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Screenwriter Interviews

MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Geoffrey Breuder

An interview with screenwriter Geoffrey Breuder regarding the Arizona Writing Competition.

Q: What's the title of the script you entered in this contest, and what's it about?

A: The Ace of Aces tracks the life of Major Dick Bong, America's highest scoring ace of all time.

In the early stages of World War II, morale was low in the South West Pacific. Our forces were outnumbered, many of our planes were inferior, and spare parts were scarce.

America's "Ace of Aces" from World War I was touring bases in the Pacific to assess the situation.

While visiting Dick's squadron, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker made a bet in order to boost the flagging morale. The first to break his record of 26 victories would win a case of scotch.

Thus, a race of aces was born.

Q: What made you enter this particular contest? Have you entered any other contests with this script? If so, how did you do?

A: I have some scenes set in the Phoenix, Arizona region. So, it seemed kind of fitting.

Dick did flight training and instructing at nearby Luke Field. While there he was instructed by future presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater.

He also did some flying scenes for the movie "Thunderbirds" while stationed at Luke Field.

I have entered other contests. At the moment, I have placed in nine of them.

Q: Were you satisfied with the adminstration of the contest? Did they meet their deadlines? Did you receive all the awards that were promised?

A: Yes, I was very satisfied with the administration. Jason took the time to answer all of my questions.

They even sent out a cool postcard to confirm they had received my screenplay.

They met all their deadlines too.

Q: Were you given any feedback on your script? If so, did you find the feedback helpful?

A: No, they didn't offer feedback. It would be even more appealing if they did in the future though.

Q: Has your success in this contest helped you market your script? Were you contacted by any agents, managers or producers?

A: Yes, it has definitely helped. I've been contacted by several people in the industry now.

The bottom line is it helps to give the story a bit more credibility.

Q: What's your background? Have you written any other screenplays or television scripts?

A: I've done voice over work for a successful documentary in Australia.

I also have another script sitting on the shelf for now. It's a complicated period piece; so I may come back to that one somewhere down the track.

Q: Do you live in Los Angeles? If not, do you have any plans to move there?

A: No, but I have a brother and a sister who live there. I have no immediate plans to move L.A. I'm down in Australia at the moment.

Who knows what the future holds though?

Q: What's next? Are you working on a new script?

A: I have started an outline for a new action-adventure script. It's about an aviation archaeologist who's forced to do jobs he would rather not do.

Posted Thursday, June 19, 2008

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