Brandon Childs is joining the Writing Institute as an instructor in 2026 and will be teaching Intro to Screenwriting! Brandon is a writer, actor, and director, who has worked on a wide variety of TV projects. Read on to get to know him and his career a bit better with a short interview!
1) This will be your first time teaching with us! Do you have a memory of a writing class that you've taken that has helped you in your career?
In 2015, I took a writing class with the UCLA Extension under the instruction of Joe Fisch. When I look back on that course, the thing about that class that aided my career was the rigor of the assignments Joe gave. I still have these nauseating gut-level memories of feeling overwhelmed with the amount of reading and analysis that the course demanded of us. However, once I started working as a writer's room assistant and eventually got my first job as a full-time tv writer, I was able to step into the volume of work that those roles required with relative ease because of the training ground that was Joe's classes.
2) Why do you enjoy writing for the screen in particular?
My brain has always responded best to multimedia, so that's initially what caused me to gravitate toward writing for the screen. As I've gone deeper into this career field though, I've discovered that the vehicles of television and cinema both provide a unique and particular sort of potency and dexterity that just happens to suit the kinds of laughter, emotion and thought I look to evoke in my work.
3) What movies or TV shows have inspired you?
On the TV side, I'll say: Smart Guy, Everybody Hates Chris, Friday Night Lights, Community, Ramy, King of Queens and The Office. For movies, I'll say: Coming To America, Defending Your Life, Heavyweights, Kicking and Screaming and When Harry Met Sally.
Interested in taking a class with Brandon or other Writing Institute instructors? View all available classes here.