The World's Fastest Screenplay Competition!
  • Home
  • Screenplay Contest
  • TV Script Contest
    • Treatment/Bible Contest
  • Short Film Script Contest
  • Contest Results
    • 2024 Contest Results
    • 2023 Screenplay Contest Results
    • 2022 Screenplay Contest Results
  • FEATURED "WALK OF FAME"
    • Cary Singleton >
      • Cary Singleton Bio
      • Cary Singleton Projects
    • ANDREA MASI
    • Michael Elliott
    • Gary DeMoss >
      • GARY DEMOSS BIO
      • GARY DEMOSS PROJECTS
    • Caoimhín Mac an Bhreitheamhan >
      • Caoimhín Mac an Bhreitheamhan PROJECTS
    • JOHN RICHMOND >
      • JOHN RICHMOND PROJECTS
  • 2025 "Walk of Fame"
    • 2024 "Walk of Fame" >
      • CAROL HOFFMAN
      • DREW ATCHISON
      • THORSTEN SCHADE
      • ANTHONY J ANDERSEN
      • GARY DEMOSS
      • ALI HABIB
      • JOE LEONE
      • MUJLI GLASBERG
      • MEGMILLER
      • NEIL WATSON
      • MARK ROBYN
      • GARY DEMOSS
      • DAVID H. FEIN
      • BROOKE DE ROSA
      • COLLEEN AYCOCK INTERVIEW
      • Henry Sarwer-Foner
      • DIANE TOMASSIN
      • TRICIA TRIBBLE
      • RICHARD HUTTNER
      • MICHAEL MONTEIRO
      • SEAN ROPER
      • ROBERT BRIDGE
      • JAMES C. BOYD
      • TOM WHELAN
      • ROBERTO S. OREGEL
      • MARCIA P. SAMUELS
      • NONO TAMURA-TASHA HARDY
      • BILL WELLS
      • STUART FRYER
      • MICHAEL GOSSETTE
      • KC BIBO
      • JOSH GOLDMAN
      • JASON WHITE
      • KAREN FRANKOLA
      • BILL JORDAN
      • CHRISTOPHER SCHULTZ
      • CAMERON MARTIN
      • CHARLIE SHOUP
      • JOHN ARNAU
      • PAM PRICE
      • ROB MCNEIL
      • SHANNON MCINTYRE
      • John Richmond
      • JEFF WALKER
      • DONALD MORGAN
      • LIZ MAYER
      • EMILY PELPHREY
      • DEBRA TOBIN
      • ANHTUAN DOVENTRY
      • GREGORY GEORGIOU
      • CAROL HOFFMAN
      • C.R. SHERMAN
      • JAMES FREEMAN
      • HANK ISAAC
      • ERIKA STONE
      • TODD HOLDEN
      • RAVEN PETRETTI-STAMPER
      • ANDREW EDMUNDS
      • ERIC WEBER
      • MOLLY FRANKLIN-LEARY
      • MATTHEW NICHOLSON
      • BRIAN NOLIN
      • ALGIS DANAITIS
      • HANK ISAAC
    • Henry Sarwer-Foner
    • KAREN MARGARET MURPHY
    • JANNE PULKKILA
    • RICHARD HOHENRATH
    • ANTHONY VOLLMER & CRAIG HORWITZ
    • Karen Siff Exkorn
    • GREG STELLEY
    • SUZANNE BUI LOC LUTAS
    • CHRIS CHURILLA
    • ROGER HILL
    • ROY EDMONDSON
    • ERIC LOTTER
    • JORDAN DAVENPORT
    • GREG MCCABE JR
    • TASHA HARDY
    • CATRYN BECKER
    • SEAN FOX
    • SHAUN DELLISKAVE
    • GIACOMO GIAMMATTEO
    • ROGERS WILSON
    • KAT-BYLSKA PRIMARY
    • MACK GORDON
    • Kristopher Pierce
    • Jerzy suchocki
    • DJ Alvine
    • KATE REMELIUS
    • VP BOYLE
    • Mohamed Mohsen
    • Frances Mccoy
    • Neil Goodchild
    • TERRY GEHRING
    • RUSSELL PUNTENNEY
    • TEEJAY SMALL
    • MIKE NIELSEN
    • TOM NEWMAN
    • MARIA GOMEZ
    • PEDRO CANAIS
    • MARK COHEN
    • VAL SERVINO
  • JOIN THE "Walk of Fame"
  • KEYS TO SUCCESS
    • What Writers Say
    • Why this screenplay contest?
    • Screenwriting Inspiration
  • Judges
  • Contact
  • FAQ

EUGENE POGANY

Picture
​Where do you live (City, State, or Country)? 
I live in Newton, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston.
 
