Reddit might be the only website that compels complete strangers to mail your favorite foods to your house, lets everyday people ask Ken Jennings about what makes Alex Trebek tick and introduces you to others who believe captchas are messages from a demon named Inglip.

But perhaps the coolest reddit phenomenon involves James Erwin, a 37-year-old former software manual writer from Des Moines, Iowa. For him, reddit became a ticket to Los Angeles — not for vacation, but to start his new career as a Hollywood screenwriter.

While browsing reddit last August, Erwin, who majored in history, posted an enthralling response to one user’s query: “Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine Infantry Battalion or MEU?”

Erwin’s response: Five paragraphs that read like a war novel. And people wanted more.

Writer Jason Fagone explains how Erwin shot to internet fame, and ultimately Tinseltown, in the latest issue of Wired. And in this week’s Storyboard, reddit General Manager Erik Martin sits down with Wired Senior Editor Adam Rogers. Martin explains how the site that started as a link aggregator in 2005 has become the dream-making, news-sharing, snack-sending juggernaut it is today.

(Disclosure: Wired.com and reddit are corporate cousins. Check out a teaser trailer for the film, Rome Sweet Rome, above.)