Chad Hutson

Storytelling is our species’ way to communicate, preserve human history, inspire, and connect.

It happens throughout our day, every day. When we get home from work, we share stories with our families. Our kids tell us about their day at school (usually, “nothing happened”). But when we can get them to talk, oh the tales they tell!

You tell stories at the bars you go to, the events you attend, and the people you meet. Some are funny, some tragic or sad, but each story we tell not only reveals information about an event or happening, it also reveals something about each of us.

I have been a story teller from a very young age, starting with an overactive imagination as a young boy growing up in Spokane, Washington, to my move westward starting out as a newspaper reporter. Stops at Washington dailies and the Associated Press as a professional journalist enabled me to tell other’s stories using my words and photos.

I was afforded the rare opportunity to both write and photograph as a journalist – and both were equally good - at times.

Being too opinionated, journalism and I had occasional disagreements, so I left and went into public relations where I could tell the stories of a specific company or cause – and have an opinion about it.

Today, I am telling stories through my work as a government communicator.

But that’s not enough. I have other stories to tell – stories that have been swimming around my head for years. A couple of years ago fate intervened and I received an unsolicited flyer from the University of Washington for a screenwriting class. Six months later, I was standing on the steps of Savery Hall, scared as hell. What’s a 50-something guy doing going back to college?

It was only weeks later and I had typed, for the first time, FADE IN. I was hooked and haven’t stopped since. It feels right and definitely what I am supposed to be doing next.

Since then, a few competition wins, lots of finals, and two consecutive years as an Austin Screenplay Competition Second Rounder.

chadhutson.com