Let’s start with the GOOD.  My screenplay LET IT SHINE just placed in the TOP 10% of all entries in this year’s Page International Screenwriting Awards.  To put some perspective on this, I was one of 994 scripts that advanced out of a field of approximately 9000 screenplays.   To put further perspective on this, I have entered LET IT SHINE into this contest three times before and never got past the quarters.  I guess 4th times the charm.  And to put a final perspective on this, each time I entered, I re-wrote, re-tweaked the script.  Re-writing matters and it usually makes a difference to whether a script advances, particularly in the early rounds.  Of course, it always helps to get a reader who really digs your script.

Okay, that’s the good news…now the BAD (or maybe just disappointing).  Page released the semi-final list this week and sadly, LET IT SHINE did not make the cut. Not much you can do but shrug your shoulders and move on.  The higher a script advances, the better chance someone (like a producer, manager, company) reaches out about your property and inquiring about other work.  LET IT SHINE is an underdog story with universal appeal about a young girl who has a stuttering problem that inhibits her to fully embrace who she really is.  I will keep sending it out, keep knocking on doors in the hopes someone knocks back.   It’s currently competing in the Cynosure Screenwriting Awards – a company that celebrates women and diversity.   I’m hoping my heroine Melody will impress these folks…stay tuned.

Speaking of impressing others, last month my newest script A PROMISE I MADE TO MR. BAGELS won the Wiki Screenplay Contest.  It was encouraging news as I have had varying opinions about the script.  I just received feedback from another company who loved the writing, but had issues with the story.  So there you go.  Sometimes it really does matter who reads it.  I do feel the script needs some work, but for now I’m setting it aside, sending it out to a few more places to see where it lands and then onto re-writes.

Wiki did an interview regarding my script and me as a writer.  For a snippet of this interview, read below.  For the full interview, check out the link:
WRITERS SHOWCASE AND INTERVIEWSI’m in the early stages of a re-write on my screenplay BREAK AWAY.  Over the last couple years, I’ve gathered several critiques on BREAK AWAY and recently compared all of them to figure out what needs to be worked on.  Although the script has done well in contests, it has yet to truly break through.  BREAK AWAY is my hockey story about a determined young man and his equally determined father who struggles with demons from his past that come back to haunt him just as his son’s career is about to take off.   It deals with subjects close to my heart:  hockey, mental illness, family, passion, memories.   I like the current script, but I feel it can be better, particularly how the story ends, so I’m going to give this re-write a go.  Here’s hoping you’re scoring some big wins on your end.  Till next time…