Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint.“
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
I’m Valerie.
I tell stories — made up and true, dramatic and comedic, with words and pictures and sound — sometimes all at once.
My first loves are mysteries and procedurals (including true crime) and Jane Austen. My affinity is for protagonists who are underestimated by those around them — until they break out of their comfort zones and, ultimately, get what they want. Ahem.
I prefer my novels and dramas with both emotional heft and a touch of humor — like real life. My current goals are to get onto the New York Times Fiction best seller list, into a procedural drama writer’s room, and to showrun a room like that myself — happy with whatever order those come.
A finalist for the CBS TV Writers Mentoring Program, and a semi-finalist for the WGAE Made in NY Writers Room fellowship, during the pandemic I was honored and privileged to have been one of showrunner Glen Mazzara’s the100. It was a nearly year-long weekly group — during which Glen so generously shared his deep, earned showrunner wisdom, resources, and valuable insights and answered questions and read scripts.
Pretty Dead — an award-winning short mockumentary I co-wrote about a corpse duty actress (see procedural love and humor) — was a selection of a dozen film festivals, including the HBO Women in Comedy Fest.
My individual procedural scripts have achieved honors at the Austin Film Festival Screenwriters Festival, the ScreenCraft TV Pilot Launch competition, and more. The Maid of Honor, a narrative comedic (and crime-y) short film I wrote and directed, was an Official Selection of the Sedona International Film Festival.
I’ve directed and have a good deal of on-set experience — from working on short films to being a guest on both sound stage and a location shoots for Law & Order: SVU. The pandemic also made me a true crime podcast expert.
My Jane Austen / time travel screenplay, The Jane Austen Syndrome, was awarded a table reading by The Drawing Board, a NYC script writers and actors lab. In 2023 it was chosen by an award-winning director and producer for possible Sundance Producer Lab development. In early 2024, the play was a semi-finalist for the Stage 32 Grown Up Screenplay competition, and its past honors include those sponsored by the Austin Film Festival, Cinequest, and the Big Apple Film Festival.
In addition to juggling TV and other scripts, I’m currently completing my first novel, which is smart and commercial (like me!), very long and involves intertwining mysteries, book publishing, epistolary elements, at least two dead bodies — and it would make a GREAT TV series.
I’m the author of the “entertainingly irreverent”* Peterson’s Holiday Helper and Peterson’s Happy Hour humor/cocktail books (Random House/Clarkson Potter), on which I based a multi-generational sitcom pilot set in a bar. I’m the co-author (with Janice Fryer) of Cookie Craft and Cookie Craft Christmas cookie decorating how-to books (Storey Publishing/Workman). I’ve also written extensively for publications such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and LIveAbout.com (for six years as their contracted Book Publishing Expert).
My experience includes a number of years strategic planning in the corporate world and in in-house book publishing world where, among many other duties, I produced videos, audiotapes, and commercials. I ran large departments of creatives, project-directed many moving parts and people, “took notes” from executives, and managed multi-million-dollar budgets — all of which gives me a knowledge base to begin to understand the work of a showrunner.
I’m a proud graduate of Fordham University in da Bronx (B.A. English, Rose Hill campus) and I hold a film & TV directing certificate from NYU-SPS. Born and raised in Yonkers NY, I currently live in and love NYC — but don’t mind traveling to the West Coast, where I have many colleagues, family, and friends.
Importantly, I’ve stood with the WGA – literally, since (though “pre”) I marched with them during the 2023 strike.
I sometimes run mad, but I hardly ever faint.