Bio

Hi,

I’m Steve Trautmann.  I’m a screenwriter living and working in Hollywood.

I’m a native Californian, having grown up in the Antelope Valley (the early years) and Morgan Hill (the High School years).  I’ve been a writer ever since I mistook my 3rd grade teacher’s note on a story I wrote to be high praise when in actuality she was nudging my parents to get me the psychological help I so desperately needed.

After High School I spent four years and 6 hours in the United States Air Force working as an Arabic linguist.  Don’t ask!!!  Seriously, don’t ask.  I had a security clearance and can’t talk about it.  I did get to spend a year and a half on the beautiful island of Crete.  Go ahead, ask.  I had the time of my life.  My last year in the USAF was spent at the National Security Agency just outside of Washington D.C.  Again, don’t ask.

Although there were plenty of career opportunities in the intelligence field, the lure of being a struggling/under-employed writer was just too great.  I went to college.

UCLA was a great, studied Theater and Film, did a couple of internships, and graduated. I worked as an assistant, PA, Reader, wrote a bunch of scripts and managed to get myself an agent or three. Had a couple of small options then had a script go out all over town for a weekend read. When everybody passed (character problems), I studied my favorite films from a character perspective and had an “Ah-ha” moment. Decided I needed a computer program to help me keep my newly discovered understanding of story structure straight, so I taught myself how to program with the help of my ex-father-in-law.

Got offered a job in Florida by the company that published the programming language I was using when they saw a couple of my programs. Moved to Florida for a decade. My wife was promoted to Managing Editor of Hollywood.com and we moved back to Los Angeles.

And here I am typing this in Burbank…