Today we’d like to introduce you to Riley Michlowitz.
Hi Riley, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a screenwriter and Head of Script Development at the entertainment company Mother & Daughter Entertainment (MDE) in Los Angeles! Since I was little, I always knew I wanted to write, I just didn’t know through what medium. I remember in elementary school I used to write little paragraph stories on index cards whenever I got bored. Let’s just say I went through several packs of cards! I always found regular subjects too bland and much preferred anything that allowed me to stretch my creativity. If I ever got an assignment in school where we were allowed to write creatively, I’d always run with it usually writing more than I needed to.
In my Junior year of college, I took a class on screenwriting and it suddenly clicked. From that moment on, I began focusing on my creativity. I wrote one feature film, four short films, a one-hour-long pilot, and one half-hour-long comedy pilot, all before graduation. During my senior year, I got the opportunity to be a Production Assistant (PA) on a professional film set out here in Los Angeles where I met Elizabeth Blake-Thomas, Isabella Blake-Thomas, and Abbie Georganna, the Mother & Daughter Entertainment company team. That experience was what solidified my life path, knowing I definitely wanted to work in film. I kept up my relationship with the MDE team while finishing up my college degree. Post graduation, I immediately moved out to Los Angeles where I continued to work with MDE as an intern on script coverage and then on set as a PA, 2nd 2nd AD, and 2nd AD.
Fostering that relationship and proving my work ethic on sets with them, Mother & Daughter Entertainment officially promoted me to be their Head of Script Development in January of 2023. Now I get to write scripts every day, surrounded by an incredible team and environment. I can’t reveal much detail on what I am writing at the moment with MDE, but I can say they are exciting and have the power to be impactful! One of MDE’s missions that I love is to “create content that matters”, which is exactly what I want to do with my writing. I can officially say I am living the dream!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of it has and some of it hasn’t. I went to college in Alabama and for most of my college career, I had no idea how I was going to break into the entertainment industry being far away from any major filming city and not having any major industry contacts. I had the Plan A dream of getting into the industry and becoming a renowned screenwriter, but as many do, I started making Plan B, C, D, etc. I think I even made it to Plan M. I was so worried that I may have spent four years working towards something that I might not be able to get into or possibly not even like once I actually started working.
Luckily, by some random act of fate, my father sat next to MDE’s Elizabeth Blake-Thomas at a restaurant and they got to talking. When Elizabeth found out I wanted to be in the industry, she gave my father her business card to give to me. From a chance moment, I had gotten my foot in the door. Soon after, Elizabeth invited me on set out in Los Angeles, where I was an intern production assistant. All my prayers and hopes were answered getting to finally be on a film set. I actually ended up acting in that film as well because one of our actresses got sick and wasn’t able to perform anymore, so I got quite a well-rounded experience on my first professional film set! Within one summer, I went from a worried junior in college thinking of a Plan M to working in the film industry and having an IMDb page! Pretty cool!
From that moment on, things got a little easier, but new challenges also arose. Elizabeth and her team invited me to work on more projects with them, where I learned so much and was challenged along the way. Knowing these opportunities were so important and rare in the industry, I accepted projects with MDE while still in school. Thankfully my teachers were accommodating, but I would travel and be on set for 12 hours and then do my classwork in the hotel room at night, making things a little complicated to juggle. Once I graduated, I made the move out to Los Angeles with only a little bit in my savings. That was probably the most challenging part because I was working gig to gig and writing in my spare time. I didn’t know when the next job was going to show up with the next paycheck. But I knew I had to jump in with both feet.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a writer through and through and I’m incredibly proud of it. I think my ability to come up with stories based on something I’ve seen, whether a person, an action, or an experience, is what I’m most proud of. As a writer, I feel like everything has or needs a back story. That’s what I love about creation. I can look at a person or witness something happen and immediately create a story from it, taking the smallest of info and expanding it into a new fleshed-out world. I actually have a journal completely full of stories like that. So, whenever I’m stuck, I can always look at those for inspiration. Most of the scripts I’ve written have actually come from experiences like that. The inciting incident in the first feature I wrote was about the first date I ever went on. Another is about the town I grew up in. I like to connect with my work on a personal level if I can.
My position at Mother & Daughter Entertainment allows me to write as a living, which is probably the most exciting thing for me! Actually, knowing something I write will be made into a film or a series is so rewarding in itself, but to also be made by such a great group of women is even better! I love being a part of the MDE team because all three other women on the team are so inspiring and encouraging. Together we not only get to do what we love but have fun doing it!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Honestly, I’m pretty much an open book! Being a writer, I am open about my life and the experiences with the people I meet, as many of my scripts have pieces of me in them. At first meeting, some people may be surprised that writing is not the only thing I do. I’m also a general filmmaker who isn’t afraid to tackle different roles on set. One thing I learned upon breaking into this industry is that it often starts with having to wear many hats while pursuing your passion. So, on top of writing, I also AD on sets, which some people might not guess! Being an AD I get to break down scripts which is exciting for me, and use my organizational skills to help the set run smoothly. I’m also an extrovert and a big people person so I love being surrounded by people who also engage in their creativity. Besides that, as I said, I’m an open book!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.motheranddaughterent.com (MDE) /
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motheranddaughterent/ (MDE) / https://www.instagram.com/ri_ri_riley/ (Riley Michlowitz)
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0702427 (MDE) | https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12264326/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr18 (Riley Michlowitz)
Image Credits
Steve Escarcega Abbie Georganna
