The story takes place 5 years later in 1958, when their relationship has had time to ripen and gain complexity within the homophobic era. They have to be closeted, so their public and professional lives are discontinuous with who they are with each other. This causes high stakes, tension, and great potential for drama and character development.
The story takes place 5 years later in 1958, when their relationship has had time to ripen and gain complexity within the homophobic era. They have to be closeted, so their public and professional lives are discontinuous with who they are with each other. This causes high stakes, tension, and great potential for drama and character development.
What is your screenplay about?
THERESE is a sequel to the film and book Carol, which came out in 2015. The film ends with such raw possibility, and yet so many challenges for Carol and Therese, that the idea of extending it wouldn’t leave me alone.
I take up their story 5 years later in 1958, when their relationship has had time to ripen and gain complexity within the homophobic era. They have to be closeted, so their public and professional lives are discontinuous with who they are with each other. This causes high stakes, tension, and great potential for drama and character development.
I also wanted to explore a power reversal between the characters. In Carol, the Carol character is more dominant, powerful, elusive. But the end of the film hints at Therese gaining agency, and Carol’s love in effect making her suppliant to the younger woman. So THERESE is the arc of Therese as the more powerful, elusive figure, and Carol studying her. It echoes the subjectivity of Highsmith’s book, but in reverse.
What genres does your screenplay under?
Drama, romance, period piece.
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
Just watch Carol, witness the mobs of critical and public adorers of the film, and ask yourself if the final scene in the Oak Room is enough for us. We need more. The allure of the ’50s aesthetic, which I update to mid-century modern through Carol’s work in furniture and Therese’s love of jazz music, creates a visual and aural world perfect for film. The chemistry between the leads is dripping electric. Of course, we’re talking about two of the world’s most in-demand actresses (Mara and Blanchett), a supporting actress who just won an Emmy (Paulson), and a celebrated director (Haynes), so it’s all high-profile, high-stakes, and potentially high-reward. But the world, including and beyond the LGBT community, wants to see this story evolve.
How would you describe this script in two words?
Love Trumps.
What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
I’m not embarrassed: The move Clue (1985), starring Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, etc. So excellently funny and ridiculous no matter how many times. I saw it 3 times in the theater when it came out (I was 6), and since then … maybe another 144 times.
Second most: Carol. Twice in theater, since then, maybe 5 more times, with different combos of family and friends. Both 1950s movies!
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I drafted it this summer (May), revised (July), again in fall (October).
How many stories have you written?
Four screenplays: THERESE, a Jane Austen adaptation called DARCY’S DAYS, a Darwin biopic called THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE, and an original sci-fi script called LANDFILL. I’m trained as an academic (lit prof), so I’ve also published a book and a lot of articles, like academics do, and assorted poems.
What motivated you to write this screenplay?
Sheer excitement and love for the characters and source material. I also wanted to recover some of the character dynamics, high tension, and subjectivity in Patricia Highsmith’s book that weren’t much represented in the film Carol. I had to make sure that I was doing everything I could do as an individual human to make this story continue. So, mission accomplished. Does the world care? Yet to be determined. It’s really hard to get any attention from producers as an outsider in an exclusive and competitive business.
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
Staying true to their love for each other without wallowing in lovey-dovey. I want it to be edgy and exciting. But I didn’t want either woman to degrade into bitchiness. That’s a hard balance to strike. Fortunately, their world presents challenges that make their character arcs believable, and their joys and griefs complementary.
Oh, and having a new baby. I mostly wrote during her naps and late at night.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
My kids (ages 3 and 0) and wife, teaching literature, nature, travel, film. The human experience. Musing about environmental futures. I live in DC, so we’re at the epicenter of this ornery cultural climate.
Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
Zora Neale Hurston said something like: “there is no agony like holding an untold story inside you.” I agree. Let it out, let it breathe. Revise. Up the ante. It’ll make you a more complete person, more empathetic. We need all the empathy we can get in this strange world of 2016.
When a college crush visits New York, Ted is determined to chip away at her until she dumps her boyfriend, a play the gang refers to as “Shawshanking”
Get to know the winning writer:
1. What is your TV screenplay based on the TV show “How I Met Your Mother” about?
In my HIMYM script, an old college crush comes to visit New York, and Ted is determined to chip away at her until she dumps her boyfriend. In the Bro Code, this is referred to as “Shawshanking.”
2. How does this episode fit into the context of the series?
I wrote this episode in the midst of season eight, the second to last season. Barney and Robin are together. Marshall and Lily just had their baby. And Ted is very close to meeting the mother of his children.
3. How would you describe this script in two words?
Shawshanked Redemption
4. What TV show do you watch over and over again?
Recently, I’ve been re-watching episodes of “Star Trek: TNG” and “The X-Files.” In terms of sitcoms, it’s easy to come home after work and relax to an episode of “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “Big Bang Theory,” or “How I Met Your Mother.”
5. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
From conception to submitting it to the TV fellowships, I’d say about six months.
