Yes, Billie Jean Van Knight is my real name and I love it.  Whether the first thing you thought of when hearing it was the song Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, the activist tennis player Billie Jean King, or the movie The Legend of Billie Jean, I love it.  I have a hard time remembering names so anything that can help you remember mine is a gift to both of us.

I’ve always been an avid reader and changed from writing prose to screenplays when I moved to L.A.  It took me about seven years before all the screenwriting classes, lectures, and books all blended in my brain to produce a really great screenplay.  I take this moment to apologize to all of you who were kind enough to read those first screenplays.

The name in Sickness and In Faith came to me one day after two of the worst years of my life filled with pain and hurt after the remission ended on my auto immune arthritis.  I hope between the fun and hard work of my screenwriting career and the pain and gratefulness of my chronic illness you’ll get a good idea of who I am.