We recently connected with Serayah Silver and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Serayah, thanks for joining us today. Alright, let’s jump into one of the most exciting parts of starting a new venture – how did you get your first client who was not a friend or family?

I used to do this ritual every October where I’d apply to 10 random things on submittable just for the hell of it. It was a practice in rejection really, but it was also an act of faith and it worked every time. In 2022, a script I co-wrote won The Del Shores Writing search and flew me out to Hollywood. In 2023, I was accepted into the Tinhouse Summer Workshop on a scholarship which took me to Reed College in Portland. There, I met one of my favorite authors, Deesha Philyaw, and dozens of the most generous writers I’ve ever known. We workshopped our stories, told our truths and after a week, went back to our varied lives. That October, I shot my first film in the woods of Rougemont, North Carolina with Comfrey Films, a local Black, Queer and Trans production company, and was glad to know I didn’t need Hollywood after all. So instead of Submittable, I asked Spirit to keep that same energy but keep it local. Let me be my big, slightly chaotic, creative self right here in North Carolina.
In February ‘24, Deesha reached out and introduced me to her mentee, a man named RJ, a brilliant thinker, and talented writer who happens to be serving a life sentence in a Maryland state penitentiary. He had written three books (two narrative fiction, and a collection of poems and essays) and was in need of a solid editor. Deesha had seen how my curiosity and ability to inhabit a story invited my peers back into their own creativity and she knew I could do the same for him.

His first book, Dying in Public is a ceremonial unveiling of self, one for which I had the honor of serving as witness and officiate. I am now his “Forever Editor” and we are working on two novels and several plays to be published and produced in the not so distant future.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I tell most people I’m a Dramaturg, they have no idea what I mean. The word has a set definition in certain circles but for me, I work in an expansion of the term.

I am a collaborative world builder. If you are dreaming of a story, but need more hands (eyes, or hearts) to flesh out the world, call me.

If you’ve written a story, a script or an essay but it isn’t quite where you want it to be, call me.

If you’ve got an idea for a film in your heart but you don’t know how to write a script, want to learn, or want it to be written by (or in collaboration with) someone who knows how, call me.

If you’re directing or producing a film or play and need someone to answer questions around setting, surrounding culture or historical accuracy, call me.
My job, and my joy, as a Dramaturg is to serve as first inhabitant in the world of your story. My job is to ask questions that turn your characters, plot lines, or elements of your lore towards the best light so that your audience can better see what magic you have conjured. I am here to bridge the gap between what you have and where you want it to go.

I am a story consultant, collaborator, editor, and liaison between you and your emergent world.

Before I found this word “Dramaturg”, I was simply someone who loved the craft, the work, the practice of storytelling. Writers would bring their work to me because they knew I had “a tasteful eye”. They knew my presence on a project would always meant getting closer to the truth of the story.

One day, a collaborator said to me, “You know there’s a word for what you do, don’t you? You know you could get paid to do this, right?”

And now, after charting all this way, gaining all this on the job experience, I finally, and gratefully do.

The best part about my job is reinvigorating an Artist’s love for their own story. Re-minding (Black, Southern, Queer) writers of the power of their own voices, the agency inherent in their written worlds.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want to see myself in stories. I want to see Fat, Black, Queer, Neurodivergent, Southern people in stories about love, magic, adventure, etc.

I write to see myself represented in the world and I collaborate with others who share these same identities so that we can see ourselves in the world.

I do this because we exist. We are necessary. We are brilliant Artists who sometimes forget why we’re here.

The passions driving my creative journey have always been expression, service, and truthful representation.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Consistency and Community.
Sending, leaving and keeping my name in rooms where story tellers are listening.
People trust me with their stories because they’ve seen or heard I am a good steward of, not only the projects of their peers, but my own creativity.

I meet collaborators every where I bring my whole self; on set, at conferences, at screenings, readings, art galleries, parties and bars and coffee shops.
When people ask me what I do, I get to tell them about my passion, and in the following conversation, they are reminded of their own.

My name, my brand, means “excellent creative work” in my community because I just keep doing it, and doing it well. I answer the calls, I show up in my fullness, and I encourage and enable my collaborators to do the same. At the end of each project, we hold a little bit of magic between us and the next time someone needs set design, or a great actor, producer, or DP, I know just the right creator for the job. Whenever someone thinks “we need a writer, an editor, a dramaturg, a workshop facilitator”, they do well to think of me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://serayahsilver.com
• Instagram: king_katalyst