I’ve developed a fascination with business novels — important organizational lessons taught through story. Thus, I was drawn to EDGE! A Leadership Story, co-authored by Corey Blake.

The Q&A with Corey will appear over the next five days.

Bio: Corey’s writing and visionary work has been published in Writer Magazine, Script Magazine, and on StartUp Nation and has been featured on Fox News, NBC5, Sacramento and Co, Adelante (WGN Chicago), and in print such as Young Money, Hoy, La Raza, Hispanic Executive Quarterly, MovieMaker Magazine, Dance Magazine, and Hollywood Screenwriter Magazine. He is the co-author of EDGE! A Leadership Story (finalist, National Best Books 2008 Awards) with Bea Fields and Eva Silva Travers, From the Barrio to the Board Room with Robert Renteria, Excalibur Reclaims Her King with Angelica Harris and The Family Business with Dr. Kay Vogt. He is also Chairman of the Dream of Writers of the Round Table Inc.

Prior to writing, Corey worked in Hollywood as a commercial and voice-over actor starring in campaigns for McDonalds, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Wrigley’s, Hasbro, Miller, Mitsubishi and the infamous Yard Fitness , where Corey plays basketball naked. Corey also appeared on shows such as “The Shield,” “Fastlane,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Diagnosis Murder,” “Joan of Arcadia,” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” before he produced The Boy Scout and directed and produced Gretchen Brettschneider Skirts Thirty and Unsuitable, all for Elevation 9000 Films.

An avid keynote speaker, Corey has appeared at the Society of Southwestern Authors 2008 Wrangling with Writing Conference, the 93rd Annual Missouri Writers’ Guild Conference, the Virginia Reading Association (with Angelica Harris), Screenwriting Expo 4 (LA Convention Center), Cinespace (Hollywood), Avalon (Hollywood), The Ivar (Hollywood — The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles), Spring into Romance Writing Festival (San Diego), and the Midwest Literary Festival (Chicago).

Corey is proudly married to Dr. Dawn Blake, a psychologist. They make their home in the suburbs of Chicago, and Corey travels frequently back to Los Angeles.

Q: How did you initially become involved with story/storytelling/narrative? What attracted you to this field? What do you love about it?

A: I began and was trained as an actor first (BFA, Millikin University), so I have a strong appreciation for performance and the intimate experience that an audience has with a piece of art (i.e., book, play, movie). After acting professionally in Los Angeles — both on television and in commercials — I realized that while I loved my training in acting and was passionate about performing, I was not in love with the professional side of acting. I showed up on set, shook hands with the director, rehearsed, sat in my trailer for four hours, shot my scene, and then went home.

To be included more in the emotional process of creation, I knew that I needed to be part of the conception of a project, and for that I would have to start my own production company. With that intention, I brought eight other professional actors up to a cabin in Mammoth for a week-long retreat where we discussed story ideas, watched Syd Field’s “Story” DVD, and wrote together. From there we birthed half a dozen projects and a production company called Elevation 9000 Films. We raised financing for and shot a great little 35mm film called The Boy Scout, which I exec-produced. We toured the film around the globe, and I was then approached by Annie Oelschlager to produce and direct her musical comedy film Gretchen Brettschneider Skirts Thirty. That film was another hit.

To further my development process, I started the LA Film Lab with Jesse Biltz and David Charles Cohen (producer, Notorious B. I.G. Bigger than Life), which was a short-lived but successful development company and production class. We shot two more films, both of which I produced and one that I directed. Ultimately, at the end of what I call my PhD in filmmaking, I realized that while I had tremendous vision and creativity and could produce and direct well, what I lacked was great writing. That birthed my desire to learn to craft great stories.

I started helping other writers develop content both for screenplays and books and was then approached by Angelica Harris to assist her with her book Excalibur Reclaims Her King. Then I met with Robert Renteria in 2006, and we started crafting From the Barrio to the Board Room. Later that same year, Bea Fields found me, and we wrote EDGE! A Leadership Story together with Eva Silva Travers. My work as a writer/director of writing really snowballed from there, and I have since been hired to write or “direct” another dozen book projects. I LOVE the creative process. I love working closely with people who have a story to tell and need guidance both throughout the technical and spiritual aspects of putting a story down on paper.