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A professional thief pilfers money from the super-rich at weddings until he is caught stealing from the Italian mob and then is forced to take a priceless work of art from the Russian mob or die trying.
A good, old fashioned “B” picture for your first scene enjoyment.
EVGENY and VLADIMIR discuss when the supply plane will arrive. Outside, Evgeny is almost knocked down by a moving ridge in the ice, but Vladimir saves him. The ridge destroys shacks and machinery, and the incoming plane just manages to rescue them.
Aided by their human friends, chimpanzees with typewriters try to climb the Evolutionary ladder.
Interview with Steve Mikals:
1. What is your screenplay about?
My screenplay is about the comedy of Evolution, how bigger forces than we realize are at work on this planet. It begins with a book shop putting a chimpanzee with a typewriter in the window, to see if he will type Shakespeare. It then follows that thread to some logically absurd conclusions. Along the way this will involve a secret program of one hundred typing chimpanzees and the canon of Western literature, spoofs of Mafia loan sharks and “going to the mattresses”, and the DNA of Custer’s scalps. Plural.
Trust me, it works.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
It deserves to be a movie because it entertains AND challenges the audience to think beyond comfort zones. Two examples of this are the classic comedy Groundhog Day, and one of my current favorites, Lucy, Luc Bresson’s provocative look at human potential welded to a Hong Kong action flick.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
The Ruminant.
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Annie Hall. It’s one of the all-time greats, especially for an ending that refuses to pull punches.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I recently wrote a novel, my first. It took me three years, on and off. It took only three months to adapt it into the rough draft of this screenplay, but it has been polish and edit ever since.
6. How many stories have you written?
I have two others in progress. One, a followup to MSM, set in the same book shop with a few of the same characters. It has a killer opening sequence, but I have yet to settle on the metaphysical instrument it revolves around. The second is a romantic comedy that follows the aftermath of a divorce, and I hope captures some of the poignancy as well as the comic possibilities. I will submit both of the openings to this festival.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
This screenplay began as a novel (my own), and as I watched the publishing world collapse in the Internet Age, I decided I had a better shot at success with a screenplay and film festivals like this one. Plus, I’ve given up reading novels, except for clean stylists that I find helpful in my writing, like Jonathan Franzen, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, and George Higgins,
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
I was working from a novel (my own) with TOO MANY funny plots, characters and scenes. I had to teach myself a great deal about editing and make tough but rewarding choices.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
You can be passionate about more than one thing? 🙂
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
Critiquing the first ten pages is a great idea. That’s the easiest part to write, so it had better rock. The feedback is objective and helpful.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Accept all feedback in the constructive spirit it is given. Let it sink in over time. These people are now where you want to be.
***
Director/Producer: Matthew Toffolo
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: John Johnson
A good, old fashioned “B” picture for your first scene enjoyment.
EVGENY and VLADIMIR discuss when the supply plane will arrive. Outside, Evgeny is almost knocked down by a moving ridge in the ice, but Vladimir saves him. The ridge destroys shacks and machinery, and the incoming plane just manages to rescue them.
Get to know writer Jerry Kokich:
1. What is your screenplay about?
In the early 60’s, a Russian Arctic research station uncovers a horrible monster.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
We need a good, entertaining, popcorn movie, and this is it!
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Midnight movie!
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Raiders of The Lost Ark!
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
On and off, three years, more off than on.
6. How many stories have you written?
Six books, two published, a number of short stories, three audio dramas, several screenplays, four or five low budget filmmaking articles, a ballet blog, five scripts for a Doctor Who parody series I produced, and eight for an unproduced comedy scifi web series.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I knew a former Navy intelligence officer, who was actually stationed in the Arctic, who told me stories. Not about any monsters…
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
I ran into writer’s block about the ending, which I usually get first when I start a story. I’m going back and forth between a couple of endings.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I was a ballet dancer with The Joffrey Ballet, and I teach in Los Angeles. I’m very passionate about my students and their development.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I felt this first scene was one of my better ones, and I needed some feedback, so when I found about wildsound’s contest, I thought, here’s a golden opportunity!
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Never assume a woman is pregnant. Seriously, though, keep writing. Keep writing everything. Screenplays, short stories, poems, articles, blogs, everything. Writing is like anything: you have to do it to get better at it.
