It’s always been about a good story for Eric Anthony Glover.

“I was a huge Goosebumps fan. I could not get enough of R.L. Stein. I was reading those in second grade. I was thrilled by them, then I graduated to Animorphs and became less about horror and more about sci-fi. I just couldn't get enough of the storytelling,” Glover said. “I just like stories. I have always liked movies. I like television. I loved books when I was a kid. But I think Goosebumps is the origin for me. From then on, I just kind of got addicted to making the magic myself, which took a long time, and I’ve had a lot of peers and teachers who have helped me become a better writer. I'd say for almost my entire life now, I’ve pursued and wanted to be in the writing field.”

Glover broke into the screenwriting field in 2016 when his feature Black Star was a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Finalist in Final Draft's Big Break Contest.

“Final Draft pretty much changed my life,” he said. ”I got into the [Big Break] fellowship and had the option to take a couple of courses. One of them was a television writing course with Jerry Shandy at the New York Film Academy in Burbank. The other was with Horowitz who was a feature teacher.”

“I learned a lot from both of them,” he continued. “But before starting a fellowship, I had no experience learning about TV, so it was a real pleasure to be able to sit down with Jerry and talk to him about what makes a good pilot. His help pushed me in the direction of crafting my first-ever TV pilot, and that pilot has opened a lot of doors that led to me getting staffed. So, I'm extremely grateful for the experience.”.

His admiration and appreciation for both Shandy and the writing journey he’s been on is evident in Glover’s tone when he reminisces over his start in the industry.

“The Final Draft experience opened my mind to the idea that I could enjoy and excel in television.” Glover said. “I have Jerry to thank for that, Final Draft to thank for that. I have the friends that I've met in the program to thank for that. And it's been a wild and pretty wonderful work ride since.”

Glover veered from his norm and wrote a drama pilot through the Final Draft fellowship. “[It was] written just straight out of a wellspring of emotion about the state of our world and how our society can be better,” he explained. “And I didn't use any sci-fi allegories. It was just a straight-up historical drama about the Black Panther Party called Panthers, and that one really created traction for me more than anything else — even though my roots and my future, I think, are in sci-fi.”

Panthers is the script that got Glover representation, and it all started with another class experience, of sorts.

“I had a string of really fortunate things happen to me in 2020,” he said. “I got into NBC’s Writers on the Verge. Jen [Grisanti]—she’s a gem, an angel—was my screenwriting instructor. She helped me craft a couple of pilots while I was in that program, and I got a lot out of knowing her and hearing her insights. She happened to know Zadoc Angell, who’s now my manager, and put in a good word for me with him.”

“On top of that, I was concurrently in a program called the Humanitas Prize,” he continued. “The man running that is Carter Covington, another wonderful person and mentor, who happens to be one of Zadoc's clients. So, Carter also put in a good word for me. Zadoc read my script, Panthers, and my sci-fi script Split Second, which I had written during the program with Jen at NBC. Zadoc and the rest of the [Echo Lake] team — Kim Yau, Chelsea Benson, and Kegan Schell — responded to my work and they met with me on Zoom, and I guess the rest is history. I feel really fortunate to have them.”

While that sounds like a fairytale ending with a dash of luck, let’s be real. One can only realize those “fortune favors” moments through the preparedness of having done a lot of hard work, no matter how easy Glover’s endearing modesty makes it seem.

His easy-going nature, obvious talent and penchant for sci-fi are no doubt just a few of the reasons Glover was subsequently staffed on The CW’s Tom Swift.

“The pilot should be premiering in March and my episode, which I'm co-writing with one of the co-eps, is going to be premiering in May if all things go well,” Glover said. “I have been extraordinarily lucky for my first show. There is a wonderful showrunner by the name of Melinda Hsu Taylor. Cameron Johnson is an EP on the show and Noga Landau is another EP [all three share co-creator credit on Swift], and below them are all the other extraordinary writers who have been hilarious and welcoming and warm and thoughtful and so encouraging.”

“I couldn't have asked for anything better,” he said of his first experience in a writers’ room—One which he’s able to have from his home in NYC thanks to Zoom rooms.

“The shift to becoming a little more nocturnal was a little bit challenging, and now it just takes a little bit more maneuvering and planning to keep a balance in my life. But you know, I've had worse problems!” he said with a chuckle.

When he’s not working, Glover keeps his skills sharp in a variety of writing areas.

"I'm working on a sci-fi action pilot right now about the end of the world, which is a topic I know people are dying to dive into right now,” he said. "I can't think of anything more uplifting. I’m trying to take a different approach with it and hopefully make it a ‘heartwarming Apocalypse’ if some such thing is possible. Right now, I know what my heart needs, and that's a story about common humanity rather than common cynicism.”

He’s also writing digital comics for INTERPOP, “which has been really rewarding,” he said. “I'm still figuring myself out in the comic book space.”

His graphic novel “Black Star”— a story he still hopes will be a feature one day —was just released in May 2021..

“I know there's a lot of advice out there—and good, it's great that people are willing to share their own path to finding representation and finding jobs—but it seems to me as if these fortunes, some of us are lucky enough to have included lots of hard work, but also luck, and the right people meeting you at the right time, who say your name to the right person…I had someone to fight for me. That was the result of hard work, sure, but it was also a result of people just being kind to me, and giving me chances and taking risks on me.”

His advice to other writers working their way up: “I would say making genuine friends, being genuinely kind, trying your best to be part of a community that's mutually supportive can never hurt. It's been extremely helpful for me so far to really invest in relationships with people where I don't necessarily have the aim of getting something out of them. You get the fun part of having friends and then as a bonus, maybe they'll help you if you aren't able to help yourself. Then, of course, work on the craft. I'm still working on mine. But people have been a game-changer for me.”

His recipe to success: good people, great sci-fi and stretching your writing muscles in different arenas. Check, check and check.