Screenwriting and other media

NEWS:

-(2020) During the pandemic, Steven has authored two musicals (and orchestrated and recorded demos), as well as 2 screenplays.  He’s conducted (with friends) a series of readings via Zoom of his works, over 35 to date, screenplays, TV pilots, a few plays, featuring a group of wonderful, experienced actors.

-(2017-2019) Being Black Enough, a feature film Steven story edited, won the Audience Award at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles.  The movie has received distribution, IS CURRENTLY showing on Amazon Prime, and is available on DVD at Barnes & Noble, Best Buy and Walmart.

– (2018) Completed, a 9th collection of short stories, September Tales, thus completing a “super-collection”, Autumn Tales.

-(2017) Completed, an 8th collection of short stories, November Tales.

-(2017) Steven completed his 7th collection of short stories, October Tales.

-(2017) Steven started presenting a series of short talks on creative writing, starting with how to write lyrics.  Take a look at the first brief talk!

-(2017) Steven scripted and recorded a full demo for his children’s TV musical series, The Royal Troubadour’s Song.

-(2017) Steven has authored three feature screenplays since January.

-(2017) This year, Steven has authored pilots and bibles for four TV series concepts, placed currently with Devin Rice Productions.

– (2017) Steven’s recording (he composed/arranged/orchestrated), Jing Swing Thing, is used in a feature film to be released later in 2017, Christmas Eve.

– (2017) Collection number six of short stories is complete.  Hums The Words consists of 17 short stories inspired by the author’s favorite songs.

– (2017) Steven was hired to author the first draft of a feature film, Kyle’s Killer Song, which he’s now completed.

– (2017) Completed a fifth collection of short stories, inspired by the works of Shakespeare, and titled Fair, Kind & True.

– (2016) Steven, with the help of many experienced and talented actors and recording experts, just fully recorded his new Xmas/Hanukkah family musical, Oy! Humbug!, adapted from five of his short stories.  A “radio musical”, or a “musical for the ear”.  It is available NOW, along with many other works of Steven’s.  Take a look!

-(2016) Steven recorded an album of fully orchestrated, newly arranged Christmas & Hanukkah music.

-(2016) Steven recorded over 7 hours of his original holiday short stories as books on “tape”, for commercial release.

– (2016) Completed authoring his second, third and fourth short story collections, Oy! Humbug! Too!, Special Days, and In My Mind’s Eye.

– (2015) Steven authored lyrics for five songs, released on the album Dustbowl Blues, with music by Geoff Levin.

-(2014) Steven authored a screenplay and shot a preview. View the “preview”!

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BIO:

Steven started his writing career early, winning an Emmy Award as a writer and director at age 17, for a small musical, My Littlest Revue, which he wrote for a competition in Los Angeles for High School Students.  The piece won the competition, and was subsequently taped and aired on KLCS, the Los Angeles school district TV station at that time.  It received attention, and won a student special Emmy Award.  Steven followed the piece the next year with a short play, For Graduation – Balloons and a Kiss, which was also taped, aired and nominated for an Emmy.

He started his efforts as a screenwriter at age 16, and had authored his first five screenplays before his 20th birthday.  This led in his early twenties to a roughly two-year stint as a teacher in the Professional Writer’s Program at U.S.C., where he helped dozens of students develop many screen and stage projects.

In the early 1990s, Steven created and hosted two cable access series.  One was called You Can Get There From Here, in which Steven interviewed people successful in different fields, so that they could share the path they took to get where they were.  The second series, Common Era 2,000, placed Steven as a moderator for a panel of five religious leaders who discussed social issues and their remedies.

In the early ’90s, Steven authored a collection of twenty short stories for Christmas and Hanukkah, Oy! Humbug!  Many of the stories were written to be read in a yearly charity fund-raiser Steven created and directed, called Christmas Stories, which were then taped and aired to millions of listeners worldwide.  Some of the stars who read his tales were Anne Archer, Charles Durning, Isaac Hayes and Priscilla Presley.  Since that time, he has authored several novels.

During the late 1990s, Steven became good friends with legendary screenwriter Ernest Lehman (North By Northwest; Sabrina; West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf).  After watching one of Steve’s musicals, he insisted on reading one of his screenplays.  Reluctantly, Steven complied, with his screenplay, The Third Wish.  He didn’t hear from Ernie for three days, and assumed that was the end of their friendship.  (A bit melodramatic…)  Then Ernie called and insisted Steven go to New York, as he had set up a meeting with the head of literary at William Morris.  Ernie said that The Third Wish was “the best screenplay he’d ever read.”  (A compliment Steven will cherish to his dying day.)

Steven is the author of 30+ screenplays, over 80 short stories and novellas, several novels, many non-fiction books, and over 1,000 songs.

For information on Steven’s available screenplays and other writings, please contact him at cttauthor at aol dot com.

(For Steven’s writings for theater, which are extensive, please visit the page on Theater, found in the menu to the side.)

Just a side note.  In 1977, Steven produced his play Shadows, and as he generally does, he authored all of the promotion for it.  The artwork for the posters was done by a professional P.R. designer, David Kaiser, who was sufficiently impressed with Steven’s P.R. to ask him to meet the head of the ad firm where he worked, Charles Martin and Associates, in Los Angeles.  Steven did so, though he had little interest in writing P.R. and advertising.  At Mr. Martin’s request, Steven wrote some sample ads (very quickly), which impressed the man enough to have him instantly fire his writing staff and offer Steven the job of Senior Copywriter.  Steven held this post for over a year.  Having had enough of that strange industry, Steven left the firm, which closed shortly thereafter.  True story.  Since that time, he has authored promotional materials for many businesses, including his own curriculum company, Steps.)