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Coverfly Writers Tyrone Breaux Jr. and Mike Bell, signed with a Literary Manager at Rascality Entertainment after working extensively with the Coverfly Team.

We caught up with both Tyron and Mike to talk about their dual success story.

How It All Began

Mike Bell: Thanks to my grandfather I fell in love with movies at a very early age. He used to let me circle movies in the TV Guide and he would stay up to tape them/cut out the commercials. By the time I hit high school I was a full fledged suburban film nerd, “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide” was my bible and “At the Movies” was my church. One day my friend told me to watch Clerks. He said if these guys from Red Bank, NJ  could make a movie, so could we. I would write the “script”, he would direct using his parents camcorder and we’d make a movie…SUPER easy. I think we only shot one scene but I was hooked.

Tyrone Breaux Jr.:  The idea of creating my own worlds and characters.

Getting Started

MB: In college I took Screenwriting 101 as an elective and found myself stoked to go to class for the first time in my life. This fully clicked for me in Screenwriting 102 with Matt Kaufold. Having a teacher like Matt, who embraced the fundamentals while also emphasizing innovation, was huge for me. I wrote sporadic shorts with friends post college, but my main muse was music for many years. I only took the focused leap into full time screenwriting when the world shut down in March of 2020.

TB: While I was in the military I had the opportunity to be mentored by Brian Hooks’ brother Roy Hooks. He taught me the basics of screenwriting. From there it was trial and error until I got to film school and really learned how to write.

Fight for it...respectfully. The road is gonna be a tough one. People will love your stuff and still turn it down, but keep fighting.

Early Roadblocks

MB: Finding my voice. I found out the hard way that knowing how to write isn’t the same as knowing what to write. Took me a decade and a half of false starts, failed attempts at genre writing and it still feels like I’m learning something new every day.

TB: Style. I think I always had something to say, but the way I was trying to say it was off. 

Breaking Through

MB: I went the long way around haha. Spent eleven years touring with bands, playing in basements, sleeping on strangers' floors and seeking out like minded folks anywhere they might exist. When I ran out of things to say lyrically, I found a world of characters waiting to be let out.  Wouldn’t call it an obstacle, more a change of focus.

TB: Film school helped a lot, learning from my teachers and peers. But It wasn't until I started traveling and seeing the world differently that everything I had learned started to take shape.

How Did Coverfly Help?

MB: The team at Coverfly helped ready our pilot to send out to reps/managers, walked us through the process and helped pass along contact information. As Tom Dever said from day one, “Trust the process.” Cliche, I know, but we did and turns out it’s a cliche for a reason.

TB: I think the biggest thing Coverfly did was exposure, that and Tom being patient. Being able to have the opportunity to pass your work onto someone is huge.

I found out the hard way that knowing how to write isn’t the same as knowing what to write.

What Comes Next?

MB: Right now we are working with David at Rascality on getting our hour long TV pilot Winchester Bay ready for the next step. You know that impossible feeling that comes with trying to land a rep/manager…well, turns out, that’s just the beginning haha. Buy the ticket, take the ride…as they say.

TB: Winchester Bay is all I see right now. We're working hard to get it ready to go out with our manager David. From there, who knows. I'm just enjoying the ride.

Advice For Aspiring Writers

MB: A year ago I was a total newb. What I’ve learned so far has been: don’t be precious with your writing, reach out to other writers for reads/notes, learn how to contextualize and implement said notes and establish actual connections with fellow writers. The rest is literally writing what you want to see and hope it connects.

TB: Fight for it...respectfully. The road is gonna be a tough one. People will love your stuff and still turn it down, but keep fighting. All it takes is one yes.

Dream Project?

MB: Landing a manager who’s hyped on the project was a dream in itself, so, right now I’m allowing the moment to exist while we work on getting the best version of the pilot possible. After that, yeah, Tyrone and I have companies we’d love to work with but I’m a bit superstitious…ask us again in a year [fingers crossed].

TB: What Mike said.

Mike Bell

Supported by: Coverfly

Mike Bell signed with a Literary Manager at Rascality Entertainment after working extensively with the Coverfly Team.

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