by Marcus Amick
For New Pittsburgh Courier
Joe Wilson, who always dreamed of owning a Chevrolet Chevelle one day, encompasses everything that the brand has represented over the past 100 years.
A native of Cleveland, in 1998 Wilson decided to forgo a career in manufacturing engineering and move to Hollywood to pursue his dream to be a writer. Today, he’s a staff writer for “NCIS: Los Angeles,” one of the most highly rated shows on TV. And in the first episode he wrote for the show last year, he scripted a ’70 Chevelle in the storyline.
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| ‘NCIS: LOS ANGELES’ writer Joe Wilson passes the love for Chevelles to his son, Clay.
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“They say write what you know, and I know the Chevelle gets me going so I had to put it in the episode,” said the Ohio native. “The fans loved it. I loved it. I got goosebumps.”
Earlier this year, Wilson solidified another dream by buying his dream car, a 1971 Chevelle SS. Wilson. He spends a lot of his free time working on the car when not writing and said he still can’t believe he owns it.
“It sounds corny, but it’s one of those things I just fell in love with it and had to have,” said Wilson. “Being a ’70 kid, I grew up around the car, my uncle had one and we’d ride in it. I didn’t appreciate it then, but as an adult, I was like, man, when I make it, I’m going to get one. I still get chills when I just look at in sitting in the garage. What really makes it special is that my sons, Clay and Colin, get to see me rebuilding it, thinking of the day where I hand over the keys.”
Despite a passion for writing as a kid and student who earned honors in English, Wilson’s journey to Hollywood wasn’t easy.
“Coming from East Cleveland, writing or any creative endeavor isn’t nurtured or promoted so it was like, so you can write, but where are you going to get a job,” Wilson recalls asking himself. “It wasn’t until after college and pursuing a career in manufacturing engineering that I realized it wasn’t for me.”
The death of Wilson’s father really prompted him to pursue his dream.
“I owed it to him and myself to be happy, do something special and most important, do something I loved,” said Wilson. “So I picked up the pen and started writing again.”
Still, he had to make the decision to leave his comfort zone of Ohio and make it out to Los Angeles if he was serious about it.
“I picked up, drove out to California, stood on the beach and said “Now what?,” recalls Wilson. “I had no job, no connects and a big dream.”
After years of festivals, writers’ groups and the routine grunt work that comes with trying to break in the business, a friend put Wilson in contact with an executive producer who liked his work.
“He called me in for a meeting and told me to stay in touch. I did and he eventually put me through the Writers Guild of America’s Writer’s Trainee Program on the show ‘JAG’,” he recalls.
“I continued to network until I was able to secure a freelance script. I didn’t secure my first paid writing job until 2004. The rest is history.”
Despite the struggle to get there, Wilson said the Chevelle reminds him that the journey was well worth it.
“There was a point that I was actually living in my car for a few days, struggling with the decision if I was going to give up and go back home,” remembers Wilson. “Now I’m married with two wonderful sons working in Hollywood. The Chevelle is a reward for not giving up. It’s a symbol of pride and a marker that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
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