MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Christopher Canole

An interview with screenwriter Christopher Canole regarding the Screenplay Festival Writing Competition.

A: "Felix the Flyer"

The most bizarre and punishing Marathon in Olympic history was the last hurdle for a young Cuban mailman after he ran 1200 miles up the Mississippi river chased by racists to deliver his message to the American people. Chariots of Fire meets Motorcycle Diaries.

A: When the Moviebyte web site announced one of my other screenplays, Counter-Clockwise, made the 2004 Scriptapalooza semi-finals it was immediately optioned by Triple Take Media and I received an invite from the organizers of the Screenplay Festival to submit a screenplay for their contest. Earlier that year Felix had made the quarter-finals of the International Screenplay Festival in New York so I decided to submit it. Having read an interview in the Moviebyte email newsletter I decided to rewrite my Honorable Mention in the Screenplay Festival winner into many 2005 contests including: Scriptapalooza, San Diego Film, Page International, Acclaim , FilmMakers International, Applause, Script P.I.M.P., Nicholl, Austin Film Festival, Open Door(Kaplan), Final Draft, Write Movies, AAA Screenwriting Magazine

A: I was very satisfied with the Screenplay Festival’s handling of their contest. They kept me constantly updated as to the progress of my script from the semi-finals to finals and finally as a winner through emails.

The awards produced unexpected changes in my career. When I received and read my first issue of Scr(i)pt magazine I knew I had much more to learn about the business. I’ve since requested and read three years of back issues and re-written all nine of my scripts based on Scr(i)pt’s articles.

And the award of posting of Felix on the Inktip web site produced so many initial hits, I’ve posted all my scripts. In the first three months I have received 600 hits.

A: Since Felix was one of my first screenplay entries, I had not bothered to pay the extra fees many contests request for feedback. But now if the fee is small I do so. The feedback I have received so far has been very helpful in my rewrites.

A: Leslie Rabb of RPM International received a copy of Felix through a director I worked for, Armand Mastroianni. After Felix won the contest Leslie contacted me and to shop the script around. I am very encouraged by her abilities to get Felix in the hands of Producers, Directors and Actors. And as I mentioned before the Inktip web site brings an average of ten Producers into my life each day.

A: I am a union set photographer and actor who decided it was time to create my own stories. In the past three years I have written nine 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), Z.I.A. (Family Zoo story), Counter-Clockwise (Science fiction romance), Felix the Flyer (sports biography), and Pen Dragon (comic book fable). Counter-Clockwise is being shopped by Triple Take Media as a mini-series and Pen Dragon as an animation feature.

A: I do not live in Los Angeles. But if I meet the right actress at the Academy Awards and she insist we live in LA I will make the move.

A: I am just finishing The Last Limo (A post 9/11 thriller) and having fun writing an entry for the Writer’s Arc contest, Black ‘n White House.

Posted Friday, June 10, 2005