I started writing when I was a kid in elementary school and haven’t stopped since. What drove me to writing? I’m a creator, storyteller and my life experiences and love of the craft put me on a path to write, write, write!

I’m a published poet and actually wrote a Shakespearean Sonnet. Yeah, I did that! I wrote my first novel and published it back in 2013. What got me into screenwriting was when I ‘faxed’ a note to Producer/Creator Jeri Taylor (Star Trek Voyager) back in the mid ‘90’s. What I didn’t expect was an invitation to go to Paramount and meet her and pitch in person.

Over the years drive, passion, dedication and being persistent put me where I am today. I’ve pushed myself and wrote and rewrote my stories, my project that’s currently under development and met with studio executives four times over the years. I’ve gotten into the studios without vetting, without an agent or manager and I did it because, I just could, and it’s paid off.

I’ve had my share of ups and downs, disappointments, and successes, too. You cannot let the little things scare you away from the success that awaits you.

I joined Stage 32, 5 years ago doing my first pitch to Jordan Garrett then with Buffalo 8 and he loved it. I connected with Cindy Villarreal on Stage 32 via script coverage services and immediately asked her, what the next steps were. She was excited about the project and told me she wanted to take it on. A couple months later, she sent me an agreement which we signed and now, she’s doing everything within her power to make Abaddon a reality.

There are a few things that you need to understand when getting your dream on the big screen.

1. Passion
2. Dedication
3. Determination
4. Perseverance
5. Tenacity
6. Listen don’t just HEAR!

Passion - [ˈpaSHən] - NOUN

strong and barely controllable emotion. a state or outburst of strong emotion.

“Passion is a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone or something. Passion can range from eager interest in or admiration for an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person. It is particularly used in the context of romance or desire, though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust.”

Without passion for what “you” believe in, you might as well just hang it up and get a regular job. But you know what a JOB really is, right? JOB = Just Over Broke! Don’t fall into that trap. Passion is believing in yourself and your abilities. I have a passion for writing and creating compelling stories that will HIT YOU HEAD ON and give your brain a chance to think!

What is your passion? Be passionate about everything you do, especially with regards to your writing. Don’t worry if you get a block. Take a break, relax, meditate, breathe! Ohmmmmmm! You get me, right?

INT. OFFICE – WRITER – DAY

The writer is seen at their computer. They are frustrated. They smoke another cigarette. There are a lot of crushed soda cans about. The writer slams the desk. They put their head in their hands.

So you get the idea, right? Don’t give up on what you’re passionate about. Give your brain time to think when you’re in a rut. Oh remember, There’s a saying, “A rut is a grave with both ends kicked out.” Too often we get in a rut and don’t even realize where we are. We are plodding back and forth doing whatever it is, never looking up to see where we are or where we’re going. If we’re not careful the rut will get so deep that we’ll never get out. Kick those ends out and walk “OUT” of your rut and continue on your journey. Remember: Writing and life is a journey not a destination.

Write, Rewrite and Write again. By the way, that’s a good reference book called: REWRITE by Paul Chitlik. I highly suggest you get it.

Dedication - [ˌdedəˈkāSH(ə)n] – NOUN

the quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose.

Dedication is defined as the state of being committed to doing a particular task effectively and efficiently. It is an important personality characteristic of an individual. Dedication is highly required to achieve personal goals in life.

Don’t confuse Dedication with Commitment. They are mutually exclusive, but they can work in tandem with each other.

Commitment is about emotional attachment towards something, and dedication is about an interpersonal commitment towards something. Therefore, both these terms are linked with the level of interest of the individuals towards achieving a particular task or an activity.

Dedication to your craft and your dream is KEY to success. You MUST be dedicated.

I get my dedication from my time in the US Navy. I spend 11 years, 8 months, and 26 days but hey, who’s counting right? When I met Geriann McIntosh, former VP of Warner Bros. WBTV, back on January 2020, right before COIVD, she shared with me what she liked about me. She said, “Peter, I love your passion, dedication, determination, perseverance and tenacity as well as being a veteran.” Yes, ironically, these are the 5 things that will help you as they have helped me. Being a US Navy Veteran is something a lot of studio’s love.

Be dedicated to your craft but most importantly, your family and true to yourself. Make time for the dedication(s) in your life but family must always come first. The late Gale Sayers, former running back with the Chicago Bears and friend of the late Brian Piccolo (the movie Brian’s Song which you need to watch) said these words: “The LORD is first, my friends are second and I am third.” I am not saying if you don’t believe in an omnipotent deity, then make your family first which is missing in this statement. Dedication is far and wide but when it comes to writing, dedicate a specific time every day, even if it’s just 1 hour, to writing what you love, and you’ll move mountains.

Determination - [dəˌtərməˈnāSH(ə)n] – NOUN

firmness of purpose; resoluteness.

"he advanced with an unflinching determination"

Determination is the key to success. That means that if you stay focused on a “keep going” attitude you will eventually attain success. Sometimes “keep going” may look like pushing forward with all you have. Sometimes it looks like sitting quietly and turning inward.

