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David Petersen has been a professional writer for over 36 years. Starting out as a playwright, he saw his first play produced
in 1972. Entitled LITTLE ORPHAN ABBIE, it dramatized the infamous and wild political trial of the Chicago Seven. It received
rave reviews, played to sold-out houses, and had its run extended several times. Later produced again in Los Angeles, and
in 1988 it was also filmed for television. Today, it is being adapted yet again, this time as a feature film.
There followed several subsequent theatrical productions, including TOM & SALLY & TOM, a unique piece about Thomas
Jefferson, his slave mistress Sally Hemings, and revolutionary writer Thomas Paine, and GBS, a one-man show about George Bernard
Shaw.
Then one day David was asked to develop a screenplay based on the last years of famed Western figure James Butler "Wild
Bill" Hickok. The resulting script, DIME NOVEL HERO, was optioned twice and eventually sold but, as happens with so many
screenplays, difficulties with financing kept it from reaching final production.
Nonetheless, its author continued to toil at his trade, turning out many more feature scripts, including FLYERS, about
women pilots in WWII, which David later turned into a novel. Then there was NIGHT OF THE MIST, a true story about a survivor
of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz who later discovers that his best friend had been a collaborator. That screenplay caught
the attention of Eric Weissmann, one of the power players in the industry, who has represented David for the last 28 years.
Other scripts include BIG SUE, about a famed Alaskan bush pilot who performed an unbelievably daring airborne rescue;
SOLDIERS OF MISFORTUNE, an adventure comedy involving a rogue CIA agent and two LA bumblers; LADY NELL, written for Lynn Redgrave,
about a woman candidate for President who has to battle a corrupt political establishment that will stop at nothing to retain
their power; and AS TIME GOES BY, an innovative look at the "real" life of Sam, the piano player in Casablanca.
During the Eighties and Nineties, David worked as a scriptwriter, instructor, and story analyst in Hollywood, turning out
a number of scripts and helping develop, evaluate or doctor others. In addition, as a professional freelancer, he served dozens
of clients in various capacities, including writing scripts for commercials, radio spots, movie trailers and, well, you name
it. As he says, if you want to work as a writer, you have one job: selling words for a living. Not always as easy a task as
one might think, as any veteran of the trade can tell you.
Among his jobs, David has served as promotion director for a nationally- syndicated television show, editor of two magazines,
and story analyst for a number of Hollywood producers, attorneys, agents, and others. His clients have included MGM/UA, 20th-Century
Fox, Paramount Pictures, Telepictures, Mazda, Molson Brewing, Animation Development Company, Quincy Jones, Everest Venture
Capital, Toyota, DemoNet, the Seattle Children's Museum, the Orange County Ad Club, EnVision Productions, Prism Recording,
Saturn, and Mattel Toys, to name a few.
Besides his professional credentials, David has also worked to help writers. Founder of the Northwest Scriptwriters Alliance
in Seattle, he worked to establish networking connections for screen-writers. In 1986, he founded the Scriptwriters Caucus
with a half dozen fellow writers gathered in his living room in Van Nuys. Chairing the group for five years, he led it through
a number of changes, from its name to its scope, including creating a screenwriting contest, the Door-Opener Derby, designed
to help members sharpen the crucial first ten pages of their scripts. Well known as The Scriptwriters Network, it still serves
both new and veteran writers in Hollywood, and is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Among its members have been such writers
as David's longtime friends William C. Martell and George Gallo (Midnight Run, 29th Street).
David's three decades in the industry have given him unique insights into the craft and the business. He makes use of this
experience not only in his own work, but in ways that can benefit the writers and students he seeks to help.
Now living in Austin, he is still writing, as well as doing script consulting and teaching screenwriting. He is currently
working on revising an old script, developing a new one, and putting together a non-fiction book.
For stories about his work, click here
A LAST WORD OR THREE
Writing is one of the hardest professions in the world, and screenwriting may be the most difficult form of all. If you have
the talent and sufficient determination - that strange something inside you that simply makes you do it - then you may be
able to survive and be successful.
Why do I teach scriptwriting? Many reasons.
First, teaching can be a most stimulating experience, as any veteran of that noble profession will tell you. It is one
of the great ironies of the universe that the teacher often learns more than the students.
Second, it forces one to organize and put into coherent form what one has spent years learning and that have long since
become almost second nature, in order to communicate them to other, less experienced, writers.
Third, as a by-product the process just mentioned, it can also help one to take a fresh look at one's own creative work.
Fourth, there is a particular satisfaction in finding and working with other creative minds, and seeing them develop their
inborn talents. There is an old Buddhist saying that if the student does not come out better than the teacher, the teacher
has failed.
Fifth, I know there are a number of truly talented writers out there, who have not yet mastered the craft enough to produce
the work they are capable of doing. It is part of my intention to find as many of them as I can, and help them discover their
own voices as writers.
Think about it.
I hope we'll have the chance to work together.
-- David Petersen
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