The Claimant
When Rachel Weinhaus was five years old, a sixteen-year-old boy sexually assaulted her in the woods near her home. She never spoke of her violation, not to her parents, not to her siblings, not even, decades later, to her spouse—she wouldn't speak a word of it for thirty-eight years until an envelope arrived from her graduate school alma mater, informing her she was a part of a two-hundred-fifteen-million-dollar settlement claim against the University of Southern California and sexual predator George Tyndall. The Claimant is Rachel's story of being a class member in this historic lawsuit and how being a Claimant shattered her life, and then saved it.
Work With Me
Are you looking for writing support—a place to begin your journey, whether you’ve never written before or you’re an experienced writer seeking support and inspiration? As a professional screenwriter, essayist, memoirist, and flash fiction writer with over fifteen years of experience teaching creative writing, I can meet you wherever you are in your process.
I work one-on-one via zoom or in person, and I also lead memoir and fiction writing workshops. In addition, I work with children who struggle with writing as well as those who are budding storytellers.
Sign up for my newsletter and stay tuned for future workshops, or feel free to contact me to explore how I can help you find your voice through writing. It would be an honor to work with you or your child.
I work one-on-one via zoom or in person, and I also lead memoir and fiction writing workshops. In addition, I work with children who struggle with writing as well as those who are budding storytellers.
Sign up for my newsletter and stay tuned for future workshops, or feel free to contact me to explore how I can help you find your voice through writing. It would be an honor to work with you or your child.
Rachel Weinhaus
Rachel Weinhaus is a screenwriter, memoirist, and flash fiction writer. She earned an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television and a BA in English and creative writing from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has been published in The New York Times, Newsweek, the Huffington Post, Insider, The Today Show, Kveller, Brevity Blog, and the Jewish Literary Journal. Her work has appeared in Trampset, Necessary Fiction, Flash Fiction Magazine, Micro Fiction Monday Magazine, Five Minutes, MoonPark Review, Moon City Press, Does It Have Pockets, and Bull Magazine. Her work has been selected for the Best Microfiction 2026 Anthology. She sold her original screenplay, The Prince Test, to Serendipity Productions, Inc in 2015. She has worked with producers and studios such as Dolphin Entertainment, Arthur Sarkissian Productions, and many others. She was awarded the Women in Film Scholarship, sponsored by Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment. Rachel has been teaching undergraduate and graduate screenwriting and creative writing classes for over fifteen years.
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