***
Director/Producer: Matthew Toffolo
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: John Johnson
Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html
Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca
A renaissance faire actress, formerly a Wall Street occupier, and an apparently regular guy visiting the faire fall in love – until she finds out he’s her incredibly rich undercover boss.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
Because it’s funny, colorful, romantic and engaging, and because it has more on its mind than your standard rom-com.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Love transcends
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Groundhog Day
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
Gestation- 3 to 4 years; Labor- about 6 months.
6. How many stories have you written?
Half a dozen.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I wanted to tell a fun story about people crossing conventional economic lines, dogmas and expectations – Joseph Campbell in sheep’s clothing.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
None.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
The evolution of the human race.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I understand that the first few pages of a screenplay are critical to getting the story past the gatekeepers, and I wanted to see whether I was successful. Initial feedback was encouraging and it also appropriately threw light on some needs of the script.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
You will no doubt be receiving lots of feedback and some of it will be conflicting. It’s your job to separate the wheat from the chaff. You are the ultimate architect of your story.
TYRE 820 BC – the death of the king causes ripples within the city as politics take over and the citizens fight over who between his two heirs should take the throne in his place. This is the origin story of Elissa, Princess of Tyre and how she rose to become the legendary Phoenician Queen.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
“Films communicate information and ideas, and they show us places and ways of life we might not otherwise know.” One of my favorite quotes from Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson and I believe it truly answers this question. Too often now in cinema the Middle East is portrayed negatively and as a Lebanese American screenwriter I believe it is my job to bring about better portrayals of my culture and my world.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Historical Drama.
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
A tie between Empire Strikes Back and The Two Towers.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
Three years.
6. How many stories have you written?
Around 10.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I have always had an interest in ancient history and being Lebanese, the Phoenicians are our ancestors. Elissa, before becoming Queen of Carthage, was a Phoenician princess and while
researching Phoenician history, I connected with her story. I lived in America for 13 years and in Lebanon for the same amount so I have always used that to tell tales that have universal
themes. I, also, loved the fact that she was a strong woman from the Middle East.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The Phoenicians never left records of their history, so I had to read Greek accounts, Roman accounts, as well as others to try and create a path for the film I was going to write. Nailing down the factual part of the screenplay was the hardest.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I love acting. My father is a known actor in Lebanon, so I guess I inherited this.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I wanted to finally start exposing myself as a screenwriter and nothing works better than taking a leap and throwing one’s work out there. I loved the initial feedback because it shed some light on what wasn’t working in the screenplay and once I applied what was said in the notes, I noticed the difference.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Always be open to listening to feedback and notes. It’s sometimes eye-opening. When you are writing you get so close to the characters, the conflict, and the world of your story that you can sometimes miss some opportunities that could strengthen the screenplay.
The logline for BEFORE GOD is: After surviving a suicide attempt, a troubled pastor is tormented by visions of a 12 Year Old Boy that force him to confront a suppressed childhood memory.
Thematically it is about a crisis of faith, but not in the usual sense of doubt in the existence of God. Abe Stonehouse is a man who has given his life to the church, but despite his dedication and knowledge of scripture he never believed – ever. He only ever joined the church because he thought if he could gain God’s forgiveness for then he could move on. Only it never happened and before he knew it he’d been a longstanding, valued member of the local diocese. BEFORE GOD blurs the lines between life and death to expose Abe’s true self and offer him salvation.
Tonally it’s inspired by Jacob’s Ladder and Donnie Darko.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
BEFORE GOD should be made in a movie because it dares to suggest that faith can be learned to fool everyone but yourself. Spiritually speaking this can only lead to personal misery and denial of who you truly are. Rediscovering your one true self proves to be liberating in this life and the next.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Dark and Enlightening
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Time Bandits, Texas Chainsaw Massacre… More recently Only God Forgives enjoys repeat viewings in my house.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
A couple of years on and off
6. How many stories have you written?
I’ve outlined many stories, but I’ve written ten feature length screenplays… My writing quality gets better with each one… Arguably only the last three or four, including BEFORE GOD, have the potential to be sold or developed into a movie.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I wrote and produced an award winning short film called FALLEN. As confirmed Atheists, the director and I set out with the ambition of making something that would show how mean God is. However, through the development of the film, and my own personal research interviewing born again Christians, we became increasingly sympathetic to people with faith; differentiating them from organised religion. During the editing process I began to see what we had done together as maybe the end of a film. Brainstorming ideas of how the story got there led me to BEFORE GOD. Writing the screenplay didn’t turn me into a believer, but it steered my resolute atheism a tad closer to agnostic.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The structure of BEFORE GOD is non-linear and plays fast and loose with what is real and unreal. It is meant to keep the audience in the dark until the final moments where the curtain is pulled back on my unreliable narration. It was my first serious diversion away from linear and I wanted to make sure the audience didn’t begin to mistrust me as the author because there were too many surprises or not enough clarity about some of the more supernatural elements that are included.
