Madison and her estranged dad, Daniel spend time camping in the forest when an earthquake hits and pushes them further away from civilization.
Get to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
A Place of Beauty is about a former Navy corpsman with PTSD and his 12-year-old daughter who get stranded in the wilderness after an earthquake, and are forced to survive together while confronting the death of the girl’s mother. It escalates to a cougar attack that nearly kills him, and the daughter, using survival skills he taught her, keeps him alive and signals a rescue helicopter with her mother’s locket. Thematically, it explores concepts of grief, emotional avoidance vs presence, and forgiveness.
2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Survival drama, with family/relationship drama as the emotional engine. The script also dips into man-vs-nature thriller in the back third once the cougar attack hits.
3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
From a story perspective, we don’t see too many two-hander survival stories, particularly ones that focus on the parent-child relationship. Most other wilderness/survival films focus on spectacle over relationship, but this one prioritizes the relationship above all else. The setting is also beautiful and unique. From a more practical perspective, there are only two characters and they are complex and would potentially attract strong actors, its (mostly) a single location/area type of film to shoot, and the budget would likely reflect this simplicity.
4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Earned forgiveness
5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Braveheart, which is my favorite! Although Predator, my guilty pleasure, might be a close second.
6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
About 12 months.
7. How many stories have you written?
12 feature screenplays, with another 4 or 5 in development.
8. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I really enjoy parent-child themes and exploring that dynamic and the power and responsibility adults have to children. I wanted to do a story where the father must overcome all kinds of obstacles to keep his child alive against all odds, but the richness of the story really comes from how the two of them interact and support each other and ultimately find a way to forgive and grow. Being from Northern California originally, I knew the Sierra Nevadas could make for a great location for such a story.
9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
Balancing spectacle scenes vs emotionally intimate scenes, editing and polishing my subconscious mistakes out of the drafts.
10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Reading, learning, music & composition, nutrition and exercise, baseball, youth sports & coaching, volunteering with my city, donating blood, financial literacy, and leveraging technology to improve quality of life.
11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I wanted some feedback and to see how this story would fare. The feedback was pretty sparse and reiterated the story, character, and themes more than constructive feedback, but I’ll take what I can get!
