Update September 9, 2021 – Images of Africa
Images of Africa – last week we were receiving accolades about how great the script is. This week the tone was different. The tone was more like this has the potential to be an amazing script.
I also talked to a producer about taking on this project and he told me it wasn’t something that he felt wouldn’t be commercially viable in Hollywood. I talked him into taking a look at the script after I worked it over a bit from last week’s constructive criticisms.
Reviews of the Script
I’ve entered the screenplay in three contests to garner some publicity and two of them have come back with results: Santa Barbara Screenplay Festival gave the script honorable mention along with several suggestions to make it better.
Wiki Screenplay Contest gave it the same rating and some suggestions of their own.
The vast majority of the feedback has been very positive and most of it was intended to help me craft a better way to tell this story.
One of the comments, I found curious. They felt this tale did not have the correct appeal to audiences because it was not about Americans. (Really? Off the top of my head, I came up with dozens of movies that weren’t about Americans. How about Schindler’s list, Ben Hur, Spartacus, Titanic, Dunkirk, should I go on?)
Positive Feedback
On the positive side, I heard things like:
There is an absolutely beautiful story that is presented in these pages: David’s transition into being an adult, while also having to accept the loss of his parents, all the while having to maintain hope that he can shepherd his younger sister, Mary, to America. This feels like a winning combination for a screenplay.
The writer has a compelling story on their hands and with a few more massages this could be a script that studios and streamers alike will be fighting for.
Well, I made a whole bunch of changes in the screenplay and have sent it off for coverage again. I should have that back in a few days and will report back to you next week.
Why all this bother about a script? I want Our Father’s Dream to be the movie that changes the lives of millions of orphans. That will change the images of Africa!
Alfred Hitchcock once famously said, “To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script, and the script.”
I’ll write next week.
Until then, have a wonderful week.
Tom
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