I wish we lived in a world where your screenplay could speak for itself. Alas, that is not the case, so here is a breakdown of how to effectively pitch yourself as a writer alongside your material.
Kirk Reedstrom is the creator of the Duck & Moose graphic novel series, which was published by Disney-Hyperion and called “a must-have series that is among the best that graphic novels has to offer” in a starred review by School Library Journal. A graduate of Centenary College, he interned at Moonbot Studios, working as a production intern with William Joyce on the Oscar award-winning short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. When he isn’t writing and drawing, Kirk works for a public library system where he creates social media content, performs live adaptations of picture books for thousands of children during the biggest children art festival of the south, leads kids comics workshops, and creates interactive art exhibits to foster creativity for all ages. Kirk trained as a Prime-Time Storyteller with the Louisiana Endowment For The Humanities, sang Mozart in the Sydney Opera House, and played violin and double bass in Carnegie Hall.
I think this is great! It does feel a little long in the middle. I would shorten your library sentence into only talking about 2 activities.
And I think playing in Carnegie Hall is awesome!
Are you a comedy writer? If so, you might want to end with a joke.
If you're not a comedy writer, it's worth putting at the beginning or end of your bio what kind of screenwriting you want to do specifically (if screenwriting is a goal of yours).
A bit late on this but hoping you're still having a look at these bios!
Dia is a Screenwriter by day, multi-hyphenate for pay. Drawn to social satire and existential tragicomedy, her work explores flawed characters grappling with mental health issues, class conflict and dysfunctional families. Her half-hour pilot DIRTY DEEP DOWN was a finalist in the Humanitas David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Awards and her co-written shorts PAIRING, CLOWN and MARK TARGETS have screened at Melbourne International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shorts Fest, SXSW Sydney and SBS on Demand. She has an MFA in Screenwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts and completed the UCLA Writing for Television Program in the half-hour comedy stream. She is an ENTP, Enneagram type 4, leans towards an anxious attachment style and is a chronic over-sharer.
Great! I would just move your festival appearances to the first sentence. Then talk about your half-hour. Then the MFA/Education. Then end with "Drawn to social satire..." You can delete the first sentence altogether:
This is super insightful! I never thought about including the bio in a query. Thank you so much!
Would love to know your thoughts on my current bio:
Joe Wielosinski is a romantic comedy writer who suffered his first heartbreak in kindergarten (damn you, Samantha).
Since then, he breaks his own heart writing scripts. He explores deepness in human relationships, questions what people do and don't do for love, and most importantly, writes toilet humor and '90's pop culture references.
His work has placed in contests from Scriptapalooza, Launchpad, Screencraft and Stage 32. He's currently trying to get his feature Keepers from a 7 to an 8 on The Black List.
Hey Audrey! I'm about to query managers for representation, so I'm not sure if this is the right sort of writer bio being discussed above, but I'll post it anyway.
"My name is Tristan Bellawala, I’m a screenwriter with narrative credits on AAA Sony title HELLDIVERS 2, and lead writer on several upcoming Webtoon Original series. I strive to create colorful stories tackling real-world themes and struggles in fantastical settings. My feature screenplay placed top fifty in Nicholl, category top three in Big Break, and was a winner in the ScreenCraft Animation Competition 2023, landing in the hands of David Krinsky, creator/producer of Silicon Valley and writer on King of the Hill, who thoroughly enjoyed it. With experience in comics, film/tv, video games, and roleplaying on Twitter (long story), I’m eager to put my BFA in Screenwriting from Chapman University to work. Or to write D&D campaigns, that’s fun too.
I’m looking for representation, and believe my style and voice align with your roster of clients... etc. etc."
Quick follow up question - you mentioned above starting with a logline. In a manager query is it ok that the logline for the project comes after the "looking for representation" bit, or does it have to come before the bio? Right now, my email is formatted: 1) Personal intro, 2) Writer bio 3) "looking for representation..." 4) Logline 5) Relevant comps for sample.
I think this bio is great! Usually I recommend doing the logline before the bio, but if the bio is strong/impressive (and I think yours is), the logline can come after. I have seen it work well on me.
Hey, Audrey! I've just completed two Christmas rom-com screenplays, but since I'm just getting started in the film industry, I focused on publishing. Here goes:
Loretta Nyhan is the author of Digging In, an Amazon Charts best-seller, recommended by Publishers Weekly, Associated Press, Booklist, and USA Today, who deemed it “highly recommended,” proclaiming the novel “a vision of love, hope, and pressing onward even when it doesn’t seem possible.”
