Coverfly Writer Kyra Jones signed with a literary agent at Verve after the Coverfly team previously helped her staff on the Hulu series WOKE.

What are some of the biggest obstacles you found early in your screenwriting career?

Racism and sexism. I can't tell you how many times I got reader feedback from script competitions that was riddled with coded racism or very obvious discomfort with the subject matter that I tackle in my scripts. I was often scored low because of it. There were a few times it was so bad that I had to complain to the support team of certain contests to ask for a new reader. At film festivals, I've often been the only Black woman screenwriter in the lineup or in the space in general, and many times other male filmmakers or attendees assumed I wasn't a selected filmmaker at all.

How did Coverfly help your screenwriting career?

"Coverfly literally changed my life over the course of a week. Through Coverfly Pitch Week, I met Anna Jones from Cloud Nine Productions, who loved my script so much that she shared it with the showrunner of WOKE. Two days after that, they offered me a staff writing job on the show and I started the next week! Once news of the staffing got around, I had over a dozen managers and agents in my inbox requesting meetings. Coverfly has continued to send my scripts to reps and execs, and [the team has] been incredibly helpful in keeping me grounded through this truly wild and unexpected process!"

What advice would you give to any writers in the position you were in a year ago?

Don't get discouraged if you feel like your career isn't moving as quickly as you'd like. So much of when you take off as a screenwriter is out of your control. It's just about getting your script in the right hands at the right time, and that can take a while. Keep writing. Build genuine relationships with other writers and execs. Set actionable goals. Have other screenwriters you trust read your work. All of these things will help you be ready for when the right opportunity presents itself!