Synopsis:

In the course of his work as a wildlife conservation advisor to the Mongolian government, Andrew Laurie followed up on a childhood fascination with White-throated Dippers on the Teme near Ludlow, by finding out more about their lives in the Altai Mountains. Now resident in Cambridge, Andrew has made four films on Dippers in Mongolia – covering nest-building, incubation, feeding of the chicks in the nest, and this, the most recent one (2023) on the emergence of the chicks and their early lives on the river.

Review by Victoria Angelique

The DIPPERS IN THE ALTAI IV: EMERGENCE OF THE CHICKS would be a fantastic film for a bird conversation center. The dedication of narrator, Andrew Laurie, is something to admire as he continuously travels to Mongolia from his English home to study the dippers. 

The film is shot in a format that suggests this is a very personal journey and a passion project for Laurie. The camera is utilized to feel like a home movie, giving feelings of nostalgia as if this is a nature documentary from the era when they won major awards. It’s familiar and comforting with the soothing narration that allows the conservation efforts to be displayed in a way that allows the information to sink in without being overwhelmed. 

The dedication of Laurie and his team is admirable. Spending 15 days in a beautiful Mongolian landscape to study the behavior of the Altai dippers and their chicks shows the concern that Laurie and his team have for the birds. Watching the emergence and then the curiosity of the chicks as they explore the world beyond their nests is a joy to behold. The innocence of their movements is similar to many animals cautiously exploring new environments. 

It’s rare to see the growth of chicks from nest to freedom. The majority of documentaries don’t stick to one location and fake the footage, this one follows the same chicks to fully understand the behavior of the Altai dippers. This would be a great documentary for a conversation center, particularly in areas where these birds reside. 

Directed by Andrew Laurie

https://www.youtube.com/@andrewlaurie64/featured

Watch the Screenplay Reading:

As Israel occupies her home in 90s Lebanon, a stubborn teenage girl and her family who have returned to the homeland after growing up in Australia struggle just to get by socially as they brave the real danger around them, their judgemental peers. In this show, the scariest thing about The Middle East may very well be their teenage girls.

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

Ajnabiyeh is a comedy series focused on a 15-year-old girl and her family
and friends living in Lebanon during the Israeli occupation in 1998. It’s
based on my mom’s experience being born in Australia then moving to
Lebanon in her adolescence. I thought the kind of reverse fish out of water model was interesting. The characters are in a space that is technically their home, but they feel like foreigners or outsiders anyway. I think despite the specific premise, the feeling of outsider status is quite universal to any immigrants or children of immigrants.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

The subject matter is intense, but it is a comedy. I think it’s important that
there’s a comedy set in the Middle East. It’s a strange experience when the only media with people who look like you are war films or soap opera-like dramas where the men are villains and the women are victims. I think the highest form of normalization and integration of a marginalized group of people into mainstream media is when there’s a family sitcom about the group. That, and a rom-com, I feel are the “alright, we’re in” signs of the industry.

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

It’s always the right time for humanizing and humorous stories about
misunderstood groups of people, but now more than ever, the world is in
desperate need for images from the Middle East that do not involve death
or destruction. I also just love the teen genre from My So Called Life to
Stranger Things and think that the space can benefit from some new blood and life in the teen space.

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

Facetious history.

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

Probably Shrek 2. I love the whole franchise. And it’s one of those kid
movies that only get better when you get older, not worse. I really
appreciate the subversion of the disney tropes and now knowing about the dreamworks-disney feud, it makes it that much more fun to watch. It’s
always great when children’s screenwriters don’t underestimate their
audience.

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

3 years at this point. It started when I realized one night that the name
Maryem with a space in between is Mary Em and that idea of a girl going by not a new name, but just a different writing of her own name stuck with me and she was a kind of alter ego for myself and represented a part of myself I wish I was allowed to express growing up which was loud and irresponsible and mischievous. I also love that her initials spell out Me. She was in a couple other stories I wrote before she became the heroine in Ajnabiyeh.