Fundamentally speaking, pun intended, an early draft table read of the short film version exposed our anti-religious bias in our characters. The pointed criticism asked if we believed in God. Proudly we said no. The person giving the feedback said neither do any of your characters. This led to me reaching out to born again Christians, vicars and pastors to interview them about their faith.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I am keen podcaster and host the weekly film podcast for britflicks.com. As a writer I shamelessly use to learn from other filmmakers about their process of nailing story and turning that into a film. They’re archived here http://www.britflicks.com/podcasts.aspx and available through iTunes too.
By the early nineties a combination of Public Enemy, Ween, Slayer and Sonic Youth changed everything for me in terms of music I love and would prove to be a platform for a never-ending search for challenging singers and artists. Although I’m a long way from too cool for school as both Todd Rundgren and Bob Seger are fixtures on my MP3 player and turntable alike.
I am a big fan of Liverpool Football Club and enjoy cycling in the British countryside.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I value the impact a table read can have on me as a writer when I hear other people tackling my words. Film is a very collaborative medium so it’s imperative to discover how your work is interpreted if you’re to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
The written feedback I received was bittersweet. It told me what I wanted to hear – the transitions were jarring – but it was framed as criticism.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
The headline advice of writing is rewriting is still worth banging on about. If you think about that notion you’re accepting you have to get it wrong on the page to get it right in the end. This is counter intuitive and must be nurtured as part of your development as a writer. Essentially, if you commit nothing to paper, you’re not writing and you’ll never know if that idea floating around your head works or not.
The screenplay is about one’s redemption and the dynamics of a broken family’s relationship through the guise of a haunting thriller that touches on many genres through the protagonist’s hellish journey.
2. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
The screenplay deals with issues that concern us all in one way or another, and sometimes without us realising it. It makes a connection to the way we deal with relationships via modern technology, either good or bad. So the subject matters in this screenplay will touch a nerve with the audience who will be able to make a connection with it, and also open their eyes to an unknown World right under their noses.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
FORGIVENESS. REDEMPTION.
4. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
As a child I was crazy about STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. But as an adult, I keep revisiting these movies that help me to understand the language of cinema; THE SEVEN SAMURAI, TAXI DRIVER, ALL THAT JAZZ and APOCALYPSE NOW.
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I’ve been at this script on and off for about ten years. And I still think I’ve got another ten years to go. But one can keep on writing the same script forever. It takes a great writer to know when to stop and accept their limitations. I’m almost fifty and a late starter, so I’m still learning the craft.
6. How many stories have you written?
Since my early childhood I’ve written over twenty screenplays, but nothing seriously. It’s only in the last five years (now that my children have grown and left home) that I’ve decided to improve on my writing craft and start revisiting these old scripts that have been hidden away.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
My motivation was based on a challenge, to see if a could write a genre screenplay that also deals with social issues such as a dysfunctional family and how the internet influences our lives. But you would always find that you may go in different directions as you write, and the challenge is to discipline yourself and maintain your purpose and goal.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The length of the script was a main concern. In the end I had to break the script into two parts and then found that the first half had no real ending as such. So I decided to create myself a challenge and began the story midway through the original script. So now I have a script for a prequel, delving back to the roots of the cause that the protagonist finds himself in this script.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I love my music. I collect vinyl (the LP 33rpm record kind), and sometimes create my own movie-influenced music under the guise of D’bach which you can find on Soundcloud. I have created tracks that pay homage to filmmakers and movies. It is mostly experimental music, with a few attempts of dance music, but I get as kick out of it.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
Sooner or later I had to let the script go and I thought this festival would be a perfect way to showcase it. And to have it read by a group of actors is a bonus and a pleasure.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Watch as many diverse films as you can, and read all about the craft. Most importantly, understand the powerful language of film. And don’t be scared to be a ruthless editor of your own script!
In the early 1940s in North Carolina as the soldiers prepare to go to War, Julianne balances the life on the farm with her family and being a showgirl for the army brats.
First Scene Screenplay Festival 