Cody MacGrath
Born in Welland, Ontario, Canada. When he was little, he constantly watched Disney movies on VHS whether it was one his family owned or one they rented from a video store. Approaching the age of 8 in 2002, he learned to enjoy movies from other studios and pique interest in more mature films. Since then, he would even remember release dates of modern films thanks to the likes of posters, trailers, and TV spots. When he learned how to use the computer and the Internet, he would look up upcoming films and their release dates up to even more than a year. When asked the release date of an older movie and when a certain upcoming movie comes out, his family and friends would be shocked by his incredibly-accurate answers.
Since he was a pre-teen, he tried his hand at screenwriting. Not on computer, but by hand, though at times would use Microsoft Word on his family's computer. However, his stories weren't his original ideas and instead were sequels to classic Disney movies. Right before starting high school, with solid advice from his family, he had come to realize that if he were to be taken seriously, he would need to write movies of his own original ideas. As the years went on, he saw how difficult writing was and how they needed to be properly formatted despite having original ideas. After halfway finishing tenth grade in 2010, he has come to idolize actor Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and directors Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton. Amazed by Johnny's acting and filmography, Tim's gothic storytelling, and the "Harry Potter" films, he was bit by the acting bug. In the few years he stopped screenwriting, he worked hard to get better grades at school to the point where he became an Ontario Scholar at his high school graduation all while teaching himself acting and pondering about his future.
In 2012, three months before graduating, he was accepted at Niagara College Canada for the three-year Broadcasting program. He started in the Fall of that year and remembers his first day as one of the worst days of his life. While assuming things would be a lot better, the education and workload started to take a toll on him. Right before Christmas, he discovered that he failed 4 out of his courses and could no longer be part of the program. He was moved to General Arts and Sciences after the holidays, which he found bittersweet. The program has even offered him some screenwriting, acting, and art-related courses though finishing the program proved to be somewhat difficult because of the more challenging courses and was even reminded by a counselor that Niagara College is not a "fine arts school". He pulled through and graduated from the program in 2015, the same year most of the students he knew from the Broadcasting program graduated.
During his college years, he would return to screenwriting in late 2013 with an epic apocalyptic fantasy titled "The Revelation", which was inspired by stories of the Rapture. Sometime after finishing it's first draft in 2014 with a little over 180 pages, he would write a hard-R teen thriller titled "Shaun" about a bullied teen who would recover from a bleeding ulcer and get revenge on his tormentors. He also simultaneously wrote a "Shaun" trilogy, but would later hate how he wrote the two sequels and have some regrets about the first film, which was made to be standalone with the two sequels written in case the first film was made and successful. However, despite his high school and college education, he had difficulty getting a job since he started applying when he was 16 in 2011. No matter how many places he applied to, he would always have a hard time finding work. During this period, he continued to audition online for movies, television, and commercials in Canada and the United States only to face constant rejection. Two of those auditions were for the Steven Spielberg films "Ready Player One" and "West Side Story". The same similarly applies to screenplays whereas after submitting them for contests, he would not only lose, but he would also receive some harsh criticism in the reader's notes. Some of the criticisms on his screenplays he found true and needed to be fixed while others he would be confused and frustrated by. Eventually, in the first few months of 2021 during the pandemic, he would write an erotic horror film titled "Cougars" about a lonely college student who would wind up in a house full of cougar women only to discover something sinister about the women seducing him. It was submitted for the Search For New Blood contest on Stage 32 and despite some praise for the premise and the formatting, it too lost a top spot in the contest and receive harsh criticism. As of 2022, he is going through the screenplay to fix some of it's mistakes.
Despite having a hard time finding a regular job and constant rejection from auditions and screenplay submissions, he continues to act and write, one day hoping he would eventually get his big break.
Since he was a pre-teen, he tried his hand at screenwriting. Not on computer, but by hand, though at times would use Microsoft Word on his family's computer. However, his stories weren't his original ideas and instead were sequels to classic Disney movies. Right before starting high school, with solid advice from his family, he had come to realize that if he were to be taken seriously, he would need to write movies of his own original ideas. As the years went on, he saw how difficult writing was and how they needed to be properly formatted despite having original ideas. After halfway finishing tenth grade in 2010, he has come to idolize actor Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and directors Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton. Amazed by Johnny's acting and filmography, Tim's gothic storytelling, and the "Harry Potter" films, he was bit by the acting bug. In the few years he stopped screenwriting, he worked hard to get better grades at school to the point where he became an Ontario Scholar at his high school graduation all while teaching himself acting and pondering about his future.
In 2012, three months before graduating, he was accepted at Niagara College Canada for the three-year Broadcasting program. He started in the Fall of that year and remembers his first day as one of the worst days of his life. While assuming things would be a lot better, the education and workload started to take a toll on him. Right before Christmas, he discovered that he failed 4 out of his courses and could no longer be part of the program. He was moved to General Arts and Sciences after the holidays, which he found bittersweet. The program has even offered him some screenwriting, acting, and art-related courses though finishing the program proved to be somewhat difficult because of the more challenging courses and was even reminded by a counselor that Niagara College is not a "fine arts school". He pulled through and graduated from the program in 2015, the same year most of the students he knew from the Broadcasting program graduated.
During his college years, he would return to screenwriting in late 2013 with an epic apocalyptic fantasy titled "The Revelation", which was inspired by stories of the Rapture. Sometime after finishing it's first draft in 2014 with a little over 180 pages, he would write a hard-R teen thriller titled "Shaun" about a bullied teen who would recover from a bleeding ulcer and get revenge on his tormentors. He also simultaneously wrote a "Shaun" trilogy, but would later hate how he wrote the two sequels and have some regrets about the first film, which was made to be standalone with the two sequels written in case the first film was made and successful. However, despite his high school and college education, he had difficulty getting a job since he started applying when he was 16 in 2011. No matter how many places he applied to, he would always have a hard time finding work. During this period, he continued to audition online for movies, television, and commercials in Canada and the United States only to face constant rejection. Two of those auditions were for the Steven Spielberg films "Ready Player One" and "West Side Story". The same similarly applies to screenplays whereas after submitting them for contests, he would not only lose, but he would also receive some harsh criticism in the reader's notes. Some of the criticisms on his screenplays he found true and needed to be fixed while others he would be confused and frustrated by. Eventually, in the first few months of 2021 during the pandemic, he would write an erotic horror film titled "Cougars" about a lonely college student who would wind up in a house full of cougar women only to discover something sinister about the women seducing him. It was submitted for the Search For New Blood contest on Stage 32 and despite some praise for the premise and the formatting, it too lost a top spot in the contest and receive harsh criticism. As of 2022, he is going through the screenplay to fix some of it's mistakes.
Despite having a hard time finding a regular job and constant rejection from auditions and screenplay submissions, he continues to act and write, one day hoping he would eventually get his big break.