About Ken Schafer

Ken Schafer (disambiguation)

This is the page of the writing life of the dashing fellow on the left, writer, lyricist and children's book author.

Other pages of this Ken Schafer:


For pages of other authors named Ken Schafer

  • For the author of a book about Erectile Dysfunction see Ken Schafer

  • For the author of Mambo ya Money!: A field guide for teaching biblical financial literacy in Africa your guess is as good as mine! All I can tell you is that it's not me... !


For some 60+ entirely different Ken Schafer's

Truly About Me, 'cause that's what it's all about.

I was born in Concord, MA at the tender age of zero, in the backseat of a Renault Dauphine (yes, that IS a French car, no longer available in the US), in front of Emerson Hospital, delivered by the state pathologist—you know, that guy in all those crime shows who does the autopsies and tells the detectives what the victim's last meal was, what strange defensive wounds they have, and what gunk is under their fingernails.

I have always done things a little differently, and it started on day one:

  • Yes, while normally the last doctor anyone might see is the state pathologist, he was my first;

  • While other people are conceived in back seats, I was born in one;

  • While other people's birthplaces are torn down and turned into parking lots, the parking lot that was my birthplace was eventually torn down and had a building put up on it.


This iconoclastic beginning has followed through much of my life, and one of the worst things I can think of is to be normal.

My writing life...

I received a BFA with Honors in film production from NYU, and was recognized as one of the top ten writers in the program by the department chairman, the late Charles Milne.

Following graduation, I moved to Los Angeles and quickly received representation as a writer. As a screenwriter, I wrote for production companies as varied as Paramount, Disney, and ABC, and on projects ranging from a prequel to "Sleeping Beauty" to ABC Night at the Movies, and "Star Trek: The Next Generation," for I received Recognition by the Writers Guild of America, West's for Outstanding Writing on one of 101 Best Written TV Series.

I also got so far as having my original screenplay Greensleeves setup as a television series in the UK, with me as an Executive Producer and staff writer. Unfortunately, the producers hired a Show Runner who took their title too literally and ran the show into the ground. I have also adapted this to a novel which you can read an excerpt of if you sign up for my newsletter.

Meanwhile, I branched out into other kinds of writing, particularly due to the enthusiasm of my daughter for everything word-related. During the "tell-me-a-story" era of her childhood, one story I told (of the several million per week) actually seemed pretty good, and I expanded it out to my book The Cow who Conquered the Moon which you can read more about here.

As she reached the YA age, she introduced us to all kinds of new authors, and the book This book is not good for you inspired me to write my own YA, which resulted in An Otherwise Perfect Plan: A Novel of Mystery, Love, and of Chocolate that Defies Description and if you sign up for my newsletter you can read the first three chapters as well!

I am represented by Anne McDermott at AM Management and can usually be found in San Diego along with my wife, and a Schrödinger's Number of Cats.