Logline: Roy is obnoxiously in love with his therapist, Joanie, whose attempt to “fire” her client unintentionally leads to his death, but Roy’s ghost expects to maintain their “relationship”; however, a wild road-trip with Roy leads Joanie to discover her true mission in life.

Slamdance 2023 reader feedback: “This zany feature shines with its eccentric characters, unpredictable plot and imaginative world building.”

“Don’t Eat Paper” – Blue Cat Screenplay Competition (still in contention) Reader #9545: What did I like? Despite dealing with ghosts (and the chilly physics of the air around them), this script is full of warmth, a big-hearted and earnest read with endearing characters and a clever, original setup from the first scene. Joanie and Roy never wear out their welcome individually, but their dynamic together is fresh, compelling, and constantly changing — the writer smartly uses Roy’s neurotic transference to illuminate and twist the relationship between the two, as they shift from therapist and client to friends to near-partners to an almost mother-and-child kinship (which is healthier than the real mother-and-child relationship between Dottie and Roy). I appreciated that the script quickly inverts the predictability of Roy’s unrequited love for Joanie into a more complex journey for both of them, as he moves toward self-discovery and freedom while she moves toward commitment and purpose. The rules and details of the ghost world are fun to learn about as they unfold, but they never overwhelm the story, and the wonderful supporting character of Lyuba acts as an exceedingly funny tool for exposition as well as an emotional, bruised soul in her own right.

photo credits for the above virtuosos: Dorit Chrysler photo by Udo Siegfriedt; Alexandra Stepanoff, Leon Theremin’s first student in the US, 1930, National Museum of American History; Carolina Eyck by Ananda Costa.