Today we’d like to introduce you to James Warren.
Hi James, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Sleepy Hollow, New York – yes, that Sleepy Hollow, the one immortalized by Washington Irving’s tale of the Headless Horseman. Growing up in a place with its own phantom that arrived every Halloween made me feel connected to something larger than myself from an early age. While other kids had Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, we had the Headless Horseman, and that sense of folklore and mystery was woven into my childhood.
I was always drawn to creative expression – drawing, painting, dancing, grabbing my parents’ camcorder to film my friends as we reenacted horror movies around the pool and throughout the neighborhood. I was obsessed with 80s slasher films and 90s psychological horror like Seven, Kiss the Girls, A Perfect Murder, and Identity. Looking back, I understand why. During my parents’ divorce, watching my father have to leave to rebuild his life during an incredibly difficult time for all of us, these films invoked emotions that mirrored my inner state. They became a way for me to process what I was experiencing.
I started writing short stories as a teenager – always horror-focused, always domestic settings, always featuring a single character alone. They were my private space, a form of therapy even though I didn’t recognize it as such at the time. Around this same period, I had encounters with apparitions in our household. These experiences gave me an understanding that life continues after death at an early age, which profoundly shaped how I see the world. I’ve always felt connected to the universe and something much larger than myself – creative, artistic, and deeply intuitive.
After high school, I attended college but didn’t finish. Instead, I spent years working in hospitality – fine dining and luxury hotels across the United States. During this time, I was constantly creating on the side: freelance artwork, astrology readings, designing visual storefront windows, dancing in performances, and making print and design art as a hobby. I’d lose myself in electronic music while creating, and those pieces became my personal artistic practice.
But there was always this pull toward something bigger – a story I needed to tell. So I made a lifelong dream come true and wrote my first spec screenplay: a queer revenge tragedy masquerading as a horror slasher. It brought together everything I’d been processing since childhood – the folklore, the horror, the psychological complexity, the themes of isolation and transformation.
That’s what brought me here, to this moment – ready to continue telling stories that matter
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I’ve come to believe that struggle is part of the design. I believe we choose our parents before birth, so all of this – the family dynamics, the challenges – has been a karmic, spiritual “dance” that I needed to experience.
Not finishing college meant I wasn’t always taken seriously as a creative. My wanderlust and refusal to “grow roots” anywhere made people see me as whimsical or unfocused – they didn’t understand my adventurous approach to life. And being a gay man in my family has always carried this underlying tension. There’s a mask of acceptance, but underneath, I’ve sensed judgment from most of them. My friends became my chosen family, which has been beautiful but also complicated – maintaining connection with my biological family while feeling like they don’t truly accept who I am.
But here’s the thing: these struggles made my creativity better. They forced me to dive deep into my own psychological depths, to mine the darkness and complexity of human experience. The result is work that’s moving, extreme, polarizing, shocking – but always with substance. The pain wasn’t wasted. It became the foundation for stories that matter.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a screenwriter, and right now my focus is on finishing three polished scripts to bring with me when I move to Los Angeles in 2027. I have two completed scripts – “The Dragger” and “The Hypnotist” – and I’m currently working on a third: a queer historical love story drama. 2026 is about building my arsenal so I can arrive in LA ready to pitch, find a manager, and begin the representation and green-lighting process. I already have readers, actors lined up to do table reads, and connections who are guiding me through the process. What sets me apart is that my work doesn’t fit neatly into one box – it’s horror, it’s psychological, it’s queer, it’s extreme and polarizing but always grounded in substance. My background in astrology, visual art, dance, and hospitality has given me a unique lens on human behavior and storytelling. I understand archetypes, transformation, and the spiritual-psychological depths that most writers don’t explore. I’m most proud of my commitment to telling stories that challenge audiences, that make them uncomfortable in the best way, and that center queer narratives without apologizing for their darkness or complexity. I want to be known for writing scripts that are unforgettable – the kind that get under your skin and stay there.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Honest, visceral and realistic feedback from other screenwriters, actors, producers, industry insiders, storytellers and people with time to really ponder my motivations and themes I explore in my stories which ultimately all involve a great degree of intense horror, psychological terror, confusion, belief twisting and truth seeking through loud transformations. Other queer artists, open-minded people and gatekeepers are the people I seek to work with in the following years ahead.
Contact Info:
- Other: jswbk1986@gmail.com
