For me, it was the fall of my pro wrestling career.
I spent 27 years in the wrestling industry, performer, voice, and eventually the booker, the guy who writes the shows. I had everything I thought mattered: respect, a position people wanted, friendships that felt real in a very make-believe business, and a voice that people listened to.
And then it all disappeared.
The calls stopped.
The texts stopped.
My Facebook went silent.
On my birthday, I got two messages, one from my mother, and one from an ex I hadn’t spoken to in over 20 years.
I sat alone in a hotel room for two weeks, unsure how to continue living… or if I even wanted to. What hurt most wasn’t just losing the career, it was realizing I had lost myself somewhere along the way.
So I started writing.
I poured every ounce of anger, grief, regret, and fear onto the page. I didn’t outline my pain, I survived it sentence by sentence. And for the first time in years, I didn’t stop halfway through. I finished something.
That script , my first feature, is loosely based on my story. It’s imperfect, raw, and deeply personal. But it’s also the thing that reminded me who I was before the applause, before the titles, before the validation.
Losing everything is what finally pushed me to do the work I’d been afraid to do for years.
For me becoming a writer didn't start with inspiration, it started with having nothing left to lose.
Would love to hear everyone else’s moment.
4 people like this
Congratulations on 27 years in the wrestling industry and becoming a writer, Jay Miller! I found part of the Office Space script online during computer class in 12th grade. I liked the way the script was written. It wasn't like the short stories I was used to reading and writing. I read one or two articles about screenwriting, then wrote my first script.
3 people like this
Jay Miller It's taken me a long time to be able to identify as a writer. I hid in beauty retail for too long, finally quit my day joy at the end of 2022. Thank you for sharing your story.
3 people like this
Wow Maurice Vaughan I didn't even think about screenwriting till I found myself in university studying journalism.
1 person likes this
The Leijiverse - the shared animated universe of Leiji Matsumoto is what made me focus on quality and not success (I spent the past 20 years trying to kickstart my own franchise - never again will I be blinded by the allure of Hollywood).