Annmarie Morais, Romeo Ciolfi, Alberina Ciolfi

When I’m in the presence of these two remarkable women, life is pretty beautiful.  Annmarie Morais (“Annie”) I’ve know since my days at York.  A fellow writer as well – we often commiserate on the highs and lows of writing and what’s for lunch (because lunch is what’s really important).  She was a showrunner on the BET/CBC drama called THE PORTER which was nominated for a record 19 Canadian Screen Awards and went on to win an equally impressive 12 wins.   You can read all about The Porter’s success HERE.

Annie recently moved out to New Brunswick and is making a life for herself there – far away from the hustle and bustle of Toronto (or LA for that matter, where she lived for several years).  She visited Toronto (to attend the Canadian Screen Awards) and came over for dinner to have my mom’s pasta with meatballs.  Annie often says no one makes meatballs like “Mama C”.

My mom (Alberina Ciolfi – “Bina” ), continues to show strength and courage to endure in the face of various medical aliments.  She is made of strong stock and I am in constant awe of her fighting spirit.   She is the personification of love.   When she tells you she’s praying for you, those aren’t just words.  She means it.   I get that from her.

The re-write of my screenplay BREAK AWAY is complete (FINALLY!).  This was an arduous journey which, in the end, was well worth the trip.  I find change in general a challenge.  I want to know the exact outcome of everything before taking a leap of faith.  But the fact of the matter is you can’t always know where you’re going to land.   That’s life.  In writing, one has a little more control (but not always when you’re working in a team setting).   With BREAK AWAY, the pressure was totally on me to make this script better.    At 110 pages long, I ended up re-writing about 50 pages (that’s a lot for a script I already thought was solid).  As I got deeper and deeper into the writing, every page seemingly got heavier and heavier to turn.   The story remained the same, but many of the scenes dramatically changed.    The script is now 108 pages long and I can say, without a doubt, it is a much better draft.   The characters are richer and the story more profound.   I’m excited to send it out and I expect great things in the months ahead.

Here’s more exciting news:   A PROMISE I MADE TO MR. BAGELS made the semi’s of The Script Lab Screenplay Contest.  This is the contest where 11,900 scripts were entered and in this first round, only the first few pages were read and judged.  1000 scripts advanced to the quarters where all the screenplays were read from beginning to end.  And now, 200 screenplays advanced to the semi’s.  MR. BAGELS is on the list.  Below is a sampling of those who advanced.   Find the complete list at The Script Lab Screenplay Contest.