Loretta’s other novels include All the Good Parts, The Other Family, and her recent release, The New Person. Her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Estonian, and has reached best-seller status in Australia and the UK. Home Front Girls, the World War II-inspired novel she co-authored with Suzanne Hayes, earned a starred review in Kirkus, who called it “engaging, charming, and moving” and a coveted spot on NPR’s Best Books of 2013 list.
A lifelong Chicagoan, Loretta lives in the close suburbs of the city with her Brady Bunch blended family.
If your goal is to get into screenwriting, make sure you add any relevant film/tv screenplay experience or accolades to the front of your bio. And I’m sure when you’re posting this not on substack you’ll use italics to separate out the titles visually for your reader. Nice job!
Very interesting and informative, Audrey. I had heard before that is was okay to include where you grew up, because a country or region could be interesting to someone, and you might even have that place in common with a person. But now you have me rethinking that. 🤔😅
As generously noted in your post, would love how to how you would improve/condense my bio. Obviously need to take out where I grew up now. Lol.
Layla O'Shea is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter/director born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. After years of playing baseball and running around pretending to be Superman, she grew up, graduated with an English/Communications Degree, and worked full-time while raising three children when she discovered the art of the screenplay.
Several scripts have since advanced in top competitions, including the Austin Film Festival and the PAGE Awards. Her finalist feature drama, JUST SAY GOODBYE, was produced and distributed in 2019. Her grand-prize winning drama pilot, SPLIT DECISIONS, was selected into the 2022 Stowe Story Labs Producers' Lab. After directing her 20-minute short, A PARTICULAR MINUTE, the film earned the 2023 Boston International Film Festival Indie Soul Best Director award. Her ultimate goal is to continue crafting content which moves and entertains people.
You can and should share where you grew up! But save it for the end, so you start your bio with the most relevant/impressive credentials. I like what you have here *if* you write it all in reverse. Start with: Layla is a Writer Director whose 20-minute short film A PARTICULAR MINUTE earned the 2023 Boston International Film Festival Indie Soul Best Director award...
My bio was overdue for a tune-up. Thanks!
Kirk Reedstrom is the creator of the Duck & Moose graphic novel series, which was published by Disney-Hyperion and called “a must-have series that is among the best that graphic novels has to offer” in a starred review by School Library Journal. A graduate of Centenary College, he interned at Moonbot Studios, working as a production intern with William Joyce on the Oscar award-winning short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. When he isn’t writing and drawing, Kirk works for a public library system where he creates social media content, performs live adaptations of picture books for thousands of children during the biggest children art festival of the south, leads kids comics workshops, and creates interactive art exhibits to foster creativity for all ages. Kirk trained as a Prime-Time Storyteller with the Louisiana Endowment For The Humanities, sang Mozart in the Sydney Opera House, and played violin and double bass in Carnegie Hall.
I think this is great! It does feel a little long in the middle. I would shorten your library sentence into only talking about 2 activities.
And I think playing in Carnegie Hall is awesome!
Are you a comedy writer? If so, you might want to end with a joke.
If you're not a comedy writer, it's worth putting at the beginning or end of your bio what kind of screenwriting you want to do specifically (if screenwriting is a goal of yours).
A joke! Of course! That's really helpful. Thanks again!
Hey Audrey,
A bit late on this but hoping you're still having a look at these bios!
Dia is a Screenwriter by day, multi-hyphenate for pay. Drawn to social satire and existential tragicomedy, her work explores flawed characters grappling with mental health issues, class conflict and dysfunctional families. Her half-hour pilot DIRTY DEEP DOWN was a finalist in the Humanitas David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Awards and her co-written shorts PAIRING, CLOWN and MARK TARGETS have screened at Melbourne International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shorts Fest, SXSW Sydney and SBS on Demand. She has an MFA in Screenwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts and completed the UCLA Writing for Television Program in the half-hour comedy stream. She is an ENTP, Enneagram type 4, leans towards an anxious attachment style and is a chronic over-sharer.
Great! I would just move your festival appearances to the first sentence. Then talk about your half-hour. Then the MFA/Education. Then end with "Drawn to social satire..." You can delete the first sentence altogether:
This is super insightful! I never thought about including the bio in a query. Thank you so much!
Would love to know your thoughts on my current bio:
Joe Wielosinski is a romantic comedy writer who suffered his first heartbreak in kindergarten (damn you, Samantha).
Since then, he breaks his own heart writing scripts. He explores deepness in human relationships, questions what people do and don't do for love, and most importantly, writes toilet humor and '90's pop culture references.
