Bert V. Royal Jr. (born October 14, 1977) is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and former

casting director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenp ...

. He is best known as the writer of the play '' Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead'', which premiered

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in 2005, and the 2010

teen film Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers, preteens and/or young adults by the plot being based on their special interests, such as coming of age, attempting to fit in, bullying, peer pressure, first love, teen rebellion, conflict with pa ...

Easy A ''Easy A'' (stylized as ''easy A'') is a 2010 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Will Gluck, written by Bert V. Royal, and starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, L ...

''.

Early life

Royal grew up in

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. Green Cove Springs is a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,786 at the 2020 census, up from 6,908 at ...

. He did not attend high school, and instead was homeschooled. He later attended

St. Johns River State College St. Johns River State College is a public college in Northeast Florida with campuses in Palatka, St. Augustine, and Orange Park. Founded in 1958 (for organizational purposes) as St. Johns River Junior College, a historically black college, it ...

's Florida School of the Arts, where he majored in acting, but quit after two years because he felt he could not act.

Career

Royal moved from Florida to New York City at the age of 21 after receiving an internship at the

Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...

. He first worked in

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

, where he was involved in the casting of ''

Third Watch ''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced ...

'' and ''

Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...

'', but quit after five years to become a writer. His first successful script was for '' Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead'', a play centering on the ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

'' comic strip characters as teenagers. Royal submitted the script to the 2004

New York International Fringe Festival The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across se ...

and produced by Sorrel Tomlinson, where it won the award for Best Overall Production and was then picked up by producers Dede Harris and Tomlinson to become an

production, premiering in December 2005. ''Dog Sees God'' won the 2004

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

for Best Off-Broadway Play and the 2006 HX Award for Best Off-Broadway Play, among other awards. Following the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Royal wrote the

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

for the high school comedy film ''

''. He sold the script to

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

almost immediately and the film commenced

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

nine months later. After ''Easy A'' was released in September 2010, Royal wrote a

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

set in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, which was picked up and shot by

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. , he is writing a television series for

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...

and an adaptation of the 2002 Japanese horror film ''

2LDK ''2LDK'' is a 2003 Japanese film, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi as part of the Duel Project, starring Maho Nonami and Eiko Koike. Two ambitious actresses, who share an apartment, learn they have been short-listed for the same part and that they ...

''.

Personal life

Royal is gay and has said that Brandon, a gay character in ''Easy A'', was based on himself. He lives in the Los Angeles

Toluca Lake Toluca Lake is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake fed by wells and maintained by neighboring property owners. Prio ...

neighborhood.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal, Bert 1977 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American male screenwriters Television writers from California American gay writers American LGBTQ screenwriters Living people People from Aurora, Colorado People from Green Cove Springs, Florida Writers from Los Angeles American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ people from Colorado American male television writers American male dramatists and playwrights American casting directors 21st-century American male writers Screenwriters from Florida Screenwriters from Colorado 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American LGBTQ people