🎙️ On this episode, we speak with produced TV Writer and Script Coordinator, Michelle Lesley Johnson. Working her way from support staff to writing staff, Michelle has 9 produced TV writing credits, including Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns” on TBS, and “Let’s Stay Together” on BET. In addition to her TV writing credits, Michelle also works a premium cable and streaming script coordinator on notable shows including “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Winning Time,” “The Acolyte,” and “BMF”. Take an idea from outline to draft and rewrite one of your existing scripts in the upcoming Script Anatomy TV Draft Intensive with instructor Michelle Lesley Johnson, every Sunday from 10:00 AM to1:00 PM PDT, Sep 17 – Oct 15, 2023.
Submit your film now to the next Our Vision Caribbean and Latino Film Festival which takes place on April 19, 2025 to share your work, reach your audience, and turn your dreams into reality.
About Michelle Lesley Johnson 🎬
Michelle was once an academic coach for NFL- and NBA- bound student-athletes. A mix of Baltimore-born grit, some North Carolina-raised charm, and a unique ability to motivate high achievement. Let’s just say she CAN lead horses to water AND get them to drink.
She broke into the business by working every support staff job going—WPA, WA, SC—writing her first comedies House of Payne and Meet The Browns, both on TBS, and Let’s Stay Together on BET. Moving into writing drama, she’s a script coordinator on notable shows including The Handmaid’s Tale, Winning Time, The Acolyte and BMF.
Her drama pilot, “The Fifth Quarter,” earned a coveted First-Look Deal in the FOX Writers Incubator. That script also made the 2nd Round of the Sundance Episodic Lab. Another pilot “Hip Hop High” along with “The Fifth Quarter,” led to her selection as a Disney Writing Program Semi-finalist. She also has a feature film set up at Kronicle Media.
Michelle’s also an educator with an MA in Language, Literacy and Culture from Berkeley’s School of Ed. She’s an alumna of UNC (Communications) and The Cosby Screenwriting Fellowship through USC. And Script Anatomy! She’s taken Televisionary, Structure Lab and Genre Lab and was a Fellowship Bio & Essay Workshop student in ‘21 (her First-Look in the FOX Incubator came shortly afterwards in 2022).
Michelle is represented by Industry Entertainment.
Take an idea from outline to draft and rewrite one of your existing scripts in the upcoming Script Anatomy TV Draft Intensive with instructor Michelle Lesley Johnson, every Sunday from 10:00 AM to1:00 PDT, Sep 17 – Oct 15, 2023.