His work has placed in contests from Scriptapalooza, Launchpad, Screencraft and Stage 32. He's currently trying to get his feature Keepers from a 7 to an 8 on The Black List.
Your opening sentence made me laugh! Move the last paragraph up to be your second sentence. Delete the part about the Black List.
Thanks a ton!
Of course! Happy to help :)
Hey Audrey! I'm about to query managers for representation, so I'm not sure if this is the right sort of writer bio being discussed above, but I'll post it anyway.
"My name is Tristan Bellawala, I’m a screenwriter with narrative credits on AAA Sony title HELLDIVERS 2, and lead writer on several upcoming Webtoon Original series. I strive to create colorful stories tackling real-world themes and struggles in fantastical settings. My feature screenplay placed top fifty in Nicholl, category top three in Big Break, and was a winner in the ScreenCraft Animation Competition 2023, landing in the hands of David Krinsky, creator/producer of Silicon Valley and writer on King of the Hill, who thoroughly enjoyed it. With experience in comics, film/tv, video games, and roleplaying on Twitter (long story), I’m eager to put my BFA in Screenwriting from Chapman University to work. Or to write D&D campaigns, that’s fun too.
I’m looking for representation, and believe my style and voice align with your roster of clients... etc. etc."
Quick follow up question - you mentioned above starting with a logline. In a manager query is it ok that the logline for the project comes after the "looking for representation" bit, or does it have to come before the bio? Right now, my email is formatted: 1) Personal intro, 2) Writer bio 3) "looking for representation..." 4) Logline 5) Relevant comps for sample.
Thank you!
I think this bio is great! Usually I recommend doing the logline before the bio, but if the bio is strong/impressive (and I think yours is), the logline can come after. I have seen it work well on me.
Thank you so much, that's great to hear! :)
This is just the boost I need to actually press send on those emails haha.
Yessss do it!!
Hey, Audrey! I've just completed two Christmas rom-com screenplays, but since I'm just getting started in the film industry, I focused on publishing. Here goes:
Loretta Nyhan is the author of Digging In, an Amazon Charts best-seller, recommended by Publishers Weekly, Associated Press, Booklist, and USA Today, who deemed it “highly recommended,” proclaiming the novel “a vision of love, hope, and pressing onward even when it doesn’t seem possible.”
Loretta’s other novels include All the Good Parts, The Other Family, and her recent release, The New Person. Her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Estonian, and has reached best-seller status in Australia and the UK. Home Front Girls, the World War II-inspired novel she co-authored with Suzanne Hayes, earned a starred review in Kirkus, who called it “engaging, charming, and moving” and a coveted spot on NPR’s Best Books of 2013 list.
A lifelong Chicagoan, Loretta lives in the close suburbs of the city with her Brady Bunch blended family.
Too much of a yawner? Thanks for doing this!
If your goal is to get into screenwriting, make sure you add any relevant film/tv screenplay experience or accolades to the front of your bio. And I’m sure when you’re posting this not on substack you’ll use italics to separate out the titles visually for your reader. Nice job!
Great advice! Thanks!
Very interesting and informative, Audrey. I had heard before that is was okay to include where you grew up, because a country or region could be interesting to someone, and you might even have that place in common with a person. But now you have me rethinking that. 🤔😅
As generously noted in your post, would love how to how you would improve/condense my bio. Obviously need to take out where I grew up now. Lol.
Layla O'Shea is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter/director born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. After years of playing baseball and running around pretending to be Superman, she grew up, graduated with an English/Communications Degree, and worked full-time while raising three children when she discovered the art of the screenplay.
Several scripts have since advanced in top competitions, including the Austin Film Festival and the PAGE Awards. Her finalist feature drama, JUST SAY GOODBYE, was produced and distributed in 2019. Her grand-prize winning drama pilot, SPLIT DECISIONS, was selected into the 2022 Stowe Story Labs Producers' Lab. After directing her 20-minute short, A PARTICULAR MINUTE, the film earned the 2023 Boston International Film Festival Indie Soul Best Director award. Her ultimate goal is to continue crafting content which moves and entertains people.
Thanks for the great content, Audrey!
You can and should share where you grew up! But save it for the end, so you start your bio with the most relevant/impressive credentials. I like what you have here *if* you write it all in reverse. Start with: Layla is a Writer Director whose 20-minute short film A PARTICULAR MINUTE earned the 2023 Boston International Film Festival Indie Soul Best Director award...
Then go backwards from there!
Thank you!