Why We Write: Charlie Ricottone

The decision to dedicate my life’s work to writing didn’t come easy. As the child of a successful businessman, I found myself trying to live up to what I thought my father’s expectations were. He jump started my working career at the ripe old age of 12 and I’ve been working ever since. I’ve done manual labour jobs both in and outdoors, sales in an outbound capacity as well as retail, and media-related positions in photo and video production. Unfortunately, all of these avenues felt like a dead end and didn’t achieve the approval I thought I was seeking.

At the age of 35, after a bout with depression due to a lack of satisfaction in my career choices and absolutely zero drive to push myself forward, I received a very blunt awakening. At that point, I decided that if I was going to make a career change, it would be to something I love.

I enrolled in a part-time Writing for Publication program at the local community college and put everything I had into my schooling while working a placeholder retail job. Upon completion of the program, I applied for some copywriting positions. I found one on a marketing team at a wonderful company that has been nothing but supportive in my journey.

Due to the stay-at-home orders and lockdown restrictions, I have been working from home for the past 16 months, which has offered a flexible schedule to not only get my work done, but has also facilitated a lot of “free time” to dedicate to my true passion — film and screenwriting.

I’ve always wanted to work in the film industry, but found that many of the jobs were of a “hurry up and wait” capacity. I work fine in a team environment, but I truly thrive when it comes to independent work, such as writing. Since I’ve always had an active imagination and loved to create stories, characters, and develop ideas, screenwriting was an obvious choice, even though I’d been told many times over that it was nearly impossible.

As a lover of film, (I’ve seen more movies than I can even count) I took the leap into dedicating all of my aforementioned “free time” to honing my craft. As a new screenwriter, I know that there is a long road ahead. However, it is the only road I’m happy to travel, even if all the wheels come off and I’m forced to walk the rest of the way.

After all the worry and seeking approval, it turns out that my father (a film buff and avid reader) has never been more proud of me and my decision to truly engross myself in my work. He’s my biggest fan, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Is that new draft ready?”

Thanks to Charlie!