Meet Izayah Davis of North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Izayah Davis.

Izayah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was an avid blu-ray collector in my early teens (still am) treated it like Baseball cards — familiarizing myself with Writers, Directors, Actors, etc and then I saw INTERSTELLAR in IMAX at 14 and that’s where it all clicked. I want to do that with my life, and that’s been the pursuit ever since (27 now)

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I can’t say it’s been rough, like the overwhelming sensation of having a vision and not being able to quite see a way to get there, or what that looks like has been hard but the journey itself (the work) has been rewarding, and powerful. Before I moved here, I did Construction during the day, but I’d still find the time to write and watch a movie a day, and read screenplays what have you. I’ve never had a “hateful” relationship towards the work of it all. So all in all I’d say it hasn’t been smooth but the bumps in the road make it all worthwhile.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m primarily a screenwriter, but will be branching out into directing & producing later this year. I’m most proud of this screenplay I wrote called LYNCHIN’ – A 1950’s Period Piece Revenge Thriller that I wrote in seven days during a turbulent period in my life. I posted it on the BlackList the next day (basically a first draft) and this was the first time I had ever shared my work publicly ever after a decade of working on my craft and a producer downloaded it and reached out, and that started a pretty cool relationship and prompted my move to LA. It was also selected as a finalist to the 2026 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay competition which meant a lot, cause I love my city and my stories stem from GA in some form or fashion. It also got me a sweet gig doing a rewrite for some really great producers on a really great project that I shouldn’t say too much about just yet.

What sets me apart? I think I have a very “hip-hop” sensibility that comes through in my material that’s paired with rich, and beautiful black characters that populate my stories.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a normal GA kid — I always had a connection to cinema but not in a way that I really thought too much of back then. It was always something that I was doing/looked forward. I had Birthday Parties that were geared around watching whatever movie it was that I loved at the time.

I was pretty outgoing as a kid, my childhood was filled with nothing but love from my grandparents and I like to think I carried that with me throughout my day to day back then.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://substack.com/@izayahdavis
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izayahjdavis/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
• Other: https://letterboxd.com/byhyped/