This bit of news just came my way…My screenplay LET IT SHINE is a TOP 10 finalist in the 13th Annual StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest.

LET IT SHINE has been through several drafts since its conception back in 2017 and is currently competing in other festival/screenplay contests.  SHINE follows a child who stutters and struggles to find her voice.  The story delves into the close bonds she shares with her older, charismatic brother who teaches her that in order to stand out, one must not be afraid to shine.   My hope is the screenplay will land in a top spot, get the exposure it needs and who knows, maybe find a home with some producer.

StoryPros divides its contest into categories that include drama, action, comedy, thriller and family.  TOP 3 winners are chosen in each category and an overall GRAND PRIZE winner is then picked from the bunch.

So now the fun part….waiting for the final results.  In the meantime, I have been re-writing my play ANIMAL.   I’ve spent the last month re-working each of the scenes and outlining a new draft.  I have now re-written the first three scenes of the play.  This play has changed in so many different ways over the years.  I’ve lost count the number of drafts I’ve written.   The production at the Alumnae Theatre back in November 2018 was an eye-opener for me. As was the most recent reading of the play December 2019.  Both these events helped me see the play more clearly and shift it in ways I would not have been able to come up with had I not been involved.   Like most writers, I look forward to getting to the ending of this draft….but like most writers know, it’s hard to please everyone.  There seems to always be another draft.   It never seems to be good enough.  Such is the writer’s life…

And finally, I watched a beautiful, but painful movie that speaks directly to the times we are living in.  FRUITVALE  STATION is based on a true story of a young black man named Oscar Grant and how his life was tragically cut short when he is killed at the Fruitvale Subway Station in Oakland.   The film was eerily similar to what happened in the recent death of George Floyd.   At times I thought I was watching a documentary because by the end, I felt I really knew and cared for these people.   I strongly recommend the film – it left me shaken.   The film deals with themes of love, family and the loss of potential in a human being whose life is just beginning as he desperately tries to start over.  Watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crMTGCCui5c