Writers Boot Camp Founder, Jeffrey Gordon (JG), during a 2023 Alumni Speaker Event, spoke with Justine Barron, who joined Writers Boot Camp after winning a highly competitive and coveted Fellowship. Since completing Basic Training, she’s become a published author, most recently writing  They Killed Freddie Gray, The Anatomy Of A Police Brutality Cover-Up published by Arcade Publishing.

Justine was asked about her Basic Training experience—

JB: “The first script I wrote after winning the diversity fellowship, and you probably won’t remember this, was about a queer teenager who had been a performer and had become gun shy and afraid of the stage because I had become performance shy, and it became a one-woman show.”

Despite the thousands of scripts alumni have completed, JG recalled the script—

JB: “I’m having so many feelings right now because I feel like my relationship with Writers Boot Camp and with you [JG] is one of the few in life that was positive all the way through from beginning to end and I love that I can come back and be seen as a member of a family. Because I feel, by and large, it’s lonely and a struggle out there. But we connected and you guys delivered on what you promised for me in terms of skill.”

JG concluded commending Justine on how she’s transitioned so smoothly between mediums as a writers.

As often noted by JG, books and novels are much easier once you practice the compression required for movies and television.

Writers Boot Camp proudly supports diversity— Historically, we supported Fox Diversity for nine years where they sponsored writers through Basic Training, 50% of the writers attracted staff television jobs, including top showrunners today. Through our 36 year history, women represent a higher percentage of our overall alumni success stories—and through the years we’ve awarded nearly half a million dollars in fellowship awards to writers and filmmakers of diverse heritage, highlighting opportunities for women of color.