meeting was over, Bernero offered him a job as a script coordinator on a new show called Criminal Minds. While it meant a significant pay cut, the decision was easy. Dunkle remained part of the franchise for the next 12 years. Again, it was his diligence and hard work that gained him notice. What began as a job refining scripts evolved into more creative responsibility, and by the fifth season, he had become a full-time writer. But Indiana was calling—and the complete fulfillment of that second promise. For a few years, Dunkle split his time between Hollywood and the Hoosier state, balancing television work with time closer to family. In 2017, he taught a digital storytelling class at the University of Indianapolis. While he had taught courses as an adjunct in California, this one left a lasting impression. “I had such a blast,” said Dunkle. “The students were so impressive. I got so much joy out of passing on information and seeing them thrive.” When a full-time professor of practice position opened at UIndy in 2022, the timing was absolutely perfect. Dunkle brings his real-world experience into the classroom. His students produce documentaries, live newscasts, and
Dunkle started at the very bottom—working food service jobs to pay the bills and making good on his promise to finish his degree. When he learned a showrunner, Ed Bernero, would be teaching a television writing class with only six spots available, he slept in his car outside the registration building to ensure he would be first in line. That class changed his life in more ways than one. Bernero saw Dunkle’s talent and potential. It was also where Dunkle began to chart the direction of his career. “Ed told me that in the TV world the writers are in charge, and in the film world it’s the directors and producers who are in charge,” Dunkle said. “I definitely wanted to work my way up to the point where I was leading things. Since writing was my path, television gave me a way to get there.” After graduate school, Dunkle landed an internship at Paramount compiling ratings reports. It wasn’t creative or particularly enjoyable, but it was a foothold—something he still reminds his UIndy students the importance of today. That led to a job at Sony Pictures, where he continued working his way up. But while the money was good, as Dunkle says, “more money than I thought growing up in Indiana I would ever make,” it wasn’t the kind of creative writing work he had imagined. Dunkle reached out to Bernero, still a contact, to thank him and ask for the chance to learn under him. Before their
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UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
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