6. How many stories have you written?
Honestly I don’t know. I’ve been writing short stories since before high school so that’s a good 25 years. In terms of scripts, I have four features, eight TV scripts – both pilots and specs, and several short film scripts.
7. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
A couple of things. A roommate and I were watching the “Shawshank Redemption,” and our Australian roommate walked in and asked us if we knew what “Shawshanking” was. We didn’t know. So he told us that in Australia, Shawshanking is slang for when a guy, for example, chips away at a woman’s relationship with her boyfriend until they break up and he’s there to be the shoulder to cry on and hopefully become her next boyfriend. I thought this had to be worked into a script, and a HIMYM script just made perfect sense.
In the meantime, I was still getting over a crush with a librarian I used to work with. I had written a romantic comedy about Isaac Newton in which he falls for a Prussian royal (who is also the librarian at the Berlin Royal Academy) and, as a result, makes his greatest scientific discoveries. I guess I still wasn’t over the librarian, so I used the HIMYM script to explore the regret over missed opportunities. Some of the dialogue between Ted and Ally, the librarian, are based on conversations I had with the real-life librarian.
8. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The eternal struggle is finding time to write between the hours of your day job. I called in sick a few times to meet deadlines.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I love watching movies and reading comic books and going to concerts. I also love Sour Patch Watermelon.
10. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I love the idea of a fan-fiction festival. I’ve written “Star Trek” fanfic, and I’ve won a few fan-fiction writing contests for shows like “Star Trek,” “Battlestar Galactica,” and “Painkiller Jane.” At the end of the day, TV spec scripts are essentially fan fiction. You get to play with characters outside the canon. You get to do things that shows would likely never do. I’ve always thought it was a shame that spec scripts have an expiration date. The Fan Fiction Screenplay Festival allows participants to breathe new life into their so-called expired scripts. I
I thought my initial feedback was fantastic. It’s great to get feedback from someone who doesn’t know you personally. It’s especially helpful when trying to figure out if jokes land and how to fix them when they don’t.
11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?
I think it’s profoundly helpful to surround yourself with talented writers and form tight bonds with them. Last year I was part of the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop. I’ve grown very close with the writers I met in both groups. Not only do they give great notes, but also any success by one person contributes to the success of the group as a whole. Some of these friends are now staffed on shows or are publishing novels with traditional publishers (and garnering awards at the same time). They raise the bar and open doors for the rest of us.
A reinvention of the popular series with the same castaways (reinvented) who end up having to fight off Zombies during the night on the far away island.
Get to know the winning writer:
What is your fan fiction screenplay about?
“Gilligan’s Island of The Dead” is a reboot of the classic TV comedy, with everything turned on its head… and zombies!
Why does this modern day twist of the iconic TV show work?
With updated characters, including Gilligan and The Skipper as a gay couple, and the Howells as the Madoffs hiding from the Feds, the series also capitalizes on the current zombie craze.
How would you describe this TV show in 2 words?
Zombie Survival
What TV show have you seen the most times in your life?
The Avengers from the 1960’s!
How long have you been working on this screenplay?
It took about three months to write.
How many stories have you written?
Well over fifty.
What motivated you to write this screenplay?
Funny story, that. NBC had decided to do a reboot of the TV comedy, The Munsters. They spent millions on the pilot, including building the full size Munsters house. Halfway through the filming of the pilot, they realized it was going to be such a total disaster, they pulled the plug on the series before they had even finished shooting. I was joking with some friends about it on Facebook, and said. “We should do a reboot of Gilligan’s Island with zombies!” I stopped dead. I thought, hey, that’s not a bad idea. I actually detest when old shows are redone and changed, and I’m not a zombie fan, but I decided to put everything I don’t like into this. Of course, it wins a contest!
What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
. I really didn’t face any obstacles writing it. I knew the old series very well. I read some books on the making of the series, including one by series creator, Sherwood Schwartz, and watched a documentary produced by Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann. I did try to market the script, but the Schwartz estate and CBS have the rights, so that was a dead end.
Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I was a professional ballet dancer with The Joffrey Ballet for eight years, and I now teach in LA. I’m very passionate about my students and their development as dancers.
What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I submitted a first scene to you guys that won, and the feedback was wonderful, so I decided to enter this full script. I recommend your contests to all my writer friends. The feedback on this project was fantastic. Of course, I loved the praise. The suggestions and criticisms were extremely precise and helpful. What I really appreciated was that you got what I was trying to do. I wanted to take the original series in a completely different direction, but one that made sense in relation to the original characters.
Any advice for other writers?
A much smarter man than I said, 95% of writing is re-writing, so start writing. Don’t sit around thinking about writing, just write. Then write some more. Then enter a Wildsound contest! Also, never assume a woman is pregnant.
