My name is D. Anthony Cooper and I'm sure my journey to here is different from many others. I discovered my interest for writing when I was 12 years old in Brooklyn New York at a time before smartphones, social media, and flat screen televisions. But growing up where I did, writing was more of a hobby than a future reality. My reality was a mother who worked many hours a day to keep food on the table, a roof over our heads, and tried her best to keep her oldest son (me) out of the violent streets. However, I remember part of a lyric I first wrote for a local, around the way rapper that went, "In the streets of New York where these bad guys walk, holding heat that spits flame that leaves you outlined in chalk."  Then, at the age of 15 I decided that living what I wrote was more exciting than just writing rap songs about it not knowing, at the time, that decades later guys would be making millions off of those same kind of rap songs. Now, fast forward to 1999 and in my twenties, I was shot three times which I was fortunate to survive but left me crippled in one leg, I decided that it was time to find a way out of the "life." So, in 2000 I started a record label called Face Off Records which had the potential to be successful if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't fully leave the "life" alone and in 2003 I got caught up on charges of drug trafficking and weapons possesion and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. But instead of feeling sorry for myself and regretting all the decisions that led me to that point, I used the time to change me, I used the time to recapture my interest in writing. So, I read every book in the prison library from biographies to westerns, from romance to science fiction and everything in between. Then, I started reading up on film making and screen writing, from story telling to character development. I was released from prison in 2010 and for the last 8 years writing has been my main focus. The "life" is far behind me but my experiences has given me a broader scope in life than most, and I use this scope in my writings. So far, I have three completed and registered screenplays, a stage play that I am currently doing my final edits on, two screenplays that are halfway completed, and several other ideas for screenplays, two reality shows, a televsion series, and a comedy sketch/talk show. I believe that success is a journey rather than the destination. I've had success traveling the wrong road doing the wrong things but that journey led me no where, and now, I'm having success traveling the right road doing the right things by just enjoying what I'm doing and meeting new people knowing that this road can lead to unlimited opportunities and also be an example that ones past does not define ones future  ...