I wrote my first book at the age of nine, a pastiche inspired by Ben and Me, a favorite book about Ben Franklin and his sentient mouse companion. I can still recall the joy I had in simply putting words to paper, words that would conjure images in my mind as I wrote them. And that is the way I continue to write today, as if the story were a movie in my head, scenes rewound and replayed as I re-read and tweak them. I once read somewhere that not everyone visualizes what they read, that for some people, they’re just words.

It was that talent for visualization that led me to attend Emerson College and major in film production. After college, I co-owned a production company in Boston that specialized in corporate films and commercials. It was a successful company, but I yearned to tell stories, not sell products.

Thus, I relocated to Los Angeles with my wife and ended up serving as a freelance reader for production companies and studios. I estimate that I read a total of three thousand scripts during the seven years I plied that trade. It also was during that time that I resolved to devote myself to writing as a profession—both narrative and screenwriting. I read every book I could find on the craft of writing novels and screenplays and wrote constantly, starting out with short stories.

My first novel, STALAG, was the result, though that was the second novel published, the first being my second novel, TITANIC 2012. My methods have developed to the point where I first write the book and then adapt it into a screenplay. However, there have been times when the reverse occurs, and I write an original screenplay that I then itch to turn into a novel. This method taught me a great deal about the ins and outs of both mediums. Again, that visualization technique aided me in both pursuits.

I first came to Stage 32 quite by accident, stumbling across the portal through a Google search. I honestly cannot recall what I was searching for, but I was intrigued by the idea of a web site that puts writers together with executives, producers, and managers and those accomplished professionals would actually read my work.

I’ve spent the last year and half of the pandemic using Stage 32 to pitch my work and have phone consultations with a wide variety of industry people for several of my projects. Everyone was extremely helpful, and I received a lot of insights. The best experiences with Stage 32 were those where the executives connected with my work to such a degree that they were willing to take it up their chains of command. That was and is a great feeling when that happens.

Such was the case with Cindy Villarreal of Majestic Productions, LLC. She read our limited series pilot Starring… John Dillinger and during our consultation call pronounced it “ready to go.” An alternative history, the story centers around Dillinger’s chance meeting with a young girl who tells him he looks like a movie star, prompting him to make a fateful decision to surrender outside the Biograph Theatre in July 1934, instead of dying in a hail of bullets.

Our show seeks to explore the consequences of that one simple act and the ripples of change that decision sends through the lives of everyone he knows and the world at large. My co-creator and longtime collaborator, Brian Anthony, and I have since signed a shopping agreement with Cindy, and I have every confidence we will see the series produced. Cindy is a real pro, and I truly appreciate her enthusiasm and her drive.

My advice to other writers is simply this: stay true to your vision. Lots of people will give you notes, but those notes are only a subjective opinion. Now, I’ll take a good idea from anyone who offers it, and I’ve had some suggestions that I have eagerly incorporated into my projects. That said, I’ve also had people who’ve read my work and just didn’t seem to connect with it, for whatever the reason. I don’t let that get me down, as I’ve had too many people say good things about my writing to let it discourage me. I love what I do and I’m not going to stop writing until they shovel me under.