Ep296 - Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, Screenwriter ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ’Southland,’ & ’S.W.A.T.’

Creative Principles

As a kid, Aaron Rahsaan Thomas could be described as the good kid living vicariously through his bad kid friends. Essentially, he took this perspective with him to the page. Thomas, who has worked on shows like Friday Night Lights, Numb3rs, CSI:NY, Southland, The Get Down, and S.W.A.T., says he has a love/hate relationship with human beings, which comes alive in his silver screen characters. Thomas’ series S.W.A.T comes from intellectual property but has a new spin on it. The description reads, “Follows a locally born and bred S.W.A.T. sergeant and his team of highly-trained men and women as they solve crimes in Los Angeles.” The series stars Shemar Moore, Alex Russell, and Lina Esco. In this interview, Thomas discusses auteur filmmaking moving into television, nurturing creative pursuits, lessons from iconic showrunners, a skillset collection from Kobe Bryant, doing your research for entrepreneurial climbs, and his hopes for future proteges. If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below… Follow us on Instagram: @creativeprinciples If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!