Interview with Screenwriter WH Clark (HELSTAF)

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Matthew Toffolo: What is your screenplay about?

WH Clark: A scientist in Antarctica trying to save the penguin population from extinction ends up having to save the whole planet from Noah’s Flood 2.0 when a giant solar superstorm hits and melts the polar ice cap.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Thriller, Sci-Fi, action/adventure

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

Hollywood is way behind the curve in informing the public about the many threats to the environment. Some major environmental organizations have complained about this in position papers. I guess Hollywood just doesn’t know how to get the idea across without seeming condescending or preachy. “OMG. Another environmental disaster flick? No effing way.” HELSTAF highlights two major environmental issues that people don’t know much about: the danger of Freon to the ozone layer (China is still manufacturing Freon-11) and the threat of a solar…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriters Jennifer Woldman & David Maddox (A STUDY IN SCARLETT)

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Matthew Toffolo: What is your screenplay about?

A Study in Scarlett is a re-imagining of the classic Sherlock Holmes, with inspiration also taken from American history circa late 1860s-70s. The enigmatic genius Scarlett Holmes is a bi-racial woman. She meets her loyal friend and partner Joanna Holmes, a struggling doctor, to solve a murder and save an innocent man from hanging. Throughout the series historical situations and events are explored through adaptations of Doyle’s classic tales. To solve each episode’s puzzle, and the interlocking season-long mystery, the legendary sleuths must navigate issues of race and inequality, and the complicated nature of justice.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Mystery, Historical fiction

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

It is the right moment in America for a television series like A Study in Scarlett. Through the eyes of these diverse characters we explore a time…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Shane W. Smith (BLACK MIRROR)

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Matthew Toffolo: What is your screenplay about?

Shane W. Smith: Matchsticks 2.0 is a Black Mirror spec script about a family caught up in a government push to genetically normalise its citizens, using biometric user data gathered from a popular game to target imperfect subjects.

But at its heart, this is a story about the dangers of allowing advanced technology to drive social change, and the dehumanising ways in which people with disability and other vulnerable people are too often treated in public discourse.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

In true Black Mirror style, Matchsticks 2.0 is first and foremost a dystopian sci-fi story. Its secondary genre is family drama.

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

Honestly, it probably shouldn’t. At least not until we strip the Black Mirror aspects out of it.

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

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Joe Kourieh (Voosch And Helina)

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“Voosch And Helina” was the March 2020 SCI-FI/FANTASY SHORT Screenplay Winner.

Matthew Toffolo: What is your screenplay about?

Joe Kourieh: This Sci-Fi short is about something all too familiar – a World War – but in an unfamiliar place (under the sea). Humans’ dominance over the planet has been lost and they are now at the mercy of warring animal alliances. The characters in this scene represent a drastic hierarchy, and are trapped within it (for some, literally). The moral truth of the situation is different from everyone’s perspective. The Octopoids blame the humans for some grave developments on Earth – but does that justify a genocide?

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

It is a Sci-Fi and also a drama piece. I would imagine that if produced it would likely be animation.

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

I believe it does the ideal…

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Interview with Filmmaker Marc SAEZ (FOLLOW THE ARROW)

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FOLLOW THE ARROW played to rave reviews at the February 2020 ROMANCE Film Festival in Toronto.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Marc SAEZ: I wanted to talk about desire, sensuality, love but also talk about appearances that can be deceiving and dive people into the cinematographic universe that I love by surprising them. I like films that open up different paths and can give way to different debates and visions at the end.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

The film was shot in only 3 and a half days. It was a real challenge. The scenes from the beginning in the studio, when she falls in the painting and the love scenes were shot in a studio on the same day, it was a real marathon. I cannot quantify the overall completion…

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Interview with Filmmaker Alex Sangha (MY NAME WAS JANUARY)

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MY NAME WAS JANUARY played to rave reviews at the February 2020 FEMALE Feedback Film Festival in Toronto.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Alex Sangha: The social coordinator of the non-profit that I founded for LGBTQ South Asians and their friends was brutally stabbed 18 times in her own home. She was a transgender Filipina woman. She was a much loved member of our organization and we wanted to create a tribute for her to showcase her light, legacy, and love in the minds of people she left behind. We wanted to share her story as we knew her and what she meant to us and to provide a platform for other transgender woman of colour.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

Three years. We hired two journalism students from Kwantlen Polytechnic University…

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Interview with Filmmaker Brian Ernst (WELL DONE)

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WELL DONE was the winner of BEST PERFORMANCES at the Chicago FEEDBACK Film Festival in February 2020.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Brian Ernst: We initially set out to make this film for a short film contest and the idea sprang from a conversation I had with producer and star of Well Done, Mitchell Brinkman. In a brainstorming session he came up with the idea of a burger on a grill being used as a ticking clock and we ran with it from there.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this short?

The first draft of the script was completed on May 9, 2019, we shot on August 17 and the 24th and the film was finished on August 28, so post was quite the quick turn around!

3. How would you describe your short…

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Interview with Filmmaker Yijun Pan (RED THREAD)

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RED THREAD was the winner of BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY at the February 2020 Chicago FEEDBACK Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Yijun Pan: Red Thread of Fate is a belief in Asian culture that, according to the ancient myth, the god ties an invisible red cord around the finger of those that destine to meet one another in a specific situation as they are “their true love.”
Involving Asian culture with the American film making technique is always my dream and goal of me for a long time.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

I think it is about two months. Pre-production and production took us about two weeks to come up with ideas and themes, looking for actresses and production design and around two weeks for post-production. And we spend a lot…

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Interview with Filmmaker/Actor Hannah Bonecutter (MINSTREL VS PUPPET)

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MINSTRELL VS PUPPET was the winner of BEST FILM at the January 2020 Experimental FEEDBACK Film Festival in Toronto.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Hannah Bonecutter: The trials, tribulations, and conflicts (internal and external) that I, as well as many others, endure as a woman of color today motivated me to make this film. Upon careful observance and personal experience of the various stigmatization, stereotypes, and limitations society places upon women of color, and with the current wave of women empowerment here in America, I was compelled to make a statement on these important issues; a statement that force people to face, discuss, and hopefully work to improve these issues facing women of color today. This film is that statement.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

It took about 3 months from the…

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Interview with Filmmaker Gretl Claggett (STORMCHASER)

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 STORMCHASER swept the awards at the February 2020 FEMALE Feedback Film Festival in Toronto. Winner of BEST FILM. BEST PERFORMANCES. BEST CINEMATROGRAPHY

 Matthew Toffolo: How did you come up with the idea for this short film? And… What motivated you to make the film?

“He’s a door-to-door ‘door’ salesman,” my friend said.

“A what…?” I thought I’d misheard what her new boyfriend did for a living.

“He lost his job. Now, he sells storm doors, door-to-door.

Our exchange conjured black-and-white images from the Maysles’ documentary, Salesman, about door-to-door bible peddlers in the ‘60s. Surely, this daily grind was a thing of the past. But as I did some digging, I discovered it still exists; and that many contractors targeting weather-torn areas this way are called “storm chasers” — instead of “ambulance chasers” — because of their predatory practices.

This triggered a deep compulsion in me to express my own sardonic…

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