Transitioning from one competitive field into another competitive field is not easy, but for Saeed, nothing ever came easy. Saeed’s first time applying to the Nickelodeon writing program ended in rejection. The first song he ever recorded in the basement of his friend’s house, ended with his verse being removed from the song. Some might call him crazy. Others call him talented. He likes to call himself driven. 

Saeed’s love for storytelling and television has always been a part of his life. His film story begins at San Francisco State University, where he started a career path with an undeclared major. Saeed simultaneously fell in love with the local music scene, a move that ultimately helped influence his major: screenwriting and cinema. After graduation, however, he didn’t know how to break into Hollywood. As a Black man from Oakland, Saeed knew no one in the industry—there were no role models for him to follow. But there were role models in music like E-40, MC Hammer, and Keisha Cole, so Saeed followed in their footsteps instead. 

After graduating he took the Bay Area music industry by storm. For over a decade, Saeed became a local Hip-Hop star gaining fans around the world. Although he wasn’t famous, Saeed considers himself Bay-mous! It was a fulfilling career for the music enthusiast and one that also set him up for success with his most recent venture: becoming a screenwriter. In both music and screenwriting, the underlying glue is story, and Saeed had a lot of stories and life experience he wanted to put out into the universe. 

Feeling limited in music, in 2018 he decided to fully immerse himself in the screenwriting art form once again. Inspired by an interview he heard with Steven Canals, one of the showrunners behind FX’s Pose, Saeed took his inheritance his grandmother left him when she passed and enrolled in UCLA’s online television/screenwriting program. The very same program Canals took years earlier. 

His journey hasn’t been typical and exemplifies that a person can achieve their dreams despite preconceived barriers. At Nickelodeon, Saeed looks forward to developing and honing his comedy writing skills and being an example for other up-and-coming writers that “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”