MYRTA VIDA 
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 PictureMYRTA VIDA
Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
The fascinating planet of Brooklyn, 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?
What The Boy Couldn't Say began as a short story, set in my native Puerto Rico. Its evolution into a screenplay fundamentally changed how I approached the material. I've taught arts-for-healing workshops, and I've been struck by how many men have wanted to write about surviving sexual assault (and, particularly, the shame, isolation, and lack of resources available to them). Both their fear and courage have stayed with me.
The screenplay allowed me to explore some of those difficult silences visually: what someone carries but cannot articulate, how trauma alters relationships, and how healing might begin when language fails us. Film has always given me faces, movement, and sound/silence as storytelling tools. It became a very different work from the original story.

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?
This is actually one of the first screenplays I ever wrote in English, and the version submitted to Wiki is its fourth draft. So, in a sense, I've been growing alongside it. I'm also an unapologetic outliner! I like understanding the emotional architecture of a story before I start building and decorating the rooms inside it. My process generally moves from research and character work, into beats, scenes, and eventually pages.
But characters have an “annoying” habit of becoming real and ruining perfectly good outlines, I’ve learned my lesson from years of writing and teaching writing. So once I'm drafting, I'll happily abandon parts of the plan when the story reveals something better. An outline isn't a cage: it's a map. And, sometimes, the most interesting discoveries happen when you get lost.

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
Oh, nothing remarkably ambitious: just to write stories that outlive me. I want to build a body of work across film and literature that entertains fiercely, while exploring identity, belonging, culture, and our complicated shared humanity. I want to write books people dog-ear and movies people argue about on the way home. And whenever possible, I want my work to open doors: not only for me, but for other storytellers whose voices have historically had to fight harder to be heard.

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 screenplay. The first ten pages can demonstrate voice, craft, and promise, but What The Boy Couldn't Say depends upon the cumulative emotional journey of its characters. I wanted readers to experience the complete story and judge whether I could deliver on the promises those first pages make.

What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why?
One of my all-time favorite movies is the original Ghostbusters. I love contrasts, and that film uses a genuinely dark, supernatural world as the vehicle for its humor. Underneath all the ghosts, absurdity, and apocalyptic stakes, though, it's really a story about imperfect people who are very good friends and collaborators. I love that. Television? Give me a gloriously theatrical 1990s telenovela. The heightened emotions! The impossible revelations! Oh, the camp! My own writing tends toward dramatic, emotionally complicated, high-stakes material. When I'm off duty though, I want some supernatural fun… or somebody's long-lost evil twin returning from the dead to take over ALL the corporations.

What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Rewrite. Then rewrite again. Learn your craft. Seek thoughtful criticism. Develop the humility to recognize when a note exposes a genuine problem, and the confidence to recognize when someone's proposed solution would turn your story into theirs. And submit. Rejection is an unavoidable part of this profession. A screenplay sitting on your computer has a 0% chance of becoming a finalist anywhere. Give your work the opportunity to surprise you and the world.

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
Quite a bit! I'm a producer on The Fruit of Our Womb, an independent film in pre-production based on an award-winning short film and feature screenplay by Marina Shron. I’m beyond proud to be part of a team who’s championing such a talented woman as a writer-director. Through my production company, 4 Syllables, LLC, I continue to help fellow writers and filmmakers strengthen ambitious stories through story consulting, script doctoring, and creative production. I also continue to write and direct my own shorts, to include two documentaries in production about vastly different aspects of the Puerto Rican diaspora. And I’m always, always working on literary fiction. My first short story collection about curmudgeonly AfroLatinos is in the editing process right meow. Having more than one project in the works keeps my heart beating in satisfied, grateful ways!