MONTE ALBers
 MONTE ALBA
Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
New York, New York 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? It was a dare, really. I had been a corporate attorney, practicing in Manhattan for 22 years at the time, and quite convinced that would be the end of my bio, when late one night, in August of 2023, I got into a very heated discussion with my best friend over the future of AI and its effect on humanity’s better nature. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon, and was adamant that AI spelled the end of humankind’s sense of individuality, goodness, and that we were consigned to a future as mindless zombies devoid of any redeeming qualities. I’m a bit more of an optimist, and took the other argument, explaining that we as a species have faced pretty tough times before, and made it through the other side, and that even if AI did cause the apocalypse, and even if it were experienced by every type of human, even if it were to occur to The Breakfast Club, and even if The Breakfast Club had the worst jobs in the world, even if they worked for Amazon in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, they would still find a way to do the right thing. I was so convinced my argument was right I took out my iPhone and opened up my Notes app for the first time and jotted down my allegory so that the next day at the breakfast table the rest of the houseguests would hear it and tell me I was right; I did and they did, but they also told me that was a hilarious story and I should write a movie about it. Ten weeks later the first draft of my first script, “Good,” was completed. Two years later I am on draft 16, it has won over 160 international awards, and is currently under production to be made into a major motion picture. 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?
10 Weeks for the first one, a few months for the next 3. My fourth one took 9 days. My last one, a month. FADE IN. What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? To make people believe in the resilience of humanity’s better nature. Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice? Full script. What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why? Star Wars. It’s imagination. What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? Don’t be timid. Reach for what is possible, not what’s safe. What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? Just finished my first dramatic series, The Family Name, which won Best International Series in Berlin. |