7. How many stories have you written?

I have 2 other comedy pilots, a spec script for Abbott Elementary, a comedy feature, and an original children’s TV pilot.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

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

I was a history education major in school, so I really had to teach myself
screenwriting format. I would watch my favorite comedy pilots a million
times, break them down scene by scene, analyze each scene’s purpose and function, read a lot of scripts to get a hang of the many ways script writing differs from prose writing, and used whatever online resources I could find to learn what it is a producer is looking for. Thankfully so much of this information is free on the internet.

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

I love history. It’s kinda why it seeps into so much of my writing. Traveling
is a really fun extension of that and something I got to do more of this year.

It’s like the world goes from 2 dimensional to 3 dimensional when you step into what it was in the past. You feel very small for a moment. It’s the same feeling as binge watching a great TV show and losing yourself for some time.

11. You entered your screenplay via Network ISA. What has been your
    experience working with the submission platform site?

It’s pretty comparable to services like coverfly but it has this unique feature where production companies or agencies will be looking for certain projects and genre types. I’ve had my script get downloaded a few times, but nothing further than that yet.

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

I got really great feedback and I don’t mean that in that it was just glowing
reviews but in that it was so specific and constructive. Feedback can be a real hit or miss – I’ve once gotten feedback where I just know they only read the first 8 pages cause that’s all they would reference, but the feedback I got references and quoted lines from the very first to the very last page. I remember taking the feedback and after each sentence “replying” to each thing, writing out how I would address each piece of feedback, creating a to-do list of revisions to make and making each one.

Watch the Screenplay Reading:

A young gay songwriter in the grip of meth addiction must face his past when he learns he is actually a prophet who must save New York City from Judgement Day.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Val Cole
Mayor Bloomberg: Steve Rizzo
Officer: Sean Ballantyne

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

My Name Is Jonas tells the story of a young gay songwriter in the throes of crystal meth addiction who gets a second chance at life when he meets God and learns that he’s actually a prophet. It’s a modern retelling of the Book of Jonah based on my own experiences as a person in recovery. The pilot episode introduces us to Jonas on his first day in rehab where he tries to convince his counselors that he’s a prophet who has been sent on a mission from God to save New York City from Judgment Day.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Drama / supernatural / dark comedy

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

Although there are lots of great addiction and recovery stories out there, we’ve never seen one that deals with crystal meth addiction in the gay community, even though it’s been a decades-long crisis. Meth addiction is different from alcohol and opioid addiction; it comes with its own unique set of problems – compulsive sexual behavior, paranoia, delusions, psychosis. In a word, it’s intense. In addition to giving voice to this underrepresented issue, Jonas explores the spiritual nature of addiction in a unique way by casting the main character as a modern biblical hero. In short, it’s a unique take on an addiction story that we haven’t seen before.

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

Questionably insane.

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

Groundhog Day

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

A little over a year. I’m now adapting the story as a novel, as well.

7. How many stories have you written?

1 pilot episode (Jonas), and 1 feature screenplay

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

My Name Is Jonas by Weezer comes to mind, for obvious reasons.

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

I was in rehab when I started working on this story, so in addition to literally having my computer taken from me, I was dealing with a lot of my own struggles as I was trying to figure out the story I needed to tell. The good news is that deciding to take the writing seriously became one of the most powerful motivators for me to stay clean.

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

I’m a musician and a songwriter, as well, so I love to make music. I also directed and acted in a short film version of Jonas, so filmmaking is something I love, too. I’m currently submitting the short film to various festivals, including a lot of LGBTQ+ ones.

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?

It’s a useful tool for discovering and submitting to various competitions and festivals.

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

I’m passionate about getting this important story out there, and I think LGBT festivals is a great place to start. Feedback is helpful in honing the story, and making sure it’s got the best chance to land.