Story Master ToolkitShawn Whitney · Story & Script Coach Book a call

About

I’ve been on both sides of every table in this industry.

Development executive, screenwriter, novelist, ghostwriter, teacher. The coaching draws on all of it, which is why it doesn’t sound like a craft book.

Shawn Whitney, smiling, arms crossed

Paid to find out why stories weren’t working.

I’ve published 13 novels under my own name and ghostwritten 36 more. I’m an award-winning screenwriter with three feature film credits and several TV series in development internationally, and I founded a musical theatre company whose productions have been performed in front of more than 80,000 people.

For fourteen years I worked as a creative development executive at Mediabiz International, developing original content for film and television — which meant reading other people’s stories for a living and being paid to find the reason they weren’t working yet. That is a very specific skill, and it is not the same skill as writing well yourself.

I taught screenwriting at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), and mythology at Humber College. Since then I’ve coached more than 200 private students across four continents, and more than 150,000 people follow my writing-craft videos. The same gap shows up every time, regardless of talent: writers are given craft theory and left to work out the order of operations themselves.

My job is helping you tell your story with characters who feel real, stakes that matter, and themes that hit readers where it counts.

The short version

Six chairs. The same job in every one: making stories work.

  • 14 yrs

    Development executive

    Creative Development Executive at Mediabiz International, developing original content for film and television.

  • 3

    Screenwriter & director

    Three feature films, with awards for Best First Feature and Best Feature Comedy. Several TV series now in development internationally.

  • 13

    Novelist

    Thirteen novels under my own name, including the Ascent of Angels series.

  • 36

    Ghostwriter

    Thirty-six novels written for other authors, in complete confidence.

  • 3

    Teacher

    Screenwriting at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University; mythology at Humber College.

  • 200+

    Coach

    Private writers across four continents, and more than 150,000 followers learning craft from my videos.

My own fiction

I’m still writing the hard thing too.

I write science fiction and post-apocalyptic novels about class warfare, strange worlds, and the people who refuse to go quietly — the Ascent of Angels series and Post-Apocalyptic Revolution. I mention it because I think it matters who is giving you notes: I’m in the same chair, facing the same blank page, on the same weekday mornings you are.

Shawn Whitney writing on a laptop in a café, with a copy of Ascent of Angels on the table
Same chair, same blank page.

Start here

Tell me about your project.

Send me the details, or book a free discovery call and we’ll work out which kind of support your story actually needs.