MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Rhonda Ewing

An interview with screenwriