TV Writer Podcast 027 – Eric Haywood Soul Food, Relative Stranger)
Eric Haywood began his career as a music video director, helming videos featuring such artists as Usher, Cee-Lo Green, and Tupac Shakur. He then turned his focus to writing, and moved to Los Angeles, where he landed jobs as a writer on all five seasons of Showtime’s Soul Food: The Series, and NBC’s police drama Hawaii.
Writer-director Eric Haywood started out as a successful Atlanta-based music video director, but since moving to Los Angeles has written for cable and network television, has written a TV movie, and has written and directed many short films. You'll love hearing how he has approached every step of his interesting journey through the industry!
Eric was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He began his career as a music video director while still enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in filmmaking. After relocating to Atlanta, Eric went on to direct and produce videos featuring such artists as Usher, Cee-Lo Green, Outkast, New Edition, Ice-T, Tupac Shakur, and legendary Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins. His video for Bay Area rapper E-40's song "Sprinkle Me" was selected by MTV and XXL Magazine as the #10 Greatest West-Coast Rap Video of All Time.
Eric then turned his focus to writing, and moved to Los Angeles, where he landed jobs as a writer on all five seasons of Showtime's Soul Food: The Series, and NBC's police drama Hawaii. Along the way, he has periodically returned to his filmmaking roots, writing and directing three short films (Staring at the Sun, Intersection, and Nick of Time), each of which has screened at a number of film festivals around the country.
Most recently, Eric wrote the Hallmark Channel Original Movie Relative Stranger, starring Eriq LaSalle and directed by Charles Burnett. After premiering in the spring of 2009, the film garnered three NAACP Image Award nominations and a Best Supporting Actress Emmy® nomination for Cicely Tyson.
Follow Eric on Twitter: @Eric_Haywood
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In his podcast, TV editor/writer Gray Jones profiles television producers and writers, authors, educators, and other industry personnel of interest to TV writers. The purpose of the interviews is to educate and inspire writers of all levels, to raise the profile of existing television writers, to introduce helpful resources, and to aid in career development. Gray's also the author of the book How To Break In To TV Writing: Insider Interviews. His podcast is released in video format, though an audio-only version is available through Podbean and Spotify. The podcast website at www.tvwriterpodcast.com has many helpful resources, including links to free scripts and a Twitter database. Twitter: @GrayJones - Instagram: @grahamajones and @tvwriterpodcast
