Joshua Shelov
President and CEO
Written Out Loud
B:Hive Member Since 2018
Tell us about your business?
We’re storytellers. Right now, mostly in the documentary film space. We write screenplays, scripts, and produce content for film and television. I’ve directed two ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries, and produced a third. I also directed the short film that introduced Bill Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Written Out Loud produces a lot of sports-based projects; I’ve worked for ESPN on and off for more than 20 years.
How and why did you start the business?
I remember the moment the business was born, or at least the moment it was conceived. I was working on a screenplay by myself and having real difficulty writing. The story was there, stuck in my head. Extracting the ideas and dialogue proved to be almost impossible. So I grabbed a recorder and set out into the world. I started walking and talking through the concepts, speaking the actual parts out loud, playing each characters, describing the settings. It worked marvelously. No pens or keyboards in the way of the script. Everything was “written out loud.”
That screenplay became the movie became “Green Street Hooligans,” and that process became the catalyst for my career. This is now how I work, always, on everything.
Take us back a bit further. Was there a moment or a movie that turned you on to writing?
Reservoir Dogs. Even thinking about it gets me excited. I was at my parents’ house as a 21 year-old college senior. It was 1am and I popped it into the VCR. Boom, Tarantino’s masterpiece unfolded before me. It was life-changing. I literally rewound it and watched it again, right then and there, until the sun came up. I’ve seen it hundreds of times now. Never gets old. The combination of script, story, directing, acting, action, and dialogue. Nothing like it. It just hit me like a bolt of lightning, at a time in life when I was searching for direction.
How has coworking at B:Hive helped your business?
Coworking at B:Hive has really given me the chance to create freely, and to focus in whole new way. I get to avoid the expenses of having my own office—not cheap around here in CT. I get to leave my house (where I can’t get anything done), stroll into the B-Hive anytime I want, hunker down and get to work.
What’s next?
We just started a storytelling program for kids, based on the Written Out Loud approach. We’re using a School of Rock style educational/performance-based model to encourage live storytelling and much more. We’re also running this out of the B:Hive, which works perfectly. Bring your kids and come join us.
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Josh’s Movies And More
ABOUT:
https://www.joshuashelov.com/about
STORYTELLING SCHOOL:
https://www.writtenoutloud.org/storytelling-school/
WORK:
https://www.writtenoutloud.org/work/
[email protected]
Twitter @shelovj
