Jan Wilson's Bio
I was born and raised in Breaking Bad territory -- Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was destined to be a writer since the third grade after writing my first book, Bert the Monkey. It was a great success with my teacher, he was impressed that it had "a beginning, middle, and end." I wasn't sure what that meant but I could tell it was a good thing. I was already instinctively writing in a three-act structure.
In middle school our class read a movie script out loud. I’d never seen a script before. A revelation! “I’m not a novelist, I’m a screenwriter!” The clouds parted. Angels sang. Golden light shone down upon the script on my desk. Days later I decided my friends and I should invent our own storyline for our favorite TV show, make up dialogue and write it all down. I loved it, but my friends lost interest after half an hour. It was my valiant attempt to create my very own writers room! They went for pizza and never returned to the writing. But I never stopped.
In high school I loved all things English, so after graduation I went to art school in London. I explored haunted chalk caves, got known as a ‘regular’ at my neighborhood pub, kissed my favorite rock star in the gorgeous countryside, visited spiritualist churches every week, and walked in the footsteps of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolfe. Oh, and I studied a little bit, too. England rocked!
I eventually got homesick, returned to America and earned my B.A. in psychology with a concentration in parapsychology (ESP, ghosts, paranormal phenomena). In college I was one of only nine students accepted to the summer-long intense parapsychology course at the undisputed HQ of American parapsychology the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man in Durham, North Carolina (successor to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University). I studied with many of the top parapsychologists in the world and did some legitimate ghost-busting with them, and am currently still a paranormal investigator. With TV shows and movies getting more character-driven my psychology degree is a great tool for writing layered, psychologically realistic characters.
Wanderlust struck again. I went to Moscow and taught English to Russians. My time there inspired me to write the feature 900 Days about the siege of Leningrad.
In 2012 I was interviewed by Indie Source Magazine. Read the article here.
After reading 900 Days, Cinemotion Group (a now-defunct Moscow-based production company) hired me to write a feature script about famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, who was Tsar Nicholas' first love before there was Nicholas and Alexandra.
[email protected] 818-522-6191 Happy Frog Films
Manager: Emma Fox at Noble Fox Management [email protected]
IMDB credits
IMDBPro credits
In middle school our class read a movie script out loud. I’d never seen a script before. A revelation! “I’m not a novelist, I’m a screenwriter!” The clouds parted. Angels sang. Golden light shone down upon the script on my desk. Days later I decided my friends and I should invent our own storyline for our favorite TV show, make up dialogue and write it all down. I loved it, but my friends lost interest after half an hour. It was my valiant attempt to create my very own writers room! They went for pizza and never returned to the writing. But I never stopped.
In high school I loved all things English, so after graduation I went to art school in London. I explored haunted chalk caves, got known as a ‘regular’ at my neighborhood pub, kissed my favorite rock star in the gorgeous countryside, visited spiritualist churches every week, and walked in the footsteps of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolfe. Oh, and I studied a little bit, too. England rocked!
I eventually got homesick, returned to America and earned my B.A. in psychology with a concentration in parapsychology (ESP, ghosts, paranormal phenomena). In college I was one of only nine students accepted to the summer-long intense parapsychology course at the undisputed HQ of American parapsychology the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man in Durham, North Carolina (successor to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University). I studied with many of the top parapsychologists in the world and did some legitimate ghost-busting with them, and am currently still a paranormal investigator. With TV shows and movies getting more character-driven my psychology degree is a great tool for writing layered, psychologically realistic characters.
Wanderlust struck again. I went to Moscow and taught English to Russians. My time there inspired me to write the feature 900 Days about the siege of Leningrad.
In 2012 I was interviewed by Indie Source Magazine. Read the article here.
After reading 900 Days, Cinemotion Group (a now-defunct Moscow-based production company) hired me to write a feature script about famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, who was Tsar Nicholas' first love before there was Nicholas and Alexandra.
- I was a semifinalist in the Nicholl Fellowship (the top 3% of 4225 entrants) with drama feature 900 Days.
- Feature psychological thriller script for The Mercy List made the top 10% in the Nicholl Fellowship (the top 10% of 7442 entrants).
- I was a semifinalist in the Austin Heart of Film screenwriting contest with drama feature 900 Days.
- I was a Top Ten Finalist in Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope screenwriting contest (out of over 2000 entrants) with feature drama 900 Days. Coppola himself was the final judge that year. Read the article in Variety.
- My TV drama pilot Some Great Reward made the quarterfinals in Final Draft's Big Break screenwriting contest.
- My TV drama pilot The Rothenburg Girls was a quarterfinalist in the WeScreenplay Television Competition.
- I was a quarterfinalist in the AAA screenwriting contest (sponsored by Creative Screenwriting magazine) with my feature drama/psychological thriller script Milo (now titled The Postman's Reign.)
[email protected] 818-522-6191 Happy Frog Films
Manager: Emma Fox at Noble Fox Management [email protected]
IMDB credits
IMDBPro credits
