Lydia Richardson on Motown Maurice's Hustle & Shuffle

Lydia Richardson graduated from Norfolk State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications and Journalism in 2007, and in 2010 was accepted into UCLA’s Professional Screenwriting Program, though she did not attend for financial reasons. 

She has recently been focusing on expanding  her network for the purposes of finding a literary agent, and has also been searching out and entering some of the larger contests available to writers such as the Nicholl Fellowship and the Hearst Screenwriting Grant. Acting has always been a passion of hers and she is currently on the road of ingratiating herself with casting directors, but screenwriting is where she feels that she can have the biggest impact.

When Lydia was growing up she always wanted to work in the film industry, but wasn’t sure in what capacity. She moved across the country multiple times as a child which played a major part in shaping the way she views the world. Although she majored in journalism and broadcasting in college, it wasn’t until graduating and facing a world in which she had few professional connections and a looming recession, that she was forced to consider other career options.  During a period of unemployment she became obsessed with old movies until one day she realized that she wanted to create them herself.

Lydia proceeded to study every screenwriting book that she could find and slowly but surely attempted to teach herself the craft. After several years of self and peer evaluation, she had written four screenplays and applied to film school. She has now lived in LA for the past year and has written 7 feature scripts, a series and a nonfiction book. She’s also worked in feature development and as a coverage writer for a screenplay contest. Both of those experiences helped her to grow immensely as a writer and cemented her desire to write for the screen.