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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Joey Hartstone is a film and television writer. He has written two feature films, LBJ (2016) and Shock and Awe (2017), which were both directed by Rob Reiner. He wrote on the first two seasons of the legal drama The Good Fight. He is currently the showrunner and an executive producer on the Showtime series Your Honor. He is also the author of The Local, published by Doubleday in 2022. Joey lives in Los Angeles with his family.

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Photo by Dennis Kwan

A Little Bit More About Me

I became a writer after failing at several other endeavors. I left college midway through a less-than-stellar academic performance to work for my father on his campaign for US Congress. It’s hard to say what I disliked more—working in politics or working for my dad. In any event, I vowed not to do either ever again. My next mission was to become a pilot, which I did… barely. I earned my private pilot’s license but haven’t flown a plane since 2003. I could probably land a single-engine Cessna if my life depended on it, but you wouldn’t want to be a passenger on that flight. My most serious ambition was to become a lawyer. Other than my one exhibition bout in small claims court, this dream never materialized. I like to think I got the best of all worlds though, because as a writer I get to explore all the things I love.

 

After graduating from Brandeis University in 2005 with a major in political science, I moved to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a screenwriter. It took a decade of working on several reality TV shows, studying at UCLA, and writing lots of scripts that no one was reading before I wrote a screenplay about Lyndon Johnson that ultimately became the movie LBJ. Making this film was the most rewarding experience of my career. I was lucky enough to reteam with Rob Reiner and Woody Harrelson for our next movie, Shock and Awe.

 

I also had the immense pleasure of working for Robert and Michelle King for two seasons of the acclaimed series The Good Fight, the spinoff of CBS’s The Good Wife. I am currently the showrunner and an executive producer on Showtime’s Your Honor, starring Bryan Cranston. 

 

I live in Los Angeles with my wife, Abby, and our sons, Teddy and Henry. Marrying my best friend and creating a family with her remain the two best decisions of my life. 

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