Wanda Tuchock was born in 1898 in Pueblo, Colorado. She attended the University of California at Berkeley. Her first job was as an advertising copy writer for a San Francisco department store, but she had bigger ambitions. Before she turned thirty, she moved to Hollywood, with the intention of becoming a screenwriter. At the time, it was an unusual occupation for a woman.
Tuchock’s first Hollywood job was script girl. She made $22.50 a week. Unafraid to speak her mind, she pitched ideas to the directors she worked with. Before long she was writing scripts. Some were based on her own original ideas; others were adaptations of novels and short stories.
Among Tuchock’s credits are screenwriter for Hallelujah, a 1929 film that featured one of the first all-African American casts. She was both writer and director of the 1934 film Finishing School and has dozens of other script credits to her name. Tuchock’s character driven plotlines resonated with audiences.
Learn more in the Wanda Tuchock papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.