Lynn Grant Beck
Writer for Hire
 

Screenplay Consultation: $300
Includes thorough reading of two drafts of your TV or feature length screenplay, detailed notes and a phone conversation. (small rate increase if page length is greater than 120 pgs.)

PayPal ID: 
lynn@lynngrantbeck.com
Lynn Grant Beck has worked in the entertainment business since 1996. She has worked as VP of Production and as a Creative Executive at top production companies, and knows what production companies and studios are looking for.  Ms. Grant Beck is familiar with all genres of screenplays and teleplays.

About Lynn


Why do I write? Because I’m compelled to do so. I’m obliged to observe human behavior and bear witness to our tumultuous times. I tap into the zeitgeist, not only to illuminate what is here, but also to discover what is percolating and emerging. If I do my job correctly, I make people uncomfortable with the truth of the things. I shake them up, get them to see the world from a new perspective. Heaven and hell are right here on earth with real villains and true superheroes. Stories are imperative to make sense of our lives, to agitate, communicate, inspire and entertain. Screenwriters remind the audience that we are all in this same ship of humanity, and that if we row together, we just might be able to steer the ship in a new direction. Now for the actual writing.

 

I’ve recently returned to playwrighting with my new play, All American, that I’m producing at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I’ve also completed two new MOW thrillers, Spring Break Nightmare and Quiet Night. My latest dramatic series, The House that Jackie Built, is currently being pitched to streaming networks, as well as my sci-fi series, Fuzion. I’ve also written an action/disaster feature, BlackOut, as well as two animated family features, Sandra Claus and The TreasureD Cat. I was hired to write a TV pilot, Hashers, by Google VP, Jim Kolotouros. My TV movie thriller, My Mom is a Bank Robber, aired on Lifetime in 2016 and my TV movie rom-com, 12 Gifts of Christmas, aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2015. I was also hired by Tim Johnson Productions to write two other MOW thrillers, Trapped and Cult of Lies.

 

My feature screenplay, Dead Wrong, won an award in the WIF/MORE Screenplay contest and was optioned by the director, John Rhode. My half hour pilot, Life in 2D, won me a fellowship at the Writers Boot Camp and I was hired to co-write a sci-fi web series, The Annex, by director Hank Isaac. I was also hired to write the feature comedy, Hollywood Hit, for Miracle Mile Entertainment.

 

My other feature scripts include two comedies, James Borkowsky 000 and Trophy Husband, two romantic comedies, The Death of Art and Trouble, and a sci-fi adventure story, Jonny Was. I’ve also written a spec TV script of Mad Men and another half hour original pilot, Twindroids.

 

I’m a Professor of Screenwriting in the MFA program at Pepperdine University and I teach at Script University. I’ve also taught at SMC. I received my MFA in Screenwriting at UC Riverside. I have significant industry experience as VP of Production at Kopelson Entertainment, as well as a CE at Interscope Communications. During my tenure at Interscope I traveled to Australia where I was an assistant producer on Pitch Black with Vin Diesel.

 

Originally from NJ, I arrived in Los Angeles from New York where I was a playwright. I founded the independent theater company, The Chelsea Players, and wrote and produced numerous successful Off-off Broadway plays. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Russian Studies, I traveled to Russia where I worked as an assistant director at the Nikitsky Vorot Theater. I wrote about the experience in a memoir titled Adventure in the Soviet Union. I’ve also written numerous manuscripts for children’s books. My love of writing and the arts in general was first fostered during high school at Choate Rosemary Hall. I currently live in Westlake Village, California with my husband, two children and incorrigible cat, Cream.

 

WRITER FOR HIRE

 

HASHERS (TV Drama): An introverted college freshman gets a dream job as a sorority houseboy, but gets implicated in a deadly mystery he must solve in order to prove his innocence and save the sorority. Hired to write this script by Google VP Jim Kolotouros.


MY MOTHER IS A BANK ROBBER (Thriller):  A suburban housewife must rob banks to cover her deceased husband’s gambling debt and save her daughter from ruthless thugs. Produced for Lifetime 2016


12 GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS (MOW Rom-Com): A harried banker hires a personal shopper to help him with his Christmas shopping, but discovers that she’s the best present of all. Produced for Hallmark Channel 2015.


TRAPPED (Thriller): A mother must rescue her teenage daughter from the diabolical leader of a sex slavery cult. Hired to write this script for Johnson Productions.


CULT OF LIES (Thriller): An unsuspecting teenage girl must destroy the leader of a Goddess worshipping cult, who uses young women to punish the men who've wronged her. Hired to write this script for Johnson Productions.


HOLLYWOOD HIT (Comedy):  Two struggling actors are mistaken for Mafia hitmen and sent to Hollywood to persuade a producer not to make a movie. But the producer mistakes the hitmen as actors and casts them as leads in the film. Hired to write this script for Miracle Mile Entertainment.