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK VIDEO of the FAN FICTION Short Film:
BACK TO THE FUTURE?, 10min., USA, Comedy/Sci-Fi
Directed by Kyle Chen
Marty convinces Doc to go back to October 21, 2015 and when they arrive in current day they are shocked and disappointed. Everyone they see is obsessed with their cell phones and none of the cool inventions they remember from the previous trip to 2015 exist. They decide to leave this sad parallel universe.
Main Cast: Jeffrey Weissman
Actor/Doc Brown
Jeffrey Weissman has been performing as an actor since taking to the stage in 1972. He started in film in 1977, Jeffrey has costarred in dozens of film and television productions. He had been screen testing for leads in various films during the early 1980’s, and landed his first costar role in 1982 in George Miller’s “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” episode of Twilight Zone the Movie. Jeffrey is best known for playing Teddy Conway in Clint Eastwood ‘s Pale Rider (1985) and taking over the George McFly role in the “Back to the Future” sequels. His recent working indie films have garnered him raves from his comedic turn in “corked!” as an OCD winemaker, and his dramatic work in several features.
Logan Wildey
Producer and Actor/Marty McFly
I’ve always loved film. Watching it, creating it, getting friends to help make it with me. “Back to the Future?” is the perfect example of me telling my 12 year old self that dreams really do come true. I fell in love with the trilogy at 12. I used to wonder what kind of person I would be when I was 32 because I knew that was the age I would be when Marty and Doc went to the future. I was lucky enough to get a lot of help from a lot of people to help make this final product possible. Although there were many people that didn’t think it could be done, my coproducer Jen Floor Mathews never doubted it for a second. She was the driver that kept this dream alive.
Main Crew:
Jen Floor Mathews
Producer/ Cell phone dropper
Jen Floor Mathews is a Silicon Valley actor who began taking Improv classes after finally completing a PhD in Psychology. Tired of auditioning to play a mother to interesting characters she began screenwriting in earnest. She now is an award winning producer and still auditions to play the role of “Mother” in other people’s films about young white people in their 20s. She is also employed by Dinner Detective in San Jose.
Yuito Kimura
Director of Photography
Yuito Kimura is San Francisco based Cinematographer, born in Tokyo, Japan. He kick started his earlier filmmaking education in Santa Barbara City College. Later he furthur his film study in the Academy of Art University, San Francisco majoring in Cinematography and visual storytelling. Through numerous filmmaking experiences, Yuito’s curiosity over filmmaking process has endowed him forward to learn and push boundaries of both the conventional and his unique style of his visual storytelling
Matthew McClelland
Director of Photography
I have been doing video production and other media related tasks for 6 years now. I started out making videos when I was Senior in High School and then I attended the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where I received my Bachelors of Science Degree with a major in Communications Media. Since then I have been striving to become the best story teller that I can be. Whether that is with filmmaking, photography, graphic design, web design or music. After graduating college, I decided to move out to California to pursue bigger dreams.
SPECIAL EVENT: November 24th. 7pm. Carlton Cinemas.
12 FILMS from 12 COUNTRIES: Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Puerto Rico, Spain, UK, and the USA.
Check out the program page and to RSVP your tickets. Or, simply reply to this email to reserve.
http://www.wildsound.ca/torontofilmfestivals.html
Best of Documentary and Under 5 Minute Short Films.
You can come for FREE or make a donation on the night. Or, you can RSVP on the program page and make a donation via paypal or credit card.
Giving you films from all corners of the world in different genres and formats.
All entries get their POEM shown on this website. AND, you can submit your Poem to be made into a video (guaranteed 1000s of view).
GET YOUR POETRY SEEN. This network averages over 95,000 visitors a day to read your poems. SUBMIT ANYTIME
The RULES are simple:
1. Write a POEM. Send it to this contest for FREE and it will be POSTED on this site guaranteed for 100,000s to see. (you own all rights to this poem and whenever you want it taken down, send us an email).
2. Email your POEM to submission@festivalforpoetry.com in .pdf, .doc, .wpd, .rtf, or .fdr format or just cut and paste it into the body of the email.
3. SUBMIT as many poems as you like. (NOTE: One FREE poem per person. If you like to submit multiple poems, please let us know and we’ll give you price quote.)
Watching the reactions of (German Shepherd) at the FEEDBACK Festival does not become more meaningful than that. When your film reaches and audience that respond in such way, it´s pure joy.
– Nils Bergendal, Director “German Shepherd”
Next Festival Dates:
November 24th
March 30th
Festival takes place at the Carlton Cinemas in downtown Toronto, Canada.
FULL FEEDBACK on your film from the audience! SUBMIT ANYTIME!
Submissions take 3-7 weeks for evaluation.
Why the this is the fastest growing Documentary Film Festival in the world today:
– Your film will get screened in front of a large, broad audience.
– We are a feedback festival and you will actually hear what people and action/adventure film lovers think of your film.
– Your film is screened and then talked about with the audience, lead by a Professional Industry moderator.
Even if your film is not selected, you will receive the full feedback…
FAN FICTION Film and Writing Festival 