Community Corner

Whitefish Bay Grad Headed to Hollywood

Joey Plale will attend USC Cinema School – the alma mater of George Lucas, Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow.

Ever since he was seven years old, Joey Plale has wanted to be a writer.

As a young boy he would write short stories, and his mother would bind them and give them to family members. Later, in his middle school years, he would write longer 30- to 40-page novels. When he reached high school, his interest shifted to film and he started watching movies with subtitles so he could write down lines of dialogue and get a feel for screenwriting.

All of Plale's passion and dedication is paying off, as next month the recent Whitefish Bay High School grad will attend the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. He was one of 27 students selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the school's prestigious screenwriting program.

Notable alum include Star Wars creator George Lucas; comedian Will Ferrell; Mad Men creator Matthew WeinerJudd Apatow, who produced Anchorman and 40-year-old Virgin; Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig; and Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes.

And that's just a very small sampling of USC Cinema's influential graduates.

Although Hollywood jobs are sparse, the USC film program's high job placement rates have given Plale hope that he could have a job in show business some day.

"It was mostly a hobby for me," he said. "I didn’t think I would be able to make a career out of it, but getting into USC gives me a little more confidence.”    

Plale's most recent script was a 156-page full-length screenplay that interweaves three tragic stories of high school bullying, drawing from the Columbine High School massacre, the cyberbullying that led 15-year-old Amanda Todd to commit suicide and the story of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime.

Plale said he is particularly inspired by the writing in HBO shows like Game of Thrones, The Wire and The Sopranos, which he is re-watching for the fifth time this summer.

After honing his skills at USC, Plale said he hopes to someday write for a TV show, and potentially direct or produce a TV show or movie.


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