AVAILABLE FEATURE SPECS: 


BLACKOUT (Action/Disaster): When an EMP attack plunges NYC into total darkness in the dead of winter, an EMT and her fireman brother must lead their blended family through the gates of hell to reach their sanctuary in New Jersey.


THE TREASURED CAT: (Animated): Desperate to find a family, a scrappy orphaned kitten is adopted by a band of ragtag pirate dogs. She must unite warring cats and dogs to defeat a common enemy and bring true treasure to all animals.

 

SANDRA CLAUS: (Animated): Santa Claus’ daughter must prove to her family and the world that she has what it takes to be the next Santa Claus.


THE SIGN PAINTER (Dark Comedy): Desperate to reunite with his young daughter, a down-on-your-luck sign painter agrees to kidnap a cheating spouse, but he kidnaps the wrong woman setting up a comical circle of vengeance. This script won an award in the WIF/MORE screenplay contest.


THE DEATH OF ART (Romantic Comedy): A struggling artist fakes his death to increase the value of his paintings, but finds it difficult to keep his secret when he falls in love with his best customer. 

 

JAMES BORKOWSKY 000 (Comedy): A septic tank salesman from Dubuque is mistaken for his doppelgänger, who’s a suave French spy. The salesman is swept up in a secret spy mission and must win back his fiancé from the French spy.

 

TROPHY HUSBAND (Comedy): A down and out, young stable boy is inspired by his trophy wife friends to find and marry a rich, older woman. He and his best buddy work the older babe market and find a suitable catch, but the stable boy learns the hard way that when you marry for money you must work for every penny.


JONNY WAS (Sci-Fi): A twelve year-old boy realizes he’s an experiment for aliens who’ve invaded and conquered Earth. He is whisked back to their planet where he is raised as the son of the ruling alien royal family. Eight years later he realizes the errors of his ways and must enlist the aid of his parents and other captured humans to defeat the aliens and re-claim Earth.


TROUBLE (Romantic Comedy/Road Movie): A down and out young man steals a rare ruby and kidnaps a young woman, but she turns the tables on him and embroils him in nothing but trouble.


SPRING BREAK NIGHTMARE (MOW Thriller): When a 19 year-old college student gets kidnapped by drug dealers on a spring break trip to Jamaica, her ex-military mother will stop at nothing to get her back and bring the kidnappers to justice.


QUIET NIGHT (MOW Thriller): A female night watchman at a storage facility discovers that the owners are involved in a human trafficking ring. She must infiltrate the ring to defeat the perpetrators and bring them to justice without being trafficked herself. 



NEW MEDIA:


THE ANNEX (Web Series): Two telepathic children are recruited against their will to take part in a covert military operation. They cooperate in hopes of ending the program, but their success only convinces the government to expand it and round up more children. Hired to write this series by Unicorn Productions.



AVAILABLE TELEVISION SCRIPTS:


THE HOUSE THAT JACKIE BUILT (One Hour Dramedy): A Latina socialite's husband commits suicide leaving her broke. In danger of losing the house she built, she and her friends operate a male escort business under the guise of a book club and search for the lost money.


FUZION (One Hour Sci-Fi): A former miltiary single mom is given an AI neural implant against her will through a DARPA program to create a super soldier. ­­­She must work with an android created in the image of her dead husband to uncover an assassination plot to kill the President. 

 

LIFE IN 2D (Half Hour Sitcom): A 40 year-old cartoonist has a mid-life crisis that manifests as one of his sexy, young comic book characters. She comes to life through an iPad app to teach him how to be a man. Was awarded a fellowship at the Writers Boot Camp with this script.


TWINDROIDS (Half Hour Sitcom): Two high school freshmen adopt sexy, identical androids, who can’t relate to the logic of high school and turn the boys’ world upside down.



TV SPEC SCRIPT:


MAD MEN “Paper Dreams”

(Spec): Don and the boys market paper dresses for Scott Paper. Don reads “The Feminine Mystique” to help him understand modern women, Betty explores her burgeoning sexuality, Salvatore is exposed to emancipated gay men and Joan stands up to her abusive husband.



EDUCATION:


University of California, Riverside - MFA in Screenwriting

University of Pennsylvania - B.A. in Russian Studies

Choate Rosemary Hall



RELATED EXPERIENCE:


Professor of Screenwriting at Pepperdine University, LA, CA

Professor of Screenwriting at Santa Monica College, LA, CA

Professor of Screenwriting at ScreenwritersUniversity.com

Visiting Professor of Screenwriting at Spalding University, Louisville, KY

VP of Production: Kopelson Entertainment, LA, CA

Creative Executive: Interscope Communications Inc. (Feature Dept.), LA, CA

Assistant to Producer: Kushner-Locke Co. (MOW Dept.), LA, CA

Writer/Producer/Owner: Chelsea Players Theater Company, New York, NY

Assistant Director: Nikitsky Vorot Theater, Moscow, Russia

Assistant Producer: ABC News, Moscow, Russia