Get to know the screenwriter:

1. What is your screenplay about?
The central topic is a wildfire that grows uncontrollably, generating its own micro-weather followed by a downburst, which spreads destructive and fast winds of fire, while different civil defense officers try to fight it and save lives. It is a multicharacter plot, focusing on different layers of drama. At the same time, it’s also a conspiracy thriller, as a journalist tries to uncover the causes behind it.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Action, thriller, drama

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
First if all, it’s full of action and drama, possibly the main “ingredients” of any Hollywood blockbuster. Then, it’s a genuine, dramatic and heroic story with uncommon elements: wildfires are rarely depicted in movies; and, the story, which may seem incredible and fictional, was actually based on true events that no one could ever predict. So, if I do say so myself, I think it would be a great movie, something between “Band of Brothers” and “Dante’s Peak”.

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

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

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
This screenplay is an adaptation of a tale I published on my 3rd book, which took 2 months to write. Later, the adaptation process took approximately 3 months. So, counting with everything, from story design to finishing the script, was 5 months.

7. How many stories have you written?
Around 40

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
I cannot nominate just one, but this one comes to my mind at the moment: “When You’re Gone (Bryan Adams)”.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The biggest obstacle was, and still is, writing in English since it’s not my first language: writing fiction is very different than writing technical texts or having a conversation, but I guess it’s a matter of experience.
Also, and since it was the first time I wrote a multicharacter plot, combining all those different stories into a one was definitely a challenge.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
My other hobbies include cycling and playing musical instruments. And, of course, I’m passionate about my profession: software development.

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
Globally, it’s a nice platform to manage our scripts and submit them to festivals, but this was only the 2nd time I submitted via this site.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
The festival theme (action/adventure) felt right for my only script that has “action” as its main genre.
There’s not a lot of good opportunities to receive such a complete and detailed professional feedback about our scripts, so I really loved the feedback I received, especially because it was very constructive and addressed different topics.