1960. Mom, Dad and brother John.

We are tied to our past for better or worse.  If you want to know who you are today and how you turned out and even where you are going, look back to your past.  In my writings, the past plays a prominent role.   The photo above was taken approximately in 1960.  It’s hard to believe so many years have gone by since this photo.  Life flows like a river, constantly ebbing along and changing with dramatic force.

My brother John is barely 3 years old.  My parents where just starting out in life, newly landed immigrants from Italy.  The stories that my mom and dad have provided for me over the ensuing years is more than I can count.  Bits of their lives are sprinkled throughout most of my scripts.  Sometimes they make it into my stories without even me realizing.  And even though both of them have dealt with some harsh blows (my mother with mental illness and my father with Alzheimer’s ), their lives provide nothing but rich territory to explore.

Today marks my mom’s birthday.  Born January 24, 1939.  84 years young.   My admiration, love and respect for this woman has grown over the years because when I look back at her past and everything she has endured (and continues to endure) I can see what an incredibly resilient person she is.  Courage, oftentimes, can only be measured by a lifetime of living.

I am writing screenplays today for future audiences thanks to my parents and the family I grew up in.  At this writing, I have been stuck in the re-write of my screenplay BREAK AWAY.  I received lots of notes on this script and I have been going through every scene to figure out how to make this story stronger.  BREAK AWAY is a couple years old.  Going back to an older script is usually an agonizingly slow process with many challenges.   Writers change with each passing script.  I find myself in a different place when I dig back into an old story.   But I felt confident this story deserved another look.  And so here I am.

Some results from last month to share; I made it all the way to the finalists position in two contests.  The winners have been announced in both StoryPros (for A PROMISE I MADE TO MR. BAGELS) and Cynsoure Screenplay Contests (for LET IT SHINE).  As you can see from the results below, I did not place in the winner’s circle of either contest:

Someone once said to me that maybe I shouldn’t post the losses or rejections I get…that I should just post when a script wins, or is bought, etc…  But not winning, or getting rejected is part of this unpredictable, head-scratching journey called life.  It makes the path going forward that much sweeter and more satisfying when great things do happen.  Past defeats and present disappointments are roadmaps to future possibilities.  Live in that hope.  The past, the present and the future are inexorably tied together.  Don’t ignore or favor one at the expense of the others.