, Your Script Produced Season 4 and Scriptmatix Pilot Season. It placed as a quarterfinalist in the Inroads Fellowship (Season 6).

HAPPY JACK continues to do well on the contest circuit, too. On the heels of a quarterfinalist placement in the 2023 Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition, the script is now in the top 19% of all projects listed on Coverfly and made The Red List as a top 20 fantasy feature for the month of August.