The Modern Romantic

Well, my name's Japhy Grant. I live in Los Angeles, where I work as a writer. I moved out here three years ago when I optioned a pilot. I wear a lot of different caps; screenwriter, freelance journalist, editor and director. The through-line for me is finding fun ways to tell compelling stories.

Essentially, this site is me thinking aloud. I use it to try out ideas and experiments that I may use in larger projects. I've tried a number of times to be a "real blogger" and write posts all day long to build an audience, but it cuts into my paid writing too much. I think of this site as an open notebook, which can be seen as either self-indulgent or transparent, depending on your point-of-view

Sure. I directed a music video for the indie-rock band Grizzly Bear. I've written for Salon and The Advocate. I've interviewed Yoko Ono. I can fold an origami balloon. Dogs love me.

The name is from the character "Japhy Ryder" in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. I just recently found out that Kerouac probably got the name from the Bible, where 'Japheth' is one of the sons of Noah.

I get this one a lot and never know how to answer. For a long time I tried writing the sort of nuanced quiet dramas about the human condition that I love watching, but I keep writing stories about quantum physics, Satanism, midgets or fictional encounters between Perez Hilton and Fidel Castro. I think I should probably focus on writing the scripts instead of trying to define myself as a writer.

Gallery openings, rapelling into canyons, cooking recipes out of Gourmet for friends, and saying "Hooray!" a lot.

Yup. I've had a website in some form or another since I was 15 and I like doing the design and coding, each time learning something new. This latest version was all about mastering CSS. And yes, I'm a geek and watched a lot of Star Trek as a kid.

I call myself a Modernist because I believe that the clear-eyed search for Truth, no matter how eternally elusive, is the only worthwhile pursuit in this life. I call myself a Romantic, because the truths I know are in bluegrass songs, the stale scent of a car on the third day of a road trip and in Moby Dick.

I'm listening to Il Divo's version of "All By Myself" right now. After that, it'll be Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World" or Dolly Parton's "Stairway to Heaven".

I will eventually reply to every email that is sent to me. Email me at .