I grew up with theater as a major influence in my life.
I was raised in Skokie Illinois, at a time when community clubs were a popular outlet for the new mothers (and by default, fathers) who had moved from the squalor of the city to the sprawling towns and villages of the North Suburbs of Chicago. At a time when Broadway was flourishing, community theater was all the rage. My mother was deeply involved in the community theater and I went along for the ride. By the time I was nine I had my own theater community in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin; Harand Camp, where I spent many formative years on stage. I performed in a few shows in high school and during a brief stint in college. I also studied at Second City.
At nineteen I moved to Los Angeles and spent the better part of the next decade working behind the scenes in theater and film. I wrote, produced and directed several of my own plays as well as working in the industry on early music videos, commercials, TV shows and films. I worked as a scenic artist, production assistant, production manager and location manager. I wrote a several spec scripts a couple of which were optioned, but never produced.
I struggled along until I got involved in the new world of Multimedia production. I spent the next several years traveling the globe producing software, CD-ROMs and games. Eventually I ended up in New York where I was hired as a producer for WNET’s new media department. While in New York I did a little writing and eventually had a play showcased at the Samuel Becket theater. Steps away from my Broadway dream.
In the late nineties I decided to move back to LA and concentrate on screenwriting. I wrote several scripts and had a TV series optioned to be produced for the web, but it was too early in the world of online media and that never happened. I moved back to New York and produced an episode of the series that had fallen out of option, “Manhattan Crawl” which is up on YouTube.
After several attempts at selling scripts and projects I eventually went “off the grid”, opting to make money out of the industry over engaging in my craft.
What happened next is another story, but when the dust settled I found myself in the Catskills with a wife and a horse sanctuary. Ten years had passed with hardly a word written. I had a new set of skills, including chopping wood and driving a tractor. I’d lived another life, and that’s OK, but I still hadn’t done what I set out to do all those years ago when I first moved to Los Angeles.
They say it’s never too late. So here I am. I have now written several new screenplays, as seen here. I have had two plays produced in NYC and have written, directed and produced two short films that has been selected in many film festivals internationally, winning several awards. My screenplay The Manny is is currently in development. The film version of my play Basement is in preproduction scheduled for filming in spring of 2020.
I have several of my plays and screenplays available to read on this site. There is more. If you want to chat contact me or hit me up on Facebook.
So that’s it. Thanks for looking in.
Robert P Rosenbaum