Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Chen.
Hi Stephen, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’m a TV writer who took a tortuous path to get to where I am today. My journey started somewhere in high school. I was a math and science geek, resigned to pursue something related as a career, though I derived true joy from making my classmates laugh. Superbad was crushing it at the box office, and I had learned that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the script when they were 13. I didn’t know you could do that. I always imagined screenwriters to be old, aloof auteurs, not crude, immature teenagers like myself. I felt inspired to write my own Superbad. After high school, I went on to study civil engineering at Cornell, both to appease my parents and ensure I graduated with a useful degree, but I taught myself screenwriting on the side and wrote two features with the hope that I would someday sell my own smash hit and leave engineering forever.
Fast forward seven years, and I was still working as a civil engineer, designing transportation infrastructure, having a quarter-life crisis. Neither of my features became a smash hit (spoiler alert!), and I had largely abandoned my screenwriting dreams in favor of the structure and stability that engineering provided. Though engineering was rewarding and even creative in certain ways, it lacked one crucial element for me – self-expression. I looked up to my managers, but I couldn’t imagine being in their shoes at their age and feeling satisfied with my life. The highlights of my days became the one-hour lunches, where I would riff with my coworkers on absurd topics; it was the only time of the workday I felt I could truly be myself. One coworker enjoyed our riffs so much that he suggested I try standup, so I began doing open mics after work. Before long, I was spending much of my eight-hour workdays thinking about the five minutes of material I would be trying out later that night.
Through the open mic scene, I befriended a fellow comic who admired the way I wrote my jokes and asked if I had ever considered writing for TV. I hadn’t, but it made a lot of sense. TV had the structure of an office job with the comedic self-expression I sought from screenwriting. For the first time in years, I considered rekindling my adolescent dreams, though I knew that if I wanted to make this dream a reality, I had to take it seriously. Gone were the fantasies that I would be a full-time civil engineer and write a hit screenplay in my spare time; I had to give it everything and dive in with full commitment. I quit my job, moved to LA, and enrolled in the UCLA Professional Program for TV Writing, where I immediately fell in love with the craft. In stark contrast to engineering, people suddenly wanted to hear what made me unique, encouraging me to explore my strangest ideas and unearth my most personal stories. After finishing the program, I became a script reader for work and continued writing my own scripts. Over the past five years, I’ve written six pilots, one feature, and several shorts, which have placed in the Austin Film Festival, Final Draft Big Break, and ScreenCraft screenwriting competitions, among others.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Absolutely not, and as a writer, it would be sacrilegious to talk about my journey without bringing up the obstacles. Every writer says there’s no one way into the industry, but you don’t really know which way will work for you until you’ve found it. After finishing the UCLA Professional Program, I felt directionless. I had one solid pilot, but nobody to read it. I spent the first couple years exploring every possible avenue to make connections and get noticed – applying to fellowships, attending mixers, meeting writers for coffee, working as a PA, acting, doing improv and standup, taking more writing classes, producing live comedy shows, filming a web series, being active on social media, and sinking way too much money into entering any screenwriting contest with half a reputation. I was pulling myself in so many different directions that I felt I was doing none of them well, and no particular avenue was gaining any traction.
The constant rejection and disappointment were brutal, leading to long periods of self-doubt. I felt like I was spinning my wheels, putting in months of work with nothing to show for it. I would question if I was on the right path, if anyone was even interested in what I had to say, or if I was just wasting my time. My inability to cope with the discomfort of uncertainty became overwhelming, and I started going to therapy at age 30. This marked a huge shift in my perspective. Over time, I’ve learned to have more patience and self-compassion. This journey is long and arduous, and the industry is designed to make people quit. I no longer think of “not making it” as failing but of “not quitting” as succeeding. I’m learning to give myself permission to try new things, to celebrate my progress alongside my triumphs, to endure the low points, and to have unwavering faith in myself to break through.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I write silly yet heartfelt comedies that explore themes of identity and self-acceptance. I love TV writing in particular for its collaborative nature, where a writers’ room can create a script that’s greater than the sum of its parts, and for its capacity to explore characters with depth and nuance. I am fascinated by people’s motivations and understanding why they want and do the things that they do. The stories I write mirror my own journey of self-acceptance, and my characters are reflections of myself who either actively deny or are yet to discover who they are; they lie – to their peers, their parents, or themselves – but must instead learn to love and accept themselves.
I am the son of Taiwanese immigrants and grew up one of only a handful of Asian kids in a very white suburb of Chicago, where the entrenched acceptance of white norms led to my embarrassment of my own Taiwanese culture. I was often bullied and excluded for being different. I would ask my mom to pack a sandwich instead of her delicious cooking, to speak English in public instead of Mandarin. Even into adulthood, I desperately wanted to prove to the people around me how “American” I was. At the same time, I would spend the summers visiting extended family in Taiwan and feel embarrassed to speak my broken Mandarin (from lack of practice with my parents). I felt caught between two cultures, not feeling fully accepted by either one – a struggle I share with many Asian Americans.
This duality became a core theme in my writing. Going to therapy not only marked a huge shift in my life but my writing as well. I realized that what I sought was not popularity but meaningful human connection, not external validation but self-acceptance, and I began exploring characters who also confused their intentions. I always try to find my story in every script that I write, and it is equally daunting and fulfilling to uncover the joy and pain of my past with humor and hope.
Thus far, I feel proudest of co-creating the web sketch series The Chuckle Boyz. Though it never really took off or got much attention, I learned so much about comedy beyond writing. I learned to appreciate the importance of producing, acting, directing, and editing and how they work in tandem to create a better overall product. Because my writing partner and I had complete creative control, it was the truest form of personal expression I could’ve asked for. We both invested a lot of time and energy into creating those videos, and I’m still very proud of our work.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
My number one goal since moving to LA has been to get staffed on a TV show. I am looking for any way into a writers’ room, including a support staff position. I am also looking for representation (please check out my Coverfly profile for a portfolio of my work). I’m always looking to connect with on-camera and behind-the-camera talent, and I’ve written several shorts that I’m looking to produce in the future. Also, please check out The Chuckle Boyz on YouTube; though we have unofficially retired, I still appreciate the support, plus you get to see my above-average acting skills.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/stephenchen
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephenbchen
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/stephenbchen
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechuckleboyz
