Cain Angelle

Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Los Angeles, CA

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?
During the pandemic, like a lot of people, I binged a lot of television, and one of those shows was Bosch. I immediately fell in love with the way Eric Ellis Overmyer transformed Michael Connelly’s stories for television, particularly the way Los Angeles became a character in the series. It made me wonder if I could do something similar with New Orleans: detective story, music, food, culture, history, all of it.
That led me to Robert Skinner’s Wesley Farrell novels. I read all of them, secured the rights, and got to work. I originally adapted the material as a television series set in 1936, like the books, writing a pilot and series bible.
The pilot did extremely well on the contest circuit, we brought on producing partners and started taking meetings, and then the strikes hit. The project was eventually tabled. When we came back to it, I was asked to reinvent the story as a contemporary feature. So I did. That created another challenge: a central element of the original story depended on a character who could pass as white, and when we began thinking seriously about casting, the pool of actors who could authentically play that role was incredibly small. Instead of abandoning what made the story unique, I went back to the drawing board and created an entirely new caste system for the contemporary version. That problem ultimately opened up the world of Skin Deep Blood Red in a way I hadn't anticipated.
As for why a screenplay instead of a novel or short story, I’m a filmmaker. I’m a student of the game. This is my industry and, frankly, it’s all I know. I think in pictures, performances, sound and music. And from the moment I discovered these books, New Orleans was always meant to be experienced on screen.

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?
I've actually been writing this story since 2021 or 2022, just in different forms: first as a pilot and period series, then as a contemporary feature, and finally as the version it is today. This particular incarnation took me about three months to reimagine because the world and characters were already largely created.
When I'm adapting a book, my process is probably a little insane: I rewrite the entire book in Final Draft, word for word. No copy and paste. No dictation. I physically type every word. It forces me to really understand the material and helps make sure I've accounted for every detail before I start deciding what stays, what goes and what needs to change for the screen. Once I start the actual screenplay, I anchor myself to a targeted page count and work from page one straight through to the end. I generally write about five pages a day, PDF those pages, read them the next morning and then continue. If I'm working on set and can't write for a few days, when I get back to my desk I try to make up the pages I missed. My phone is probably my real whiteboard. Every project I'm writing or developing has pages of notes: music, visual style, character traits, scenes, set pieces, dialogue, random ideas, anything that occurs to me. They become an actionable list and, sometimes, a springboard when I'm stuck. I do occasionally use index cards because that's how I learned, but it's pretty rare these days. At this point, my process is much more about living with the story, keeping notes constantly and then putting in the pages every day until I get to the end.

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
My ultimate ambition is pretty simple: I want to sell more projects and see those projects get produced and distributed. I had some early success as a writer, director and producer across a variety of formats, including unscripted television, action sports, music documentaries,
commercials and video games. I've been fortunate enough to know what it feels like to take something from an idea on a page all the way through production and out into the world.
I want to get back to doing that, but on a larger scale with scripted projects for film and television. For me, the goal isn't just to write scripts. It's to make movies and television. I want to see these stories produced, find their audiences, make a living doing it and then keep doing it.

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 honestly thought I had a clear shot at winning. I've had success with other screenplay competitions, the script has been generating interest, and I felt strongly that Skin Deep Blood Red was ready to be judged from beginning to end. Interestingly, the first time I entered the Wiki Screenplay Contest, I made the opposite choice. I submitted the first ten pages of Fall Seven, Rise Eight, my adaptation of Michael Harmon's novel SKATE, about a 15-year-old skater determined to go pro while trying to protect his developmentally challenged younger brother after their mother disappears into addiction.
At the time, I wasn't convinced the entire screenplay was market-ready, so the ten-page option made sense. This time around, I didn't have that hesitation. I believed in the full script and wanted to put the whole thing on the table.

What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why?
That's a very hard question, but if I had to choose, my favorite film would probably be La Haine. I love the culture, the rebellion, the music, the performances and the cinematography. There's an energy and authenticity to it that has always stuck with me. It's incredibly stylish without ever feeling like the style is overwhelming or manufactured. It reminds me of being a young skateboarder, shredding the streets, where your homies were your family and it was ride or die on the daily.
For television, I'd choose The Wire, which I think is one of the greatest television shows of all time, and I'm certainly not alone in that opinion. I love the culture, the portrayal of Baltimore and the procedural nature of the storytelling, but underneath all of that it's really an examination of social injustice, corruption, institutions and gang life. There's almost a cinéma vérité quality to it. It doesn't feel like you're watching a television version of Baltimore; it feels like you're there. I suppose there's a common thread between the two. They both create worlds that feel completely lived-in and authentic, where the city, the culture and the people are inseparable from the story. That's something I'm always drawn to as both a viewer and a writer.

What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Don't look at screenplay contests as career changers. Outside of a handful of major, industry-recognized competitions and institutions, chances are a contest result by itself isn't going to suddenly change your career. What contests can do is help you create buzz, give you something to promote and keep the marketing push going. This is a long game, and the more you can demonstrate that you're still in it, still writing and still getting your work recognized, the better your visibility.
Don't get me wrong, wins are definitely better than the Ls. It's a nice pat on the back, and peer recognition means something. For me, it reminds me a little of entering skateboard contests when I was younger. You wanted to win, of course, but there was also something valuable about showing up, competing, getting recognition from your peers and being part of a community.
So enter contests, celebrate the wins and the placements, use them to help build momentum—but then get back to writing. No single laurel is going to do the work for you.

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
Always something. I recently built the pitch deck for an upcoming feature film with Richard Linklater attached as an executive producer, which was a great opportunity to exercise a different set of creative muscles. On the writing side, I'm currently working on Small Town Heist, a contained crime thriller inspired by something that actually happened to my family in a small Louisiana town in the mid's. Our house was burglarized while we were away, I became suspect number one, and my mother and I essentially became detectives and solved the case for the local police department. I've wanted to turn that experience into a movie for years, and I'm finally writing it. I'm also developing a contained, essentially one-man feature centered around Mark Essex and the events surrounding the 1973 Howard Johnson's siege in New Orleans. It's a very different way into a story that's been told and discussed for more than fifty years. The challenge of building a film largely around one character in a confined space, while staying true to the facts and taking into account both the tremendous harm he caused and the circumstances and reasoning that led him there, is a big part of what interests me. And I still act, and love being in front of the camera. Most recently, I spent several months working as a core regular on The Morning Show. I love being on set. Whether I'm writing, producing, developing, acting or putting together a pitch deck, being around filmmaking keeps me connected to why I started doing this in the first place. So, yeah...always something.