Q: Who is Alex Epstein?

Alex

Alex Epstein is a narrative director for games, a writer for television and movies, a voice director, and an author.

A native New Yorker, he is a dual American and Canadian citizen.

Narrative Directing and Game Writing

Contrast

Alex was the Narrative Director and Writer, as well as Voice Director, of Contrast by Compulsion Games. GameRant said that "Contrast does more to deliver an emotionally engaging story than most games even come close to in three times as long." The game is nominated for ten Canadian Video Game Awards, including Best Indie and Best Writing. It is available on Xbox 360, Xbox 1, PS3, PS4 and Steam.

He is now working on Compulsion's new game We Happy Few.

Screenwriting

Bon Cop / Bad Cop

Bon Cop Bad Cop Poster

He co-wrote Bon Cop / Bad Cop, a bilingual buddy cop comedy starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore. The movie broke the all-time Canadian box office record for a Canadian picture and won the Genie for Best Picture; Epstein and his co-writers were nominated for the Jutra Prize for Best Screenplay and won a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Film Writing.

Naked Josh

Naked Josh

He co-created the Gemini-nominated comic drama television series Naked Josh for the Oxygen Network (U.S.A.) and Showcase (in Canada); it ran for three seasons. He was nominated twice for a Canadian Screenwriting Award for his work on the show.

Charlie Jade

Charlie Jade

He was Head Writer for a science fiction TV series, Charlie Jade.

Galidor

Galidor

His first staff job was as Executive Story Editor for the FoxKids science fiction series Galidor.

Walter's Christmas

Walter's Christmas

With his wife Lisa, Alex co-wrote WALTER'S CHRISTMAS, an animated film about a goofy inventor and his best friend, a talking chicken.

Directing

Winter Garden (2013)

Winter Garden

On the closing night of his seventh hit play, a playwright desperately searches for his inspiration. Starring Canadian Screen Award-winner Enrico Colantoni. Premiered during TIFF in the "Stage to Screen" program at the Elgin Theatre; screened in the Canadian International Television Festival.

Role Play (2013)

Role Play

"You be me. I'll be him."

9 min. A dark fairy tale, starring Genie-nominated Juliette Gosselin (Nouvelle France). Screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Market as part of Telefilm Canada's "Not Short on Talent" program. Screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the St. John's International Women's Film Festival, and the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois.

Alex and Lisa were nominated for a 2014 Canadian Screenwriting Award for their script.

The Grilled Cheese Trilogy (2012)

Three Short Films About Cheese

5 min. Pieces of cheese struggle with issues of politics, social class and love. Premièred at the 31st Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québecois.

You Are So Undead (2010)

You Are So Undead

6 min. A teen vampire sex comedy for the Bravo! channel. It has screened at the Worldwide Short Film Festival, Just for Laughs Chicago, and many fantasy and horror film festivals: the Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic (Spain), Screamfest LA, Hallowscreen (Florida), Mecal (Spain), Rio Fantastic Festival (Argentina), Court Métrange (Rennes, France), Bleedfest (LA), A Night of Horror (Australia), Newport Beach, Toronto After Dark, Fantasia (Montreal), and The Vampire Film Festival, and opened Dead by Dawn in Edinburgh. It's also aired on the CBC. The film won the WGC Award for Best Short for writer Lisa Hunter. Over 300,000 hits on YouTube.

Twelve Ways to Say I'm Sorry (2007)

Sorry!

6 min. What do Canadians really mean when they say, "I'm sorry"?

"Twelve Ways to Say "I'm Sorry" premiered at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, and played in selection at the Whistler Film Festival. It has aired on Bravo!, Air Canada, The Sundance Channel and The Movie Channel.

Books

Crafty Screenwriting

Crafty Screenwriting Cover

His 2002 book, Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made (Henry Holt: New York) has sold over 15,000 copies.

Crafty TV Writing

Crafty TV Cover

His 2006 book, Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box (Henry Holt: New York) has sold over 12,000 copies.

The Circle Cast

The Circle Cast

His novel, The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan le Fay (Tradewinds) tells how Morgan le Fay, the half sister of King Arthur, became the most powerful sorceress of post-Roman Britain. It was shortlisted for a Quebec Writers Federation Award. The German translation, Morgans Erwachen, is forthcoming from Urachhaus (Stuttgart).

Laws of Success: Scenario

Laws of Success Scenario

Crafty Screenwriting has also been translated into Korean and Chinese.

Career and Education

Education

snowy dog

Epstein got his Master of Fine Arts at UCLA's School of Film and Television. He has his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale in Computer Science and English.

Development Executive

Lord Richard

Before writing full time, Epstein was a development executive at various production companies in Los Angeles, and helped develop many independent pictures.

In the film and TV industry, Epstein is represented by Marc Lapointe of Agence Omada (514) 287 1246. Note that he is not the Israeli novelist named Alex Epstein, and he is definitely not the right wing pundit named Alex Epstein.

Epstein lives in Old Montreal with his wife and daughter.

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Note: if you have a question about show business, please check out my books first. If you can't get my books, try my seven years of blog entries before you email me; I've probably already answered it. You can also check my FAQ, though I no longer update it. I'm afraid I cannot help you get an agent, and if you want to know who someone's agent is, please call SAG (the number is on my FAQ). My eddress is .

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