A dual Canadian / US citizen, Alex Epstein grew up in New York City. He graduated Yale in 1985 in Computer Science and English, magna cum laude. After a year in Paris shooting short films, he went to UCLA for his MFA.He spent a decade in LA working as a development executive for independent production companies: Arama Entertainment, Blue Rider Pictures and Kingsborough Pictures, and working with filmmakers such as John Badham and Richard Attenborough. His first book, Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made (Henry Holt: New York 2002), came out of his experiences in development.In 2000, Epstein moved to Montreal and became a professional film and television writer. He co-created a comic drama series, Naked Josh, and was the script doctor on the hit Canadian film Bon Cop / Bad Cop. His second book, Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box (Henry Holt: New York), came out in 2006, and his first novel, The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan le Fay (Tradewind: Vancouver), came out in 2010.Epstein lives in Montreal with his wife Lisa Hunter, an arts writer and screenwriter, and his two kids.