Stage 32, wow, where do I begin? I've been writing since I was 22, wrote 66 episodes of my first television show, a sitcom called "BOYFRIENDZ" and that's when I knew creating worlds and characters for people to love and escape into was my passion.
I started my official screenwriting career in October 22' with my LGBTQ+ rom-com, "Can I Keep You?", which I am proud to say made it into the semi-finals of the recent Stage 32 Romantic Comedy Contest, first time ever entering a contest! Writing LGBTQ+ characters is one of the things I love to do, my trademark almost. In anything I write you will find an LGBTQ+ character or couple as part of the action. I participated in a consultation with Sarah Elizabeth Timmins (such a pleasant woman) for this script and the notes she gave me allowed me to revise my script in a way that when I read the final act, I am literally in tears EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
My 2nd screenplay was my first horror movie, "Rotted Roots", a YA Kevin Williamson style film which is near and dear to my heart, an homage to the 90s classics like Scream and Urban Legends which I grew up on. I always thought horror and romantic comedy were my niche but my 3rd and 4th screenplays, "Never Going HO.M.E." (a sci-fi psychological thriller) and "Cursed Ties" (a supernatural horror thriller) as well as the pilot for my sci-fi family drama, "C O N T A C T" has shown me I am a Swiss army knife of concepts. I've participated in pitch sessions and they've helped me greatly in making my pitches more precise and streamline, I know eventually I will get a request.
I am grateful to say that "Rotted Roots" was requested by a producer from another pitch site I am a part of and I'm currently in development with the script to possibly get the movie sold as a Tubi Original. When working on my first official re-write, I spent 8 hours at my computer and not once did it feel like "work". It was in that moment I realized writing is my true career path and I could do it for the rest of my life.
Stage 32 has been a great resource and I hope to make connections that lead to future collaborations. Writers make this dark world a little bit lighter so thank you to all of you for sharing your gifts!
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Congratulations on "Can I Keep You?" making it to the semi-finals and getting a script request, Xavion Niles! Hope you sell "Rotted Roots" as a Tubi Original.
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I love your intro, you have accomplished so much! Great job Xavion!!
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Thank you so much, Maurice and Lori! This has been my first interaction with a producer, he's been so helpful with his high level notes and open to my ideas and suggestions. As a writer with no production credits (yet), I thought he might've been a "my way or the highway" type but he's been very adamant about me only taking the notes and adjustments that I'm comfortable with but thankfully so far everything he's suggested has made the script even better.
You're welcome, Xavion Niles. I worked with someone like that near the start of my screenwriting career. We ended up working on a lot of projects. Hope it's the same for you.