Nancy Yuen: Bio

I was born and raised in east Los Angeles, and lived a block away from the plaza where the mariachi bands gather every day to find jobs. I went to high school in San Gabriel.

When I was a kid, my dad was a doctoral student at USC studying experimental pathology; our family of six lived on his small stipend. I learned about love as I saw him sell his blood to a blood bank to pay for music lessons for me and for my brothers and sister.

My passion for writing was born in the downtown LA Library, where my parents would take us summer nights when the sweltering heat at home became unbearable (we didn’t have air conditioning). My brothers, sister, and I would scatter throughout the grand building to find new books. One of my happiest days was the day I filled out the paperwork and was given my first library card; I could choose 10 books to check out, and they had to be true stories. That's when I experienced the magic of storytelling; I learned that no matter who you are or where you live, a story can take you around the world and beyond.

I first dreamed of becoming a screenwriter when I discovered a book in the library, “The Trouble With Tribbles: The birth, sale and final production of one episode,” by David Gerrold. “People really do that for a living?" I thought. "I want to do that.” I was in elementary school and for years, my brother and I enthusiastically created storylines for our favorite TV shows.

I completed a degree in journalism at Pacific Union College, Angwin (in the Napa Valley), and then worked in the public relations and marketing fields for White Memorial Medical Center in East L.A.; Loma Linda University, and later, Loma Linda University Medical Center where my days were filled with writing stories about the careers, work and lives of nursing and dental students, physicians, and others. I also traveled to remote clinics in places including Djibouti, Nicaragua, and Peru, and Rwanda, among others.

I rediscovered my screenwriting dream while working as director of marketing for a dental school. As we were finishing a monthly publication a nursing student who was assisting in my office asked, “Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?”

I applied to USC and completed the Master of Professional Writing (MPW) degree/emphasis Screenwriting, in 2008. The program encourages multidisciplinary writing, and in addition to screenwriting I studied fiction writing and playwrighting. A screenplay I wrote was selected as a finalist in a film fest.

While in the MPW program I was invited by faculty to participate in the 2007–08 Academy Internship program. I received a scholarship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation that allowed me to work with my mentor, Irvin Kershner. I also worked with Syd Field, transcribing hundreds of pages of notes from recordings of his lectures at USC, and from a seminar he led in Europe. He used the transcripts to revise his book, "Screenplay."

In addition, I’ve completed courses in USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) summer production workshops: Wendy Apple (documentary filmmaking); Sandra Berg (beginning screenwriting); and from SCA writing division faculty Ronald Friedman, Don Bohlinger, and Frank Wuliger.

In May, 2009, I was invited to join a National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences panel judging regional EMMY Award entries in the category “Human Interest Segment.”