Kelly Edwards, Staff Writer, Author, Producer: We always think that everybody’s shining light on us, we always think it’s all about us, but really they’re the stars of their own movie. They are not looking at you.
Film Courage: Have you ever tried to write under a pen name where you felt like you could really just let it all go and no one is going to judge you? Or you do and we don’t need to know the pen name?
Kelly: No, I don’t think I’ve ever…I think years and years and years ago I’d written a screenplay and I submitted it to someone to read under a different name just because I thought it was a little tricky situation and I didn’t get any response. I was like Okay, that’s fine. In retrospect it was a very concept-y idea, it was a very screwball comedy kind of thing but I hadn’t done any of the work. I needed 30 years to bake before that kind of thing was willing to come out in the right way. But no, I haven’t thought about a pen name. I think for me I’m at an age now where I don’t care. I’ve offered to let my kids read my stuff and they’re adults so we watch HBO together. What am I going to say that’s not already out there? I don’t think that there’s anything that I could expose that isn’t exposable as a human being. I think we all go through a lot of those same things. I think the failure would be on my part if I didn’t, right? What are you doing it for?
Film Courage: Even barring some heinous crime there’s going to be judgment unfortunately and being okay with that is an interesting place to get to. I’m not even talking about doing something horrible but whatever it is.
Kelly: But who cares about the judgment? Ultimately let me just say this, I had a big fight with myself when I wrote this book…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
SEE THE BOOK ON AMAZON – The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Series Development by Kelly Edwards
BIO:
As HBO and WarnerMedia’s SVP of Talent Development for seven years, Kelly Edwards oversaw all of the emerging artists programs for HBO, HBOMax, and Turner, both domestic and abroad. Edwards’s career spans both television and film, having served as a key corporate diversity executive at Comcast/NBCUniversal and a creative executive for both film director Garry Marshall and producer Laura Ziskin. After moving to television, she spent six years as a senior executive at Fox, where she developed Living Single, Clueless, and The Wild Thornberrys. As SVP of Comedy Development at UPN, she developed Girlfriends, The Parkers, and Malcolm in the Middle. Edwards also produced the movie of the week A Christmas Detour for Hallmark, and the one-hour drama series Sex, Love, and Secrets. She holds a BA in Theater from Vassar and an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson. Edwards has served on the Annenberg Inclusion Board, the UNCF Leadership Council, the ATAS Diversity committee, as a Trustee for NALIP, and is a 2019 Sundance Episodic Lab fellow. Kelly’s book The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Series Development is now available (via Michael Wiese Productions).
CONNECT WITH KELLY EDWARDS
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