Well, if you’re me, you try to fulfill your lifelong (as in since age 6) dream of becoming a writer for TV and film! Christopher Neal Fisher here, and as my post says, I’m a 60 year old dude who was forced to retire from his regular “job job” five years ago next month. But it turns out that may have been the best thing that ever happened to me, because it finally give me the uninterrupted free time to start thinking and working on screenplays and screenplay ideas. Right now I’m 100% committed to working on and seeing become a reality a Southern Gothic Soap Opera series concept I’ve created. It’s working title is “Bayou Noir”, after the fictional city in Louisiana’s famed Acadiana region (aka “Cajun Country”) where it takes place. It can best be “nutshelled” as “Dark Shadows (original series) meets The Sopranos meets The Long Hot Summer smack dab in the middle of Louisiana’s famed Cajun Country”. Here is my logline for it “The Delacroix family deals with internal dysfunction and external threats — both human and supernatural — as they strive to maintain their power and influence in the Cajun Country town of Bayou Noir, Louisiana”. Here is a slightly longer “pitch” I’ve written for it... “The Delacroix family is rich, powerful, influential, and nothing happens — legal or illegal — in the Cajun Country town of Bayou Noir, Louisiana, without the say-so of the family’s patriarch, Jean-Baptiste “JB”. But when you’re all those things, and you live in one of the most supernaturally-charged areas of America, you’re bound to have more than a few skeletons (and ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witch queens, zombies, etc.) in your family’s closet...” I’ve written a 66 page pilot episode script entitled “Made in Louisiana” for it, and am currently trying to work on a pitch for it (which I’m finding is considerably harder than writing the pilot script was!). The pilot script, I’m happy to say, has actually placed in a couple of TV pilot script contests (one of which is still ongoing) so far. Finally, I’m blessed to have not only the full support of my wife and many of my friends (both irl and online) as I work on this, and particularly am glad for the support and interest that’s been shown in it by my fellow fans of the classic 60s Gothic Soap, Dark Shadows, which has been one of the two main sources off inspiration for it and influence on it. I am hoping in 2021 to find a producer interested it it; one who sees in it the same entertainment potential I do, and believes it’s something worth bringing to people’s TV and computer screens. I’m especially interested in connecting with industry people, either in front of or behind the camera talent, involved in the Louisiana film and TV production scene who think it sounds like an interesting and worthwhile production.
Introduce Yourself : If you’re a 60 year old retired dude, what do you do for post-retirement career...? by Christopher Neal Fisher
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HELL YEAH!!!
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Hi Christopher, as a retiree myself, I decided to try to be a screenwriter like you. Best of luck!
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I'm 63 working with client in his 80s who wrote a film script about big band jazz involves time travel and he wrote 8 original songs too
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Welcome Christopher! There's always potential in our second act---god luck!
@John Cilia: Thanks, same to you too! FWIW, the screenwriting thing in my case wasn’t something I decided to try my hand at post-retirement, though; I actually took several stabs at it over the years when was still working a 40 hr/wk job, but found that the job took just too much of my time and my attention away from coming up with stories and committing them to paper (or the digital equivalent thereof) in a screenplay format. Unlike some, I can either work a job job, or. I can be doing this, but not both.
@Barry.Hollywood: sounds quite ambitious! Best of luck to you both on it!
@Joe Sikoryak: you got that right! It’s a whole different ballgame now than it was years ago, when if you were above or below a certain age range, you could forget about breaking into the business. There’s never been a better time for us seniors to “get in the game”, whether its as actors, writers, in the production end of things...you name it!
@Adrian Eugene: the great thing is that the technological revolution, which the Internet and the Web are part of, has opened up so many possibilities for us screenwriters as far as seeing that which we’ve written become actual, watchable reality. Even 20 years ago, we were still restricted to pretty much the traditional outlets that had existed for decades. Now we have so many more avenues available to us.
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Good for you. Go for it. Age is just a number and dreams are a powerful thing.
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Thanks, Wendy! And you’re right — dreams are indeed powerful things, in fact they’re one of the main sources of “fuel” for us screenwriters, whether we’re established or trying to break into the business.
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Everything happens for a reason, Christopher, even the most horrific experiences in the long run make us stronger, braver and like in my case, being sexually assaulted at age 8 by an adult male, forced me into writing, and it was this that saved my life as a repressed, lonely, bullied teenager. Good luck, and rest assured that in here you will find amazing, giving artists from around the world.