Be DETERMINED on your writer’s journey. Don’t deviate from your path to success. Be laser focused and see the endgame in your mind. You know, a long time ago, in a positive motivational class far, far away, I learned something about determining focus. I just made that up, cool, huh? I digress. So, whenever I wanted something, I turn to what I learned from Tony Robbin’s Personal Power II: The Driving Force. FOCUS on what you want in life and say it out loud. Put it on a post-It note and stick on your mirror so when you get up and do your daily routine, you’ll see it and here’s all that is required. Tony said, “Whatever you want in life, be it a house, car, anything, say this: What must I do to achieve _____________? Fill in that BLANK with whatever it is you want and in 30 days your subconscious will DRIVE you in the direction towards that goal.

How does that work with determination? Well, for me, I followed Tony’s formula for winning and I wanted a new car back in the late 90’s. I know I couldn’t afford it, but I kept stating what I wanted. That Lamborghini. Nah, I couldn’t afford it so I said to myself, “Self, what must I do to get a new car?” I put that on a sticky note and stuck to the mirror. I saw it every day. Within 5 mos, I was able to walk into a dealership and drop $4,000.00 on the hood of the car. I drove out with it 2 hours later. That’s DETERMINATION, folks.

I bought a house in Tennessee the same way and beat out another person and offered 10,000.00 more. I got a gorgeous 5,000 sq ft Georgian style home with an in-law apartment on 3 acres on the top of Fredonia Mountain in Dunlap, TN. Took me 4 mos, but I closed on it on 4 February 2012. BOOM! You need to understand something. It may take you months, maybe a couple years, to achieve that goal, but BE DETERMINED and BE DEDICATED to your dream.

Perseverance - [ˌpərsəˈvirəns] – NOUN

persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

Definition of Perseverance: determined continuation with something: steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks.

The Mars Perseverance Rover was so aptly named because of this very reason: "Perseverance is a strong word," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in March 2020 during the rover's naming ceremony. "It's about making progress despite obstacles." Like NASA's other Mars rovers, Perseverance got its name via a nationwide student competition.

Perseverance in writing is the same thing. You are driving forward, you hit obstacles or roadblocks, like we say in an Agile Software Engineering way, you need to find ways around those roadblocks and keep moving forward. You cannot achieve your goal without perseverance.

Every screenwriter gets to the point where they ask themselves difficult questions. "Is it worth it?" "Why is it taking so long?" "Maybe it's time to quit?" STOP THAT STINKIN’ THINKIN’ PEOPLE! It’s time for a reset. You need a makeover. JUST KEEP PERSEVERING and you’ll achieve your goal.

Another thought to ponder: Anything your mind can conceive and believe you can and therefore will achieve. The BELIEF MAKES IT SO! With regards to Project Abaddon: RISE OF THE DESTROYER, which I started on in 1999 with the late Arnold Soloway. I had originally made it a Star Trek story, but Arnie told me, “Peter, rip out the Star Trek stuff, because you’ll never make it to Paramount.”

Well low and behold, on 3 DEC 2013 @ 1130 AM EST the very anniversary of my late father’s passing, in 1987 from Lung Cancer, I get a call from Suzanne DeLaurentiis at Paramount telling me she wants to produce my sizzle reel. We signed a one-year deal with her and her company, and on 24 JANUARY 2014, we did the table read for Abaddon in the Lucille Ball Bungalow and it was the most INCREDIBLE thing to the words that my partner Gary N Hauger and I wrote come to life. We shot the sizzle reel on 3 MAY 2014 and sent to Sony Pictures’ Peter Nelson, then EVP of Stage 6 Productions. I met with him on 9 FEB 2018 at the SONY lot. How’s that for persevering, huh?

It’s all about never giving up, never surrendering to yourself or others. My wife hates my project, she’s NOT supportive of it, that is UNTIL things started churning. Hmmm. Anyway, there were times when I was NOT prioritizing my family life and writing life and she let me have it. No, not physically, but set the law down that I have to have a work-family-life balance. I agreed. Be aware of your time and the time it takes away from your family. If you live alone, then all bets are off. Go for it!

Tenacity - [təˈnasədē] – NOUN

the quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly; grip.

"the sheer tenacity of the limpet"

the quality or fact of being very determined; determination.

the quality or fact of continuing to exist; persistence.

Look at all those related nouns, huh? Cool how they all connect together. Yeah, I forgot one word in my list: PERSISTENCE. I’m on persistence S.O.B. You have to be! You need to be! But don’t get buggy and make people angry. Persist in your dream in a way that people will appreciate not regret.

I have met people because I am tenacious. I have written and spoken to 7 CEOs, randomly because of issues I found in their products or services and wanted to just speak to them. I’ve made friends with Bob Wilkins, CEO of SoClean, Chris Jaran former CEO of Terrafugia and now COO of MD Helicopters, CEO J Scott Kirby, United Airlines, Dan Mondor, former CEO of Concurrent Computer Corporation and now CEO of Inseego Corporation, and Brad D Smith, former CEO of Intuit and now President of Marshall University, his alma mater. I’m NOT afraid to speak to anyone and meet everyone. How else are you going to achieve success, right?

