SHAUN DELLISKAVE
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SHAUN DELLISKAVE

Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Murray, Utah — where the mountains meet the muses and the ghosts are never quite gone.

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?
Caligo Inn was born out of my obsession with truth — the kind that flickers in and out of shadow like a ghost caught in a lie. The story explores political ambition, repressed guilt, and the literal and figurative hauntings we carry with us. A novel would’ve let me meander. A script forced me to sharpen every line, every beat, and let silence do some of the talking. I wanted readers to see the dread in the wallpaper and hear the accusation in the clink of a glass. That’s something screenplays do better than prose.

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?
It took about six months, but I lived in that inn far longer. I’m a short story hybrid kind of guy. I plot like a cartographer and write like a medium channeling a storm. Structure matters — but so does letting the characters misbehave. Sometimes you don’t find the story until someone slams a door in a scene you didn’t plan.

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
To tell stories that refuse to be forgotten. I want to write screenplays that feel like modern myths — that haunt, that heal, and that challenge the audience to ask, “What would I have done?” Also, if I can sneak a stage play about Charles Dickens into Broadway someday, I won’t complain.

Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice?
A full script. I believe if you’re inviting someone into your haunted house, you ought to at least give them the full tour. I wanted the reader to understand the payoff, the themes, and the ambiguity that simmers at the end. You can’t do that in ten pages — not with a ghost story about guilt and political decay.

What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why?
The West Wing — for its dialogue, its idealism, and its unapologetic pace. It made smart people sound electric. But if I had to pick a film, it’s The Sixth Sense. That twist was legendary, but it was the grief — the weight of what we don’t say — that made it unforgettable. Both taught me that characters don’t have to scream to be heard.

What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Don’t chase the market. Chase the truth. Write the story only you can tell. And don’t underestimate the power of the rewrite — most of my best scenes didn’t survive the first draft. Also, protect your weirdness; it's probably your secret weapon.

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
I’m revisiting two other screenplays: Carol & Hymn, a poetic Christmas story about healing after trauma, and It Happened In Silence, a period piece about courage and resistance in the face of censorship. I’m also writing a monologue-driven stage play where Charles Dickens confronts his past and the specters of his own creation. Let’s just say, I have a thing for ghosts — literal and otherwise.
 

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