Dane mccauley
Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Burbank, 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? As the eldest of four sons, the age-old story of brother vs. brother allowed me to explore the familial, social, and psychological tensions between adult brothers that I have lived and observed in others. The sub-theme of malevolent masculinity – oppression, violence, misogyny and a “winner take all” mentality – grew naturally from that. In addition, coming from a Fury-size town, I saw first-hand how easily local government corruption arises from small staffs, loose money, and little oversight. Placing the classic brother vs. brother story in a failed town speared by big money international crime seemed as fresh as tomorrow’s potential headline. This script was intended from its conception to be a film. The idea came to me in cinematic images with characters speaking dialogue 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 had my general idea, I wrote a detailed outline of character profiles, story themes, and plot in about a month. A first draft of the screenplay took three months, and then years of rewrites (as I continued to write other scripts). I used screenwriting contests and pro coverage services along the way, including WIKI, that provided useful market feedback on what was working and not working. What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? To sell my screenplays and see them produced. (I also wouldn’t mind being involved at the production end as well.) Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice? I sent in the full script to obtain coverage. The contest part was an unintended happy offshoot. What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why? This question is subject to daily change, but APOCALYPSE NOW is always in my top 3 all-time films. STRANGERS WITH CANDY and MR, ROBOT are always in my top 5 all-time TV shows. Disruption, subversion, and a pointed critique of the status quo are the common denominators of these shows along with inventive story-telling, state-of-the-art dialogue and character-conception, and a knowing/daring fearlessness from script to screen. The fact that they are all kick-ass entertainments as well helps the medicine go down smooth. They and similar others are artistic loadstars to be treasured. What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? Keep rewriting your script and getting professional coverage from more than one source. You want to know both the values of the market and if you are successfully speaking to it. (Also realize that contests have their own biases and that your applauded “Finalist” script in one contest may not even place in another.) In the end, it’s really all about one’s desire and will, and finding out how much uncertainty, loss, and fear one is willing to endure to obtain a goal. What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? I’ve just completed rewrites on a low-budget suspense thriller. It’s about how a man’s incurable coma drives his sister and fiancé to seek a cure in a community where they fall prey to its leader’s mind-warping secret agenda. |
