Sean Rivas (He/Him)
Sean Rivas is a queer comedy writer from Glendora, California who self-describes his ethnicity as “half-Latinx, half-white nonsense.” By day, Sean is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of The Urban Monk Productions, a health documentary production company, and by night he writes for comedy shows in LA. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing from UC Irvine and has graduated from the sketch comedy writing programs at The Second City Hollywood and The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Los Angeles. He most recently placed as a Finalist for the 2021 NBC Writers’ on The Verge Fellowship and as the Comedy Alternate for the 2021 Disney General Entertainment Content Writing Program. Sean also tripped and fell in front of the Dalai Lama once, which he considers his greatest accomplishment.
Describe your writing style in 3 words.
Personal. Whimsical. Queer-as-hell.
What’s a film/tv/game (anything) that you’ve watched that made you go “I should’ve written that” or that you’d like to write for (if it’s still on air)?
Okay, don’t laugh… but Mrs. Doubtfire. It is the first film that I remember being completely obsessed with. I watched it on repeat with my Abuela and I remember her recreating the scene where Mrs. Doubtfire dances with the vacuum over and over. I always look back to that film and find myself repeatedly inspired by the way it mixes humor and heart.
What’s the film/TV show that made you want to become a writer?
Off-air: Looking on HBO. I mean, my personal stories about being a painfully tragic homosexual looking for love in all the wrong places/apps could fill at least 10 seasons. Maybe it’s time for a reboot
On-air: Love, Victor on Hulu. Being gay and of Mexican descent, I’d love the opportunity to use my personal life to authentically tell a story about the queer, Latinx, teenage experience.
What are your current career goals?
My 2022 goal is to get staffed & repped. Call me, maybe?
Why do you write?
I think at its core my writing is a deeply personal endeavor. I’ve used it to make sense of my life and emotions, to honor them in a way. It’s like once they’re on the page I can normalize them, make fun of my mistakes, and learn from them (in VERY rare cases). If someone else also feels impacted or seen, that’s a wonderful cherry on top!
Are you a cat person or a dog person?
CatDog would be my dream pet. I am one of those rare people that sits directly on the barbed-wire fence between the warring tribes of Cat People and Dog People. Both are cute. Both are selfish-AF. Both are better than humans by a mile.