MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Christopher Canole

An interview with screenwriter Christopher Canole regarding the Acclaim Film Writing Competition.

A: Felix the Flyer

The true story of a young Cuban mailman who ran the 1200 miles of the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis to reach his goal of running in the 1904 Olympic Marathon. The Marathon itself is one of the most infamous Olympic stories in history; filled with cheating, drug abuse, racism, torturous conditions and non-stop twists and turns that changed the very nature of Marathon races forever. Felix is an inspiration for all underdogs seeking to cross their own finish line with pride.

A: Acclaim is one of the contest with both a Feature Film and Television connection. I first wrote "Felix the Flyer" for the director Armand Mastroianni as one of the ESPN movies-of-the-week, but as often happens everyone started off cheering for Felix, but the momentum did now carry us into production. So I figured a contest like Acclaim could put us back in the arena with exposure to producers looking for a great sport story. After being announced as a winner in the 2004 Screenplay Festival contest last year I decided to re-write Felix and enter it into many of the top contest as I could afford. So far Felix has won the A/Exposure WriteMovies.com May monthly, am presently in the final four of the San Diego Film Festival, the semi-finals in the Scriptapalooza and Page International, as well as the quarter-finals of the AAA Screenwriting and FilmMakers International, the first round Finalist of Scr(i)pt Magazine Open Door, and I received a hand written note from the Nicholl Fellowship saying Felix was in the top 10%.

A: The Acclaim people kept me posted at every point in the competition through emails. And their follow-up to my questions after winning have been immediate. My script is posted on the site of the sponsor, InkTip.com Also included from InkTip--an email announcement about my script and contact info that goes out to about 6,5000 industry professionals; they also include a logline for my script in their printed publication, sent to about 5,000 industry professionals. Of course, this is in addition to the consideration I'll receive from our affiliated production companies.

A: This contest does not have a feedback reward, but I expect posting on their web site will yield future interests from producers.

A: This win has added to the momentum of Felix wins. I strongly encourage people who place at the semi-final level of a contest to polish their script and enter many more contest.

A: I've worked in the movie and tv industry for 10 years as a set designer, actor, and stills photographer. In the past three years I have written ten screenplays: BloodGroove (60’s college story), Drawn Together (political thriller), DVD Day (science fiction doomsday), Spring Snow (Mishima novel adaptation for my PhD in literature), Runaway Horses (Another Mishima), Zooper Heroes. (Family Zoo story), Counter-Clockwise (Science fiction romance), Felix the Flyer (sports biography), Pen Dragon (comic book fable), and The Last Limo (post 9/11 American Odyssey).

A: I live in La Jolla, California, I would move to LA once someone needs me there.

A: My background as a fencer, and popularity of my two "female lead character" scripts on the Inktip.com web site (1400 downloads in just four months) pointed me to start writing a story that needs to be told, “Her Swastika Sword” a sports bio-pic about Helene Mayer the Jewish-German Olympic fencer who crossed-swords with everyone from the American Olympic committee to the Nazi organizers for her own mysterious motives.

Posted Tuesday, August 30, 2005