Dr. William J. Carl, Greek Scholar-Screenwriter-Playwright-Episode #304

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

Dr. William J. Carl is a Greek scholar, screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist. He’s also a former professor, seminary president, and pastor, who’s been a U.S. Senate Guest Chaplain. He’s been a speaker at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as in Russia, South Africa, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Rwanda, and Canada. Further, he’s also the former President of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

William has authored eight nonfiction books (including lectures he gave at Princeton, two of which have been translated into Korean) and one novel, Assassin’s Manuscript, which is a “Dan Brown meets Daniel Silva”-style thriller. No less than Alex Haley, the author of Roots, encouraged him to write it. I’ve read Assassin’s Manuscript and can tell you it’s an action-packed international page-turner in which politics, religion, and history play essential roles. I highly urge you to check it out.

William’s screenplay, Maggie’s Perfect Match, won the Telluride Indiefest Screenwriting Contest and the Dallas Screenwriting Contest, and it was a Quarter-finalist in the Nicholl and the Austin Screenwriting contests. Not only did William turn Maggie’s Perfect Match into a play, but he’s also adapted it into a musical.

Since 2000, William has also lectured on the brain at medical schools and medical conferences.