Congratulations to Wendy Jane Cohen!

Those of you who have followed this blog for the last several years are likely familiar with the name Wendy Cohen. She has been my development assistant, helping me on numerous fronts including Go Into The Story.

Wendy has worked tirelessly to contribute to our writing community and on many diversity initiatives for The Black List. She’s analyzed and interpreted reams of data relating to gender and diversity in script sales, researched hundreds of dates and contest deadlines for our annual writers calendar, collected and established a library of Academy Award nominated scripts for aspiring writers to study, and helped me maintain a database of over 17,000 blog posts. She also assisted with editing the many interviews I have conducted over the years with industry figures including the annual Screenwriters Roundtable.

In addition, Wendy has devoted herself to attending dozens of screenings over Los Angeles to champion the work of diverse filmmakers and screenwriters and raise awareness of their projects. She has written articles about Fruitvale Station, Selma, Twelve Years A Slave, and Short Term 12 and spotlighted the work of women independent filmmakers including Lynn Shelton (Mad Men, Laggies) and Jill Soloway (Transparent) — some in partnerships with KCET and the LA Times. I have also featured her writing here on the blog including the Declare Your Independents campaign we initiated together.

In addition to her work at Go Into The Story, she serves as a volunteer and committee member at WriteGirl, a nonprofit that teaches writing skills to at risk high school age girls and is a key organizer behind the Media Access Awards, which honors portrayals of creatives with disabilities in the entertainment industry.

On top of all that, Wendy is a talented writer and as passionate about movies as anybody I’ve ever met.

Sometimes good things happen to good people. That’s the case with Wendy. Recently she was accepted into the prestigious University of Southern California Writing for Screen & Television Masters of Fine Arts Program and will begin her education there in the fall.

USC School of Cinematic Arts

I am always thrilled when one of my university students or Screenwriting Master Class writers achieves success in the business. Go Into The Story followers as well, dozens over the years contacting me with good news and telling me how helpful the blog has been in their lives.

With Wendy, this is very special news. I couldn’t be prouder of her.

Please wish Wendy well, either in comments here or just send her a positive thought.

She deserves it!

By the way, Wendy has said she’d still like to be involved with the life of the blog, so I expect we’ll see her around these virtual parts.

Congratulations, Wendy!

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