Dan Curry (7-time Emmy winner for VFX with Star Trek and veteran of over 100 films), Mike Demeritt (1st AD for Star Trek Voyager), and Thomas P Vitale (former head of Syfy and Chiller) all love my tenaciousness. They get it. They appreciate that quality in me and that I always have to keep going. My determined tenacity will continue to drive me and project forward in a way that I will succeed, but with a balance that will allow me to enjoy my life and enjoy my family time. Make time for family, ok? That’s key to the success of any project you undertake.

Listen - [ˈlis(ə)n] – VERB

give one's attention to a sound.

Hear - [hir] – VERB

perceive with the ear the sound made by (someone or something).

I put both these words here as they are different. There’s a saying: “We were given two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Make sense, right? SHUT UP every so often and LISTEN INTENTLY and not just HEAR! You’ll never HEAR what’s being said if you DON’T LISTEN! I am not yelling with my uppercase letters, so, you’re NOT hearing that, but I am emphasizing those words. You can talk your way out of deal if you’re not listening to what’s being said.

Every step of the way, I’ve been on my writing journey, I’ve listened to the advice given me by those who have become my teachers. Yep, I smell another saying, here: “When the student is ready the teacher will appear, when the teacher is ready the student will appear and sometimes that person is YOU!” We are all students and teachers for each other. We all have something to learn from each other. In this blog, I want you to learn from my story and understand how DIFFICULT it is, but you CANNOT give up. You need to push through and get what you want. You can achieve your dream.

When I was pitching to Star Trek, Hart Building, from the late 90’s to 2003, I had the opportunity to meet and have dinner with Brannon Braga, Dan O’Shannon and Jeri Ryan. Yeah, 7 of 9!

I’m going to share how that all came to be. It’s important. You see, Brannon was just an intern then. In 1996, I pitched to him in September. It was one month before I’d wake up and find my first wife, dead on the couch in the living room, on October 5th.

I was speaking to Brannon, and we were conversing after the pitch. I told him how Star Trek Generations inspired me especially with the dialogue between Kirk and Picard on horses in the Nexus.

This is that dialogue:

KIRK: You up for retirement?

PICARD: No.

KIRK: Good! Don’t let them retire you, don’t let them transfer you, don’t let them do anything that will take you off the bride of that ship because while you’re there, you can make a difference.

That was the catalyst for me being a writer. I told Brannon and how that did it for me. He said that he had never had anyone tell him that about dialogue that he wrote. I then started crying. Not because of the words, but because my then 37-year-old wife. He picked up the phone, off speaker and asked me what was wrong. I told him my wife was dying. She had lost her sight in both eyes and on Dialysis due to complications from Type 1 diabetes. He told me, to be with her and take care of her, as I was her caregiver and he said, if I was ever in Hollywood to look him up.

Well, that time came when I went to pitch in person to another intern at the Hart Building in October of 2003. When we were done, with my then second wife, I asked if Brannon was in town. The intern said, yes, would you like to meet him? I said yes. So we walked over to his office and there across the hall was Manny Coto’s office, Rene Echeverria’s office (DS9), and in Brannon’s office was Terry Matalas (his assistance and now head of Star Trek at Paramount+) and Andre Bormanis standing next to Brannon.

The intern introduced me, and Brannon stopped talking to Andre and said, “Oh my god! You’re the one!” I was like, what, I’m the one? He clarified and said, “You were the man pitching to me 7 years ago and cried about his wife’s illness. Please, please come in.” Over the course of the next few minutes, Brannon told Terry to get me all the writer director’s guides, bibles, and tech manuals for the shows. Also, he had a back lot tour arranged for me and my second wife. Then he told Terry to have dinner arranged.

They were preparing for Star Trek Nemesis, and we got to meet people and see the vehicles being built that Picard would drive off a cliff into a shuttle. Remember that scene? A couple days later, I went to then Sicily Restaurant, in Van Nuys, now, gone and my second wife and I got a table. Brannon walks in and then Dan O’Shannon walks in, he was the EP for Frasier, remember that show? We were getting ready to order dinner when he said, let’s wait a moment for Jeri. She’ll be here shortly. Sure enough, in walks, Jeri Ryan, and the first words out of her mouth were, and I’ll never forget this, “I’ve been up since 3 AM, in make up all day, how do I look?” She was incredible, relaxed at 7 PM.

We all sat down and had a great dinner closing the place down while the world series was playing the tube. He told me stories about Rick Berman and how the ending of Enterprise didn’t go quite the way he expected but the relationships were great there at Paramount. There were things that no one was privy to then, but I got an earful and listened. What a fantastic journey that was for me. After dinner, we all walked to our cars, said our goodbyes and he gave me a hug and told me if I was ever back in town, we’d do stuff. Oh, one more thing, Brannon is a close-up Magician like me. He saw that and handed me 100.00 bucks to find him some great magic on Hollywood and Vine. I did and he was very grateful.

That is what all 6 of those words have done for me. That is what they can do for you. Remember, it’s your dream, its in your head and now start sharing it with people. If you, don’t it won’t become their dream too and they won’t be able to help you. Blessing to you on your writing journey and feel free to reach out to me directly or via Stage 32.

Let’s Soar!