I sold my first movie to Netflix when I was 25-years old.

I had flipped a viral article into a movie sale during streaming's peak buying era. One producer told me “you know this doesn’t just happen to people right?” I nodded, pretending to understand, when in reality I was green and naive and truly had no comprehension just how much this didn’t happen to people.

I was in for a rude awakening. After two years, the project got dropped, and I entered a period of purgatory, one foot in the door, but unable to shove it open.

It would be another five years before I sold my second movie.

September 2024 marked my ten-year anniversary in Hollywood. If my recently graduated self could see me now, she’d be proud she managed to claw her way here, a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, a Black List screenwriter, a full team at my back.

But my God, has it been hard. Ruinously, psychically hard. In between those two sales have come a host of side projects — “Humans of Orange County”; a trivia company and newsletter; freelance journalism; a food documentary. In between those two sales lie a mountain of rejections, false starts, ghosted projects.

Two sales in ten years, and that’s batting above average in this town.

I was inspired to start this newsletter as a dedicated space to discussing screenwriting and entertainment industry trends. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and have a lot to say about my thoughts and experiences to a wider audience.

The Yu-niverse

Yu Oughta Write is a spin-off newsletter from Yu Oughta Know.

YOK focuses on current events and pop culture.

YOW is dedicated solely to screenwriting and entertainment industry news.

I’ve kept the branding consistent because they are all part of the Substack Yu-niverse, but have decided to establish two separate newsletters for these very different topics. YOK functions like a bi-weekly quiz, whole YOW will be written in the style of a more traditional newsletter.

YOK comes out every other week from Monday through Friday, with only Mondays free and the rest of the week available to paid subscribers. YOW will be free but will be more sporadic — I aim to put out at least 1-2 new posts per month.

Either way, I hope you join us!

If you wish to contact YOK/YOW, please email yuoughtaknow@gmail.com