If you’re looking for a poster child for a screenwriter outside of L.A. who has been able to have a Hollywood career — Mike Rich definitely qualifies. Born in Enterprise, Oregon, he graduated from Oregon State University, and he now lives in Portland, Oregon.
He was awarded a Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting in 1998 for his script that in 2000 became a film starring Sean Connery, Finding Forrester. He followed that up with The Rookie, Radio, The Nativity Story, and most recently Secretariat. (And uncredited work on both Miracle and Invincible.)
“A great story isn’t so much about the story as it is the character. What attracts me to a story is the characters involved. With Secretariat what makes the story work is the character. If you don’t have good characters, it doesn’t matter how strong your story is, it’ll sink. For me, it’s always been about finding that character that I could really sink my teeth into.”
Screenwriter Mike Rich
Tri-City Herald interview by Gary Wolcott
So if you want to launch a career from outside L.A.—being awarded a Nicholl Fellowship is a good start. All you have to do is write a script that is better than the other 5,ooo or 6,000 scripts that the Fellowship receives each year and then get someone like Sean Connery interested in the script.
Screenwriting from Iowa 