Casey Sherman ’93, Best-selling Author
Career Spotlight
Over the years a career can take many unexpected paths, as Casey Sherman can attest. The 1993 graduate left COM believing he was heading for a career as a TV news reporter and producer. It was an expectation that held true for almost 20 years, until a series of events and opportunities led him to become an internationally bestselling author of eight successful books.
His 2014 book The Finest Hours: The Story of the US Coast Guard’s Most Daring Rescue has been adapted into a film produced by Walt Disney Studios that will be released January 29th. Sherman sat down with me to discuss his background, career, and advice for students entering the job market.
Casey, would you tell me a little bit about your background and what you currently do for work.
I’m a 1993 graduate of Boston University. I was a broadcast journalism major and history minor. I’m the bestselling author of eight books including The Finest Hours, Boston Strong, Search for the Strangler, Bad Blood, Black Irish, Back Dragon, and the forthcoming Above and Beyond. I was also a professional journalist and television producer for CBS news for almost 20 years.
Where did you see yourself going in your career as a student? How did your actual professional path differ from this?
Initially I went into broadcast journalism, starting at one of the TV stations in Boston. My goal was to become a producer or reporter and focus on daily stories that I could share on television. However, I was eventually thrust into the spotlight because of my work on the Boston Strangler case. My aunt, Mary Sullivan, who was 19 at the time, was the strangler’s youngest and final victim. I started investigating the case while I was a student at Boston University, but it took on a life of it’s own after I became a professional journalist.
Once my work on the case had been publicized, I was the subject of several TV documentaries and print interviews. Several professional writers contacted me wanting to write my story. I was flattered but I said, “If anybody’s going to write this book it has to be me, because I’m living it.” That book was the Search for the Strangler. It became a runaway bestseller, which I never expected, and I said to myself “you know what, you can do this.” I started to explore other stories that I wanted to tell to audiences around the world, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
What advice would you give to a student or new graduate getting into the job market?
Take advantage of every opportunity. Network with as many people as you can, professionally and socially, because that’s where the opportunities lie. Many of the book deals and movie deals that I’ve secured over my career are because I’ve put myself out there. Don’t be shy. If you have a lot of confidence in yourself that confidence will spread to others.
Can you share an example from your own experience where networking helped you move to the next level in your career?
When I first pitched the movie for The Finest Hours I was meeting with a Hollywood producer who was interested in adapting another book of mine called Bad Blood. Even as we were discussing that project, which I knew would have been a good, gritty story; I was focused on getting The Finest Hours made because I knew it could be a blockbuster. I segued the conversation toward the story of The Finest Hours and it got her attention. I was very passionate about it and I said “this will be a blockbuster movie one day and you ought to be a part of it.”
On that note, what’s the story behind the upcoming film based on your book, The Finest Hours?
The Finest Hours is about the greatest small boat rescue in American history. It happened in the fall of 1952. Eighty seven men were trapped on two oil tankers that had gone down during a devastating winter storm off Cape Cod. At the heart of The Finest Hours is the story of four young coast guardsmen who were given a suicide mission to take a 36 foot light boat into 60 to 70 foot waves with the simple order to save as many men as they could.
There’s an unwritten motto in the coast guard that says you have to go out but you don’t have to come back. These men did come back. They saved 32 men on a boat that was only designed to hold twelve. The film was produced by Walt Disney Studios and stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Eric Bana, Ben Foster and Holliday Granger. We actually shot the film on location here in Massachusetts last winter. It was one of the biggest productions in Massachusetts film history, and it’s a great inspirational film.
What advice would you give to students looking to follow a similar career path to your own?
The only way to train yourself to be a writer is to read. Read everything. Read non-fiction. Read fiction. Read fantasy. Read children’s books. You will learn from every writer that you read, and eventually you will find your own voice through the techniques that you adapt from them.
For more information on the film The Finest Hours, visit Facebook. See the trailer here.
Find Casey Sherman on Twitter, and check out his books on Amazon.
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