The Los Angeles Neo-Noir Novel, Script and Film Festival chose my full length screenplay “PRAY WITHA BULLET” and my short “HELL HATH NO FURY (pi)” were chosen as Official Selections. As the latter doesn’t have a web page yet:
Logline – In this metaphysical neo-noir short, Luc(ifer) falls hard for the Boss’ dame, and they attempt their getaway.
Writer Statement – Filmnoir is often described as depicting the dark side of American life. But what if ‘noir were hell itself? And all of the tropes of the genre were applied to the Biblical characters? The devil, Luc(ifer), is the hero/anti-hero of the story: a detective on the lam because he fell too hard for a femme fatale. They try to hide out for infinity in a dark, dirty gin joint, waiting for Luc’s old partner to lend them assistance. But Luc is double crossed and left trapped alone in the bar, i.e. hell.
The tone of the piece would be stylized, on the thin line between surreal and real – played straight but not without humor.
Below is Zoom session where a large chunk of the selected filmmakers and writers were part of a group interview.
My screenplays “DON’T EAT PAPER!”, “LIMPING TOWARDS BABYLON” and “PRAY WITH A BULLET” were all named Official Selections of the Sacramento International Film Festival.
Today, the festival released additional photos of the Scriptwriters / Composers roundtable that I was a part of and thus aren’t in my previous post as those were mostly photos from my own camera:
Logline: I drove down to San Pedro for the final night of the San Pedro International Film Festival (for those outside LA, it’s the port for Los Angeles right next to Long Beach, but is only connected to the rest of LA by a narrow corridor so that it feels very much like a different city). The San Pedro downtown can be desolate in some areas but there’s an arts / restaurant revitalization in a few blocks, which is where Collage: a Place for Art and Culture is located and the place for the closing night party and awards.
“Don’t Eat Paper!” remained only a nominee but I did take part in a presentation with the winning screenwriter about our respective screenplays. An unexpected lively Q&A followed where I was asked quite a few questions and even asked for advice for the beginning screenwriter. (I actually could give her some practical advice as I’ve been doing this a while, but it was the first time I’ve ever been asked that question.) I also got to drink some Croatian wine (a sponsor of the festival)… haven’t had Croatian wine since 1987 when I took a vacation there.
Next to Collage was a beautiful Art Deco former Montgomery Ward department store from 1930, which has been put to re-use.
“Don’t Eat Paper!” is an Official Selection of the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival and a Semi-Finalist with the 2024 Palm Springs International Screenplay Award & Sizzle Reel-Trailer-Pitchdeck Festival.
On Novemeber 8, 2024, I’ll be the desert town of Yucca Valley, CA for a Screenwriters Roundtable. My script “Limping Towards Babylon” is an Official Selection.
They’ve kindly uploaded my Look Book there for the script / potential film.
So, this was a surprise to me: a YouTube podcast reviewing my script, “Don’t Eat Paper!”. The Portland Comedy Film Festival just put this out yesterday. What’s cool is that the other reviews are for some of the films that will be shown at the festival but so far, I’m the only script that’s gotten talked about on the channel. (Click on the picture)
(It’s 99% percent positive but the one negative is actually moot now. They got an earlier version of the script so the current version is 7 pages shorter which should address any questions of pace.)
