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Antwone Quenton Fisher is a producer and screenwriter who's been working in Hollywood for more than 17 years. The film Antwone Fisher is based on his life story. His
credits include the screenplay for Finding Fish, Double-O Soul starring Mariah Carey, and Trigger Happy. He also teaches at teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers Program. He
lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles.
From the author's website
Antwone Quenton Fisher is a producer and screenwriter. The film "Antwone Fisher" is based on his life story. His credits include the screenplay for "Finding Fish", "Double-O Soul" starring Mariah Carey, and "Trigger Happy".
Born in an Ohio prison to a teenage mother antwone became a ward of the state and was placed in foster care. He spent two years in a loving foster home, but was subsequently moved and suffered twelve years of abuse at the hands of his new foster family. Unable to locate a new placement for him, at age 14, Antwone was sent to a reform school in western Pennsylvania were he remained until he graduated high school at 17. Emancipated from foster care, he found himself in the world alone and homeless, living on the streets of Cleveland.
Fisher joined the U.S. Navy to escape homelessness. Fisher spent 11 years in the Navy. After the discharge from the Navy, Fisher joined the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a federal correctional officer.
After three years with the Bureau of Prisons, he began work as a security guard for Sony Pictures. It was there Fisher decided to find his true family members. He contacted Annette Elkins, who turned out to be his aunt. Within months of this contact, Fisher met all of his family, including his mother Eva Mae. He learned that she had given birth to four other children who were all taken away as wards of the state. Fisher said after their meeting: "In the place inside me where the hurt of abandonment had been, now only compassion lived.
Fisher penned his screenplay. Stories about Fisher's life began spreading around the Sony lot, and many people from Hollywood lined up to develop the project. He initially declined all offers. After writing over 40 drafts, he sold the rights to his story to 20th Century Fox. The feature film Antwone Fisher was directed by Denzel Washington, and starred Derek Luke in the title role. Fisher was credited as both writer and co-producer.
Fisher is still working as a director, author, poet, lecturer, college professor, movie producer and screenwriter. His latest book, A Boy Should Know How to Tie a Tie: And Other Lessons for Succeeding in Life, was published in 2010.
He also teaches at teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers Program.
Source: author's website
Antwone Quenton Fisher's website
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In Finding Fish, you describe your upbringing as a foster child in fairly
stark terms. Do you think the foster care system is inherently flawed?
I would hate to sound pessimistic, but I think there are problems that
can't be avoided like young people becoming social workers and deciding after a
few months or a few years that they are going to do something different with
their lives. That creates a situation where a kid has to get to know someone
else all over again. Children arrive at a place where they don't trust the
jurisdiction they are under and feel as though they are alone in their
circumstance and that the social workers are only strangers passing through.
Another area of concern would be lack of resources for programs that could
improve lives of children in foster care and educate the public to the need of
good foster parents and adoptive parents and many other areas in this matter. I
think that it's not a great enough priority to the powers that be to provide
better lives for children in these unfortunate situations.
There are a lot of problems that would be solved if only the community would
become more involved and volunteer to be mentors and extended family to foster
children. I think ...
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