[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Steve, in your younger years you saw yourself as an actor and nothing else? Why do you think we sometimes put or lock ourselves into boxes?
Steve Harper, Screenwriter/Writing Coach/Podcaster/Youtuber: I think it’s about how we see the industry at first.
-How can I get in?
-What’s my way in?
-What don’t I see?
-What’s my path?
I think I identified early on with the people I was seeing on camera those characters or trying to vision myself kind of in that world.
I also think that people sometimes in the industry get connected to what’s visible and not what’s behind the scenes. They don’t necessarily think that the words are written or that there’s a director behind the camera or that there are costume people or lighting people or makeup people. They just sort of go by the reality they see.
Film Courage: Who were some of those actors that wanted to emulate your career after?
Steve: We were a big TV household when I was a kid. We watched a lot of classic stuff so a lot of Norman Lear stuff and All In The Family and those sorts of things.
I thought of myself as wanting to be in the world of TV more than wanting to imitate somebody who was actually on TV. I was fascinated as a kid by The Brady Bunch. I really wanted to be one of the Brady kids. I kept thinking what would it be like to be in that household and connected with those people and part of that universe, part of those adventures?
I started thinking about that.
Film Courage: Eight Is Enough?
Steve: Right, all of those things.
Film Courage: I remember it well. In between acting gigs you started writing?
Steve: I did. I certainly got to a point where I felt like the stuff I was getting auditions for wasn’t juicy enough for me. It wasn’t as interesting as things that I thought that I might create.
At the time there was the sense of the roles being smaller and more prescribed. I would be the guy next door. There weren’t central roles for black actors at the time. I wanted to find a way to bring myself more to these stories and see what that would be like and to create that myself. That became the real impetus for wanting to make my own work.
I feel like we’re all better off as creators by bringing ourselves to the work more. I feel like in some ways, particularly American television, can be…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
STEVE HARPER’s TV writing includes Co-Executive Producer duties on Tracker and D.C.’s Stargirl and wrote episodes of God Friended Me, Tell Me Your Secrets, American Crime and Covert Affairs. His web series SEND ME earned a 2016 Emmy Nomination for series lead Tracie Thoms. Through his company Your Creative Life he coaches writers, posts advice on YouTube and co-hosts The Secret Writer Podcast – heard in 21 countries. He graduated from Yale, the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard and the Juilliard playwriting program.
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