When demons from his past come back to haunt an artistic father, his life-long struggle with mental illness resurfaces and throws his family into turmoil, threatening his son’s burgeoning hockey career. Break Away is a psychological thriller with action bouncing back and forth between the brutality of mental illness and the pure grit it takes to be a hockey player. These two violent worlds collide in the film’s climax. Caught in the middle of this father and son is a wife/mother – a tough, no-nonsense woman who fights to keep everything around her from falling apart.
This is the premise of my screenplay BREAK AWAY. I am right now stuck in re-write hell. Not a fun place to be. When I decided last year to do this re-write, I knew it was going to be hard. BREAK AWAY is a script that has had some success in the contests I’ve entered. It would place in the quarters and semi’s but never get to a finalist position. To me, that’s a sign that it isn’t quite connecting as it should and it’s worth me digging back into. Re-writing is a funny business. At some point you do need to let go of a project. BUT, there is huge value in re-writing if you can stomach it and if it warrants (and it usually does). Look at some of these quotes from literary giants about re-writing:
BREAK AWAY holds a special place in my heart because it combines two topics that I know a lot about and I am endlessly fascinated with. Mental illness and hockey. Mental illness has been part of my family’s life due to my mother’s struggle with the disease. And hockey is
a sport I have loved all my life. I grew up watching and playing. I’m a hockey geek as I follow it obsessively, love the stats and when it comes to the playoffs, nothing beats it. I am a HUGE New York Ranger fan.
Hockey has not been seen much on the big screen because it is not one of the more popular sports in the States. There are countless movies about football, baseball, basketball, but hockey has gotten little to no attention over the years. BREAK AWAY is my homage to the sport and I hope through the re-write it will one day find a wider audience.
A little news to pass on below: A PROMISE I MADE TO MR. BAGELS just placed as a Quarter Finalist in the Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Screenplay Competition. There are 574 screenplays in the quarters. That’s a lot of scripts, but you can’t make the semi’s without getting to the quarters first, so onward!
Thanks again for the newsletter. I came across this link that had 100 plot ideas. I can use it for stuff I do.
https://www.shaylaraquel.com/blog/2014/10/16/100-plot-ideas#:~:text=A%20dirty%20cop%20changes%20his,take%20him%20around%20the%20world.
WOW Rome!!! “Break Away” sounds like the perfect story! Such an amazing blend of two subjects ONLY THE GREAT ROMEO CIOLFI could bring together! Will be praying fervently for you as always, especially through your rewrite. Love ya Brother!!!
Hi Romeo, Oh how I admire your tenacity! (and hello Linda!) Congratulations on A Promise I Made to Mr. Bagels. Keep working on Break Away, the synopsis certainly makes me want to see that play/movie.
Awesome quotes, Romeo! I especially like the one by John Updike. Even in conversation, it can be hard to get across what it is one is actually saying, so all the more difficult in written communication. Congratulations on making the quarters with A Promise I Made to Mr. Bagels. As you said, you have to make the quarters before advancing further. And, Break Away is an amazing story mixing tragedy with the excitement of hockey. I’m sure with your effort in rewriting, it will go to the top! God bless!