Dig Wilder

Dig Wilder learned much of what he knows about the craft of writing while earning his Master’s Degree at the University of Southern California’s prestigious School of Cinema-Televsion – using his real name (see “Why A Pseudonym” below). Prior to attending USC, he was named Funniest Person in Missouri in Showtime’s “Funniest Person in America” contest, a competition eventually won by a then unknown Ellen DeGeneres. After graduating from USC, Dig continued to hone his storytelling skills through writing and performing. His original screenplay, “Neighborhood Dogs”, was selected from among 6,300 entries as a quarterfinalist for the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In addition, he writes original “Zany Tales” and has performed them for tens of thousands of Southern California schoolchildren over the past several years.

Why A Pseudonym?

Permit Dig to tell you, in his own words, why he chose to use a pseudonym:

"A few years ago while I was still using my real name, someone handed me a business magazine and said, 'Congratulations! You're the cover story.' I looked at the photo on the cover and thought, 'Where did I get that tie? And that expensive suit? And that condescending smile? And what happened to all my hair?' And then suddenly, I realized I was not looking at myself at all, but at someone else with the same name.

The Man With My Name was Ken Lay, founder of Enron.

In the beginning, the Man With My Name was highly respected and extraordinarily wealthy and so I found the name sharing thing to be rather fun. It became less fun as time passed, particularly after Enron collapsed and the MWMN became widely regarded as a scoundrel. Soon even my close friends began to avoid me, as if I might somehow plunder their retirement funds and invest them in a sham energy scheme, or in a sham accounting firm, or in a big boat in the Azores.

As the scandal continued to unfold, I began to worry about my fledgling writing career. I was in the early stages of planning a series of books - but would anyone buy a novel they assumed was written by this Lay rascal? When my own wife asked if she could go back to her maiden name - Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff - I knew the useful days for my inherited surname had come to an end.

I am a great admirer of Samuel Clemens who used a pseudonym - Mark Twain - with a modest degree of success. Though he had his own reasons for this (none of which included scamming stockholders out of billions), I decided a new name would be the way to go.

I am a movie fan and Billy Wilder is my favorite filmmaker of all time, so I decided to take half my new name from him. I came across the other half in a byline I saw in a grocery store tabloid - on an exposé written by a guy named Dig Crudup. So I combined Billy Wilder with Dig Crudup - and came up with Billy Crudup. Unfortunately, I found out that name was already taken, so I went the other direction and now I am Dig Wilder.

Now that the other Ken Lay has passed on to that great courtroom in the sky (that is, if he's not on his boat in the Azores, living under the name "Dig Wilder"), I may one day return to my real name. But for now, you can call me Dig."