Success Story: Bill Lundy
The famed astronomer, Carl Sagan, once said, “We are all made of star-stuff.” Created from the atoms and elements formed by dying stars, we are all connected to the cosmos—and to one another.
Screenwriter and Scriptwriters Network Chairman Emeritus, Bill Lundy, understands the power of connections, whether they involve science, human relations or the entertainment industry. Because interconnectedness and the ties that bind have influenced Bill’s entire life and writing career.
For starters, like many writers of science fiction, Bill comes from a science background. From the age of three, he wanted to be an astronomer. In fact, he studied astronomy for two years at the University of Virginia. Not surprisingly, Bill’s love of science and space informs his writing.
Two of Bill’s science fiction movies involve extraterrestrials: ALIEN SIEGE and SILENT WARNINGS. Both features premiered on the Sci-Fi channel and do a brisk business on DVD. Bill’s also sold stories to STAR TREK: VOYAGER and currently has two sci-fi/horror feature scripts under option.
In addition to aliens, monsters and supernatural beings have long captured Bill’s imagination—King Kong, Godzilla and Dracula to name a few. Bill comes by his love of monsters and movies honestly: his mother was a huge fan of horror flicks.
But it was the flood of sci-fi movies in the 1970’s—like the 1976 remake of KING KONG, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and STAR WARS — that set Bill on the road to screenwriting. During that time, he became active in theater and even wrote and audio-recorded a play of his very own remake of KING KONG.
Next, a friendship steered Bill closer to Hollywood. On his second day at the University of Virginia, Bill met fellow movie lover David Mullen. They ended up shooting super 8 films on campus and made the move together to Los Angeles and film school.
Though David attended Cal Arts and Bill went to USC, they continued to work on film projects together and remain best friends. (M. David Mullen enjoys a successful career as a cinematographer with credits including: AKEELAH AND THE BEE, THE ASTRONAUT FARMER, SOLSTICE and many others.)
After a short stint working for a lighting rental company, Bill took a detour from the entertainment industry, landing a marketing job in the medical industry. Yet, the hiatus only strengthened Bill’s screenwriting career. He ended up co-writing and directing a video spoofing EYE ON LA for a corporate retreat and experienced a seminal moment. After making the video Bill realized, “This is what I have to do. This is what I was born to do.”
Bill chose writing as his path to directing, and he made some classic writer’s mistakes early on—overwriting, submitting material before it was ready, not focusing on one or two genres and sending the wrong kind of script to the Nicholl Fellowship Screenwriting Competition, etc. Bill was also doing everything on his own.
Thankfully, through yet another connection—a friend at work—he heard about Scriptwriters Network. And joining the Network changed Bill’s life. He remarks, “Every advance I’ve made in my career has been due to the Scriptwriters Network.” He jumped right in, attending meetings, helping out with publicity, joining a writing Triad, and more.
Bill also ran the Carl Sautter Memorial Screenwriting Competition for 12 years, oversaw the Hollywood Outreach Program from 2004-2006, booked numerous guests speakers for the organization, and served as its Chairman from 1997 to 2004.
All the while Bill honed his writing skills, built relationships and helped other writers. Two of his scripts, KISS OF BLOOD and GABRIELLE’S LOVE won the Network’s Producers Outreach Program, and his sci-fi Western TIME SLINGERS was once a finalist in the Carl Sautter Memorial Scriptwriting Competition.
As the sayings go, “One thing leads to another,” “The more you give, the more you get,” and “What goes around comes around.” Bill is living proof of that. His commitment to helping fellow writers has led to many great relationships and actual work.
One of the writers in his original writing Triad moved on to become a producer and optioned three of Bill’s scripts. The other member of his Triad introduced him to a woman who became one of his closest friends and indirectly led to his STAR TREK sales.
And in a positively karmic situation, one Network member and Producers Outreach Program winner thought so much of Bill’s positive energy and support during his term as Chairman, that when he became a story editor for a company working with the Sci-Fi Channel, he brought Bill in for an open writing assignment.
The folks there loved Bill’s writing sample, which was his POP-winning script KISS OF BLOOD, and hired him to write a script. That one didn’t get made, but they wound up hiring him for two more projects, which did.
Added to this, Bill’s tenure at Scriptwriters Network led to script consulting and to teaching gigs. Bill taught a screenwriting seminar for the Network at the second Screenwriting Expo and loved it. Since then he has taught classes at every Expo, earning Star Speaker status in 2005.
He has also done seminars for the Scriptwriters Network, Learning Tree University, The Great American Pitchfest, Newport Beach Film Festival and Sherwood Oaks Experimental College. As a consultant he’s helped dozens of writers improve their craft, including a recent Nicholls Finalist and at least two Hollywood Outreach Program winners.
Yet, can you really attribute Bill Lundy’s screenwriting career to a supernova that occurred billions of light years ago? Hey, it’s possible, given the interdependence of all things. But you could say
Bill’s success story began when a small child first looked into the night sky with wonder. And through the phenomenon of connection, it led Bill to create stories on film involving intergalactic travel, exploring alien minds, encountering horrific creatures and imparting universal truths.
That just goes to show you what can happen when you reach for the stars.