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? 
The screenplay, In My Brother’s Image, is based on my book of the same title (Viking/Penguin, 2000-01).  The inspiration for the story was a historical family legacy about Jewish-born, devout Catholic, identical twin brothers whose relationship unraveled when one returned to his ancestral Jewish faith after surviving a Nazi concentration camp while the other was ordained a Catholic priest who survived the war under the wing of the recently canonized, mystical healer and seer, Padre Pio.  With historical Jewish-Christian tensions inhabiting my family, I felt inspired to explore the degree of reconciliation that occurred between these brothers.  
 
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?
The first draft of the script was written by a co-writer in 2009-10.  When he moved on to other projects, I disregarded the advice that, as the book’s author, I should never attempt to write the screenplay. So, I took over the writing and used the framework provided by that first draft to integrate more of the story from my book, the content and flow being already at my fingertips.  My own draft was completed around 2014, with four or five drafts to follow since that time with the help of writing consultants and coverage from successive screenplay competitions.
 
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
My singular ambition is to have this story reach as wide an audience as possible.  An interview I heard many years ago on an NPR Boston-affiliate radio station with F. Murray Abraham, who was in town to play King Lear at the American Repertory Theatre, succinctly captured what I have always wanted to achieve by getting my story out there.  When the interviewer asked him, “What do you hope to accomplish by your portrayal of Lear?”  Mr. Abraham paused for a moment and then responded, “I want to change people’s lives forever.”
 
Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice?
My entry for Wiki was the full script that had been increasingly refined over several years.
 
      What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why?
My favorite movie is Cinema Paradiso, the 1990 Giuseppe Tornatore film (with glorious music by Ennio Morricone) about a filmmaker who becomes enraptured with film during his childhood through his friendship with a paternal projectionist at his Sicilian town’s local cinema.  But his disappointment over his broken relationship with his teenage love hollows out an emptiness that follows him into a life of unfulfilling relationships that ironically only deepens his bittersweet love of romance in film.  I was enthralled by the final scene of Salvatore viewing, with poignant nostalgia, fragments of filmstrips of lovers in romantic embrace that had once been censored by his town’s local priest.  I imagine that in that moment, he remembered the gravely disappointed love of his youth, suggesting that his unfulfilled longing—perhaps like our own—had helped fuel his life’s impassioned calling.
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Aim to write a screenplay because it matters to you, whether because you feel passionate about the subject or you want to put your skill and imagination to work.  Don’t join contests at the outset to win them, but rather to use them as tools to improve your writing.  Take advantage of the coverage offered by the contests to improve the writing for the next competition.  A rookie baseball player doesn’t come up to the plate planning on hitting a homerun.  He just wants to make contact with the ball and learn something with every at bat.
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
Besides my book, the screenplay, In My Brother’s Image, is the only other work that I want the world to know about.

Enter Contest 
​Contest Rules
FAQ 
Judges 
Testimonials 
Reality Check 
Terms and Conditions
​Privacy Policy
Contact
logo for The Wiki Screenplay Contest
Enter Contest
  • Feature 
  • TV Script
  • Short Film Script
©2015-2025 Butterfly Beach Media Inc. • All rights reserved
735 State St.  Santa Barbara, Ca. 93101
[email protected]
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Screenplay Contest
  • TV Script Contest
    • Treatment/Bible Contest
  • Short Film Script Contest
  • Contest Results
    • 2024 Contest Results
    • 2023 Screenplay Contest Results
    • 2022 Screenplay Contest Results
  • FEATURED "WALK OF FAME"
    • Cary Singleton >
      • Cary Singleton Bio
      • Cary Singleton Projects
    • ANDREA MASI
    • Michael Elliott
    • Gary DeMoss >
      • GARY DEMOSS BIO
      • GARY DEMOSS PROJECTS
    • Caoimhín Mac an Bhreitheamhan >
      • Caoimhín Mac an Bhreitheamhan PROJECTS
    • JOHN RICHMOND >
      • JOHN RICHMOND PROJECTS
  • 2025 "Walk of Fame"
    • 2024 "Walk of Fame" >
      • CAROL HOFFMAN
      • DREW ATCHISON
      • THORSTEN SCHADE
      • ANTHONY J ANDERSEN
      • GARY DEMOSS
      • ALI HABIB
      • JOE LEONE
      • MUJLI GLASBERG
      • MEGMILLER
      • NEIL WATSON
      • MARK ROBYN
      • GARY DEMOSS
      • DAVID H. FEIN
      • BROOKE DE ROSA
      • COLLEEN AYCOCK INTERVIEW
      • Henry Sarwer-Foner
      • DIANE TOMASSIN
      • TRICIA TRIBBLE
      • RICHARD HUTTNER
      • MICHAEL MONTEIRO
      • SEAN ROPER
      • ROBERT BRIDGE
      • JAMES C. BOYD
      • TOM WHELAN
      • ROBERTO S. OREGEL
      • MARCIA P. SAMUELS
      • NONO TAMURA-TASHA HARDY
      • BILL WELLS
      • STUART FRYER
      • MICHAEL GOSSETTE
      • KC BIBO
      • JOSH GOLDMAN
      • JASON WHITE
      • KAREN FRANKOLA
      • BILL JORDAN
      • CHRISTOPHER SCHULTZ
      • CAMERON MARTIN
      • CHARLIE SHOUP
      • JOHN ARNAU
      • PAM PRICE
      • ROB MCNEIL
      • SHANNON MCINTYRE
      • John Richmond
      • JEFF WALKER
      • DONALD MORGAN
      • LIZ MAYER
      • EMILY PELPHREY
      • DEBRA TOBIN
      • ANHTUAN DOVENTRY
      • GREGORY GEORGIOU
      • CAROL HOFFMAN
      • C.R. SHERMAN
      • JAMES FREEMAN
      • HANK ISAAC
      • ERIKA STONE
      • TODD HOLDEN
      • RAVEN PETRETTI-STAMPER
      • ANDREW EDMUNDS
      • ERIC WEBER
      • MOLLY FRANKLIN-LEARY
      • MATTHEW NICHOLSON
      • BRIAN NOLIN
      • ALGIS DANAITIS
      • HANK ISAAC
    • Henry Sarwer-Foner
    • KAREN MARGARET MURPHY
    • JANNE PULKKILA
    • RICHARD HOHENRATH
    • ANTHONY VOLLMER & CRAIG HORWITZ
    • Karen Siff Exkorn
    • GREG STELLEY
    • SUZANNE BUI LOC LUTAS
    • CHRIS CHURILLA
    • ROGER HILL
    • ROY EDMONDSON
    • ERIC LOTTER
    • JORDAN DAVENPORT
    • GREG MCCABE JR
    • TASHA HARDY
    • CATRYN BECKER
    • SEAN FOX
    • SHAUN DELLISKAVE
    • GIACOMO GIAMMATTEO
    • ROGERS WILSON
    • KAT-BYLSKA PRIMARY
    • MACK GORDON
    • Kristopher Pierce
    • Jerzy suchocki
    • DJ Alvine
    • KATE REMELIUS
    • VP BOYLE
    • Mohamed Mohsen
    • Frances Mccoy
    • Neil Goodchild
    • TERRY GEHRING
    • RUSSELL PUNTENNEY
    • TEEJAY SMALL
    • MIKE NIELSEN
    • TOM NEWMAN
    • MARIA GOMEZ
    • PEDRO CANAIS
    • MARK COHEN
    • VAL SERVINO
  • JOIN THE "Walk of Fame"
  • KEYS TO SUCCESS
    • What Writers Say
    • Why this screenplay contest?
    • Screenwriting Inspiration
  • Judges
  • Contact
  • FAQ