Lee is hired to bring the seducer of a young woman to daddy for his particular vengeance. Daddy is an Arizona drug baron. The seducer works for daddy’s Mexican partner. Then too many people with guns and the wrong ideas intrude. And the job just got complicated.

CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Lee: Geoff Mays
Rodolfo: Shawn Devlin

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

I will place the logline here for reference:

A down-on-his-luck enforcer is hired to bring a young woman’s seducer back to Daddy for a particular vengeance. Daddy is an Arizona drug baron. Seducer works for Daddy’s Mexican partner. Then too many people with guns jump to half-baked conclusions. And the job just got complicated.

And now, what is the story really about. And that is that people often draw the conclusions they want to, and will not be dissuaded by facts. They will rely on preconceptions and assumptions, and jump to the most comfortable, palatable conclusions. The cliche line would be “go with your gut”, the $20 version would say “cognitive bias”.

A secondary idea is the danger of mixing personal beefs with business (especially when the action is based on those faulty assumptions).

Our protagonist, Lee, the above-mentioned enforcer, tries to figure out what is really going on while others are going off half-cocked (with loaded guns).

Those are the ideas that underpin the story. Or we can just enjoy the action, the guys, the gals, the guns, the big old cars, and maybe even spot the hommage à Peckinpah – think The Getaway meets Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (the vibe, not the plot points).

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

a) Action

b) Crime, in the sense that all the characters are involved in crime or related to criminals, and law enforcement

c) Contemporary western, in its setting, and the number of wannabe gunfighters

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Because, if done right, it would be a fun 110 mins, with enjoyable characters in a crazy action-packed situation.

And those who choose can ponder the deeper meanings of the film. 😉

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Never assume!

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Hard to tell. I did not keep score.

I have watched my personal favourite, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, many times. Many an Easter week involved either Ben Hur (1959) or The Ten Commandments (1956), and later added the silent versions of both. I have seen three versions of Touch of Evil, and Pat Garret & Billy The Kid (naturally). I have 1000+ DVDs on my shelf, so…

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

I wrote the first draft in 1996, with a few other screenplays. I then set them aside for life (family, work, etc.). During/after Covid, I revisited my work, started submitting some to screenplay competitions, got feedback, and rewrote them based on all the feedback provided on all the screenplays.

7. How many stories have you written?

I have completed six screenplays. Three are westerns of varied scope (and budget). One is a medieval mini-epic/action story (my very first effort, since revised). The Devil’s Right Hand, of course. My latest, written this year, is All Good Komrads, where The Death of Stalin meets A Man for All Seasons.

I also have a couple of screenplays in the works – another western, and a medieval fantasy epic. As I am at the WTF stage of my writing “career”, and if I am doomed to write, in the words of Kris Kristofferson, “songs no one wants to hear”, I can at least enjoy what I am writing.

8. What motivated you to write this screenplay?

Funny story, really. At a screenwriting class in 1995 (yes, back then!), someone asked the instructor, Michael Tolkin, what should we be writing, i.e., what would sell. His reply was “Something violent, or something for Sandra Bullock”.

And so I came up with The Devil’s Right Hand. And in the late 1990s, this “homage to Peckinpah” would have a good part for the late 1990s Sandra Bullock.

So, the right screenplay for all the wrong reasons! But it works.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

Life. Back then, I had a job, supported my family, and you can’t tell your kids or your wife “Sorry, I am busy writing a screenplay”. Now, not a problem. The kids are adults, and I only have to dodge my wife’s task list.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I tried to be a good father and husband. I was passionate about my work, but I got over it when I retired. I just wanted to enter my house justified. 🙂 Oops, we are back to writing!

I do love reading, fiction and non-fiction, and history in particular, what happened in the past, how we got to this or that stage, the stories we tell ourselves about the past, how it relates to the here and now, how legends are made, and how we print the legend when the legend becomes fact. Oops again! We are back to writing.

11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

That it was, at least partially, based in Toronto. I have, for now, lost interest in crossing Canada’s southern border. The “reading” of a scene from the script was an intriguing idea. During rewrites, I try to read scenes “out loud”, or imagine how they play out on screen (that screen inside the writer’s mind).