We recently connected with Peter Fenton and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Peter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I firmly believe that stories hold the power to shape imaginations, to provoke laughter, and to inspire profound introspection. Put simply, I write to make people laugh and think. It’s worth noting I share a birthday with Mother Teresa and John Mulaney. In a hypothetical convergence of their personas, I see the writer I aspire to become: A kindhearted soul making a tangible impact in the industry, armed with quick wit and good-natured snark that resonates with diverse audiences. My essence starts to solidify when you understand I was a church camp counselor. Now, as a proud and progressive gay man, I am committed to using my words to bring people together and challenge closed-mindedness with tact, especially in my hometown’s conservative bubble.

I began writing when I was fourteen years old, as a cast member in the middle school play. We were performing a script meant for children to perform, and I felt like I had cracked a code. I said to my teacher, “Mrs. Fisher, I think I’ve got this play figured out. And I can write better than this.” She challenged me, “Go write me a better play.” That’s what I did. I went home and wrote up a storm. One year later, my middle school performed GOOD KNIGHT AND GOODBYE—directed by Suzanne Fisher herself. Thanks to a teacher willing to take a chance on an arrogant fourteen-year-old, my basic writing process was born: I channeled my fury and frustration into fuel to realize the world I saw in my mind’s eye—this one had a better middle school play.

My portfolio now encompasses several genres, from dramedy and dark comedy to psychological thrillers and family-friendly adventures. Writing, for me, is an inherent vocation of creating opportunities and building relationships. The most significant barrier in the industry is gaining access to decision-makers. When I cannot find a way into that room, I create one. If I wanted my words to only live on the page, I would have become a novelist. To lead productions in a supercharged community filled with diverse actors and creatives where my stories become sharper and more impactful through every step of the development process is my ultimate goal.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, hello! It’s nice to meet you. My name is Peter Fenton, and I’m a writer and producer for both theater and film. I live about halfway between New York City and Philadelphia and regularly work in both cities. Making people laugh and think is at the core of who I am as a person and who I am as a writer—I strive to write scripts and build teams where we have fun making a story together that’s enjoyable and worth something to the audience. I push back on the idea that “real” art needs to be bleak and devastating in order to make a point. Don’t get me wrong, I explore darkness and sadness in my work (my Off-Broadway debut, ABANDON ALL HOPE, was literally set in Hell), but I want to leave my audiences better than I found them. Life on planet Earth in 2024 is already bleak and devastating enough, I gravitate most to projects that are clever and full of hope as they acknowledge the full human experience.

As I’ve spent my 20s wading deeper into the cutthroat waters of showbiz, one of the things I’m most proud of is the artist agreement I’ve developed for both life and my production teams. Everyone who joins a Peter Fenton project agrees to just three rules: (1) Tell the truth; (2) Best idea wins; and (3) No a**holes allowed. I can trace a lot of my three rules and attitude toward people to my Christian upbringing. While I have significant hang-ups with many branches of organized religion in America today and don’t ever evangelize to my teams or audiences, I can’t (nor would I want to) shake the idea that in every situation in life and work, there is a way to love my neighbor as myself, and do unto others as I would have them do unto me. I want everyone who works with me to leave our time together feeling appreciated and excited to work together again should the opportunity arise. I feel very similarly about my audiences, leave them excited to see what I’m up to next.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think it would be easier to find a moment in my career that doesn’t reflect my resilience! I submitted pieces all eight semesters to my college’s literary magazine and got rejected every single time. The short film I wrote and directed in my school’s student film festival was literally the only one that year that won zero awards. And yet I’ve continued to write. Every single artist you see who is making a name for themselves has to be resilient, because in our world the default answer is “no”. “No” is a crushing word, and I would be lying if I said I don’t get affected when I hear the word “No” anymore. You can ask my Mom and my partner, both of whom had to talk me out of quitting writing altogether when I went 0 for 4 in grad school applications this past year, even after ABANDON ALL HOPE made its Off-Broadway debut and even after I won many filmmaking awards in bigger and better festivals.

The important thing to remember, I’ve found, is that it’s OK to feel disappointed and angry for as long as you need to feel it—you just need to remember to get up and keep going. If you believe there is a “Yes” out there for your project or for you, feel what you need to feel and get back out there finding your “Yes”. Art is subjective, and one person’s “No” and one person’s “there is no audience for this piece” and one person’s “wow, you have no talent” are all just individual opinions. I have enough of a resume at this point to know I have real talent, and while the “No”s continue to sting, I know there are people who believe in me and people who will love my work who have no idea who I am yet. I’m going to keep moving heaven and earth to find them.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

It’s really been nothing more complicated than putting myself in the room where theater or film is happening and leaving people with a good impression. On one of my first movie sets, I was about 24 years old and I was working as Second 2nd Assistant Director. The 1st Assistant Director on the project, Phil Rush, said to me, “Every day on set is an interview for your next job.” This has been the most important practical advice for the industry I’ve ever received. Yes, I’ve absolutely had to cultivate my skill as a writer and wouldn’t have the track record I do without reading many scripts and writing more scripts, but a truth I’ve had to learn about showbiz, for better or worse, has been that people don’t always want the most talented person. They want the most talented person they know and trust. While I’m sure this is true for some successful writers and creators, it has not been my personal experience that I’ve gotten many opportunities off of submitting my work and being evaluated by strangers and selected by the merit of the work alone.

Working on movie sets as a background actor, a production assistant got me connected with Avery Kellington, the woman who became my producing partner for and leading lady in my Off-Broadway debut, ABANDON ALL HOPE. For a few years, I worked as a server and bartender at the restaurant attached to Bucks County Playhouse, which gave me regular facetime with the theater’s Education Director, which led to adjudicating at Bucks County Playhouse’s Student Theater Festival, which got me connected with Lisa Reiser, a producer with Newtown Arts Company, who ended up commissioning my newest play, a teen comedy titled CORONATION. Just about every big career win I’ve had can be traced back to being a good friend and being willing to talk about my work in a room full of people who love making stories and want to meet new collaborators.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.byPeterFenton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterfent/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peterfenton/
• Other: New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/24181/peter-fenton
  IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7333590/

Image Credits

Beth Fenton, Brendan John Jones, Christopher Descano, Casey Mars Miller