Interview with Winning Screenwriter Marissa Lessman (TRANSPARENT)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your TV SPEC screenplay about?

*This is an episode of the most beloved Transparent. The episode centers around Sarah and Len having people over for Purim while Ally, Josh and Maura attempt to have a garage sale to sell Maura’s old possessions.

2. How does this episode fit into the context of the rest of the series?

*I foresaw this episode being at the beginning of Season 3, as Sarah is fighting to get involved in the Temple.

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

Dysfunctional and Endearing.

4. What TV show do you keep watching over and over again?

Several. Transparent, FRIENDS, New Girl, GIRLS and Top Chef: Just Desserts.

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

I had worked on it for 9 months from conception until the draft I sent in for consideration.

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Robert Cox (TOUCH)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your TV Pilot screenplay about?

The story concerns a man gifted with the ability to locate people by touching objects they own or able to pick up on events from surrounding objects. This ability has drawbacks and dangers that he struggles to overcome, and fears coming from what and how much he sees and feels. Plus, his activities have caught the interest of an unsavory character that has his every move watched and wants him for his own purposes.

2. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?

It shows that even someone with an extraordinary ability, in this case, psychometry, is still human underneath. The main character has the same flaws, fears, errors of judgement, and emotional baggage as anyone else.

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

Psychic Mystery

4. What TV show do you…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Robert Cox (TOUCH)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your TV Pilot screenplay about?

The story concerns a man gifted with the ability to locate people by touching objects they own or able to pick up on events from surrounding objects. This ability has drawbacks and dangers that he struggles to overcome, and fears coming from what and how much he sees and feels. Plus, his activities have caught the interest of an unsavory character that has his every move watched and wants him for his own purposes.

2. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?

It shows that even someone with an extraordinary ability, in this case, psychometry, is still human underneath. The main character has the same flaws, fears, errors of judgement, and emotional baggage as anyone else.

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

Psychic Mystery

4. What TV show do you…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Melissa Willis (WHAT THE HELL)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your TV Pilot screenplay about?
It’s about a woman who has lost her faith in everything and is struggling to understand why she’s here. She’s still dealing with PTSD and has a lot of nightmares about her past when she’s visited by a man who’s trapped between worlds who desperately needs her help. She doesn’t seem to care or understand until it starts affecting her personally, some of it his doing, but mostly she resists everything about this process and she doesn’t quite believe that what’s happening is real. Until it becomes too real.

2. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?
This was such a fun project to work on and I have so many ideas about things that could happen in coming seasons if it were ever picked up. It could easily last 5-8 seasons. And I…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter John Lucas Bowman (THE COLD SLEEPER)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your screenplay about?

Hudson, hotshot CIA Agent with photographic memory, learns that his slightly senile Grandpa is a forgotten Soviet sleeper agent who is reactivated when his former handler Korolov escapes a Russian mental institution.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Action Comedy

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

It’s a tale of conflicting loyalties, of compassion and what it means to be family, and an exploration of what to do when you fall in love with the enemy. Those are very human topics most spies struggle with. – But mostly because the movie is funny.

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

Great entertainment!

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

Some like it hot.

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

I wish…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Keith Famie (MAIRE’S JOURNEY)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer: 

 1. What is your screenplay about?

Maire’s Journey is a journey of a young ladies fight with a rare cancer and the journey she takes us all on as she’s facing her end of life . Along the way she befriends a blind carpenter and small bird named Fern who eventually travels with her remains that are sealed in a small sail boat built by George the carpenter. Along the way we learn about life thorough the many people that encounter Maire , each of these new friends are touched by Maire’s desire to reach the ocean . We witness as these people from all walks of life choose to help Maire reach the ocean.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Hmm I guess adventure / drama

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

We are confident this story will…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter John McCarney (CHILDREN OF THE DUST)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your screenplay about?

The true story of a maverick airline CEO and a Volkswagen driving hippie, who risk their lives to save discarded mixed race orphans in collapsing war torn Vietnam.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Action Adventure.

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

To celebrate the human spirit and how ordinary people can change the fate of so many, by doing the right thing at the worst time.

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

Exhilarating and gripping.

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

Braveheart.

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

18 months.

7. How many stories have you written?

One….so far.

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

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Sharon Powers (ENTANGLED)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer: 

 1. What is your screenplay about?

The longline is American environmentalists in Mexico run afoul of a drug-smuggling operation, and reporter Jasmine Peterson comes down to assist, only to stumble onto a whole new story – a merman!

In synopsis, the story is about plucky, capable Jasmine Peterson, the social columnist for a major newspaper, who gets her first ‘real’ news assignment and travels to Mexico to investigate the drug arrest of an American who’s working with a renegade group to protect sea creatures from gillnetting. Jasmine poses as a boat mechanic, hires on to their crew and is immediately at odds with the ruggedly handsome captain, Simon. What she unwittingly stumbles upon is another story entirely: Daniel, a merman with a ‘cause’. While Jasmine’s now pursuing the story of a lifetime, she’s also putting together the pieces of a frightening puzzle. The local tuna-canning…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Victoria Mitchell (THE BLUE ROOM)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

 1. What is your screenplay about?

It’s about a group of unscrupulous ghost-hunters that find what they’re looking for… and more.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Horror.

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

The screenplay embraces our favorite elements from Roger Corman and John Carpenter. We wanted to make a small film, single-location, but with enough drive and intrigue to keep the story moving forward. These types of films are very difficult to write effectively, but when they work… they’re magic.

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

Lynch-Lite.

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

Dr. Strangelove.

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

On and off for several years. Picking it up, here and there. Always came back to it because we were having so…

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Interview with Winning Screenwriter Jade S. Bokhari (TOGETHER)

matthewtoffolo's avatarMatthew Toffolo's Summary

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

LOGLINE: As an apocalyptic asteroid heads to earth, a bereaved father hunts down his child’s killer; so dead or alive, his family is together to face the end.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:

With a world-ending asteroid on the way to earth, Joe Bleeker, a Professor of Latin, digs huge holes in the woods. He tortures and later begs a wealthy older man, (a pedophile and murderer), to tell him where he buried the body of his young daughter, Tessie. With demise imminent, the only thing Joe cares about is being together, as a family, to face the end of the world – even if one of them is already dead and the others are on Skype.

WHAT TOGETHER IS REALLY ABOUT:

If the world is ending, then morals and norms might vanish and be replaced with an overpowering urge to fulfill…

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