ALGIS DANAITIS
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Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
 
Your script stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your story and why did you write a script instead of a short story or a novel?
I chose screenwriting as opposed to prose because I have always loved film. I like to write in a visual form, to see on paper the movie that I see in my head. I love books, fiction and non-fiction, but movies are special. I can instantly tell you the name of my favorite film (see below), but would have a tough time singling out a favorite book title.
As for he inspiration for this particular screenplay, here is the short answer. At a screenwriting class in 1995, someone asked our instructor what kind of script would get industry attention, and he answered “Something for Sandra Bullock, or something violent.”
So I came up with “The Devil’s Right Hand”. And in the 1990s, this “homage to Peckinpah” would have a good part for the 1990s Sandra Bullock.
It was my first stab at a story in a contemporary setting. My three previous efforts were a medieval action drama and two westerns.
 
How long did it take you to write your script...and what is your writing process? Do you outline...use index cards...white board...or just start with FADE IN?
Once I get an idea for a movie (usually, a character in a situation in time and space), I develop a synopsis. If that holds up, I start outlining the story in detail, then build on the outline. If the story is coherent, with a rough three-act structure, I can start filling the parts between FADE IN and FADE OUT.
During the synopsis and outline phases, I make many notes about characters, settings, do research, even write short scenes, all of which feed into the overall story.
Needless to say, all of the above is subject to the interruptions of everyday life (mostly related to family and work), and the priorities that it sets for us.
 
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
What else? To see that writing credit on the screen.
I always enjoyed the final bit in the end credits of “X-Files” when that childlike voice says “I made that.”
Of course, it also has to be a story worth telling.

Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice?
I submitted the full script. I understand the reasoning behind the “first ten pages”, and can live with it.
The point of those “first ten” is to make the reader want to turn to page 11. So if the reader reaches that point, give the reader the next 85+ pages. And pray the reader enjoys them.
 
What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why?
My favorite movie: “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”.  It is about the power of myth, why we tell those stories, and why they stick, as compared to what actually was, why “the legend becomes fact.”
Favorite television series: A toss-up between “Hill Street Blues” and “The West Wing.” Great writing, and a willingness to go where others might not. And the best walk-and-talk scenes ever.
Favorite mini-series: “Lonesome Dove”, “Band of Brothers” and “Anne of Green Gables” (the 1985 Kevin Sullivan version). Moving stories where all the elements come together.
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Persevere.
Be prepared to do the work. Ask yourself why you are doing this. If something is worth doing, it should be done well.
Write. Review. Assess. Do you see the movie you want to see on the page? Then rewrite. Repeat.
Take a deep breath and take a chance and show your work to readers. That can be scary. Do they see the movie you see? If not, ask yourself why. Be honest with yourself. And get more than one reader, ones you can trust.
Contests. Enter a number of different ones. The feedback is the most important part of the contest, so look to those who give you 5+ pages (like Wiki). First few times out, the feedback is more important than the placement. It does add up cost wise, but is more affordable, and accessible, than a good film school.
Absorb the feedback. Learn from it. And the feedback from all your screenplays helps you with the next draft of your latest work. The script that was a finalist in the February 2024 Wiki contest benefited from all the feedback received for all the screenplays I submitted to all contests.
That does not mean you have to accept all comments. But you must consider and reflect on all of them. They can be contradictory. One reader will suggest you get rid of a character that another reader says is the best thing about your screenplay. What does a writer do? The writer decides.
Feedback received from contests represents industry standards, which can vary from contest to contest, much as they do within the industry itself. Yes, those standards are subjective. That is the nature of the industry.
How to place as a finalist? Beats me. One screenplay went from quarter to semi-finalist and back to quarter-finalist in three successive contests. Then a later draft was a finalist in one contest, but only received an honorable mention in another. Same draft, different readers. Go figure. Remember the cautionary words of William Goldman, but also understand them.  
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
“South of Purgatory”, a western about the aftermath of a failed train robbery and what people will do to survive, has been twice a finalist at the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards (Summer 2022, Winter 2023). It was also a quarter-finalist twice and a semi-finalist once at the Wiki Screenplay Contest.
Another western, “Sonora”, placed as finalist at the Wiki Screenplay Contest (April 2022). It was also a semi-finalist at the Page Turner Screenplays First 15 contest in March 2023.

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