David Stenn, Screenwriter-Producer-Director-Episode #303

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

David Stenn was hired by the TV series Hill Street Blues immediately after graduating from Yale, becoming the show’s youngest writer ever. David then wrote She Was Marked For Murder, an NBC movie that earned an Edgar nomination from the Mystery Writers Guild of America.

David returned to television as Producer of 21 Jump Street, then Supervising Producer of Beverly Hills, 90210.

David's first biography, Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild, which was published by Doubleday and edited by no less than Jacqueline Onassis, became a national bestseller. Variety raved, "Only rarely will you find a book that is as total a winner on every level as Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild."

His second biography, “Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow, again, edited by Jacqueline Onassis, was cited by the New York Times as one of the year's notable books.

“It Happened One Night…At M-G-M,” David’s discovery for Vanity Fair of Hollywood’s best-suppressed scandal, brought vindication to rape survivor Patricia Douglas after sixty-six years in hiding and is now considered an historical progenitor of the MeToo movement. The story was adapted into Girl 27, a documentary film that David directed.

I’ve read David’s excellent book on Clara Bow and seen Girl 27. Both are powerful pieces about Hollywood’s long history in how power players treat both celebrities and those who wish to become celebrated.

David then served as Co-Executive Producer of The L Word and Supervising Producer on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. His most recent screenplay assignments have been for Martin Scorsese; Leonardo DiCaprio/Warner Bros.; and Working Title.

David is a passionate supporter of film preservation. He serves on the Film Committee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Board of Directors at the UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles.