Ben spent most of his youth on the mean streets of Ames, Iowa, surviving only by his wits and the support of various positive adult role models. As a young man, he learned (and almost immediately forgot) the value of a hard day's work.
At Iowa State University, Ben began writing a weekly column which was read in bathroom stalls all around campus. The column was eventually syndicated by U-Wire, allowing it to be published and read in bathroom stalls across the nation. Ben continued to work as a columnist and reporter at the Ames Tribune, then for the LA Times Community Editions, where he covered shootings and Quinceaneras, and occasionally shootings at Quinceaneras.
He also wrote freelance essays for outlets including Feed Magazine and Film Threat, and was a regular contributor to Suck.com under the pseudonym Alice The Camel. It was in this capacity that he earned his greatest honor - a mention on Wikipedia.
Ben fled the crumbling palace of print journalism and studied screenwriting at Chapman University. While earning his MFA, he won the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Best Screenplay and twice placed on the school's "Killer Script List." (No one was actually killed). Ben wrote and directed two short films, Personal and The Persecution of Al Kida, both of which have screened at various festivals.
Ben then wrote the short Fatherland for director Robert Warzecha, which has screened at festivals including Cannes. He also worked as a story analyst for Dreamworks and Daniel Paulson Productions, and for a short time had a job transcribing pornography.
Ben continues to write feature scripts, essays and other projects while teaching creative writing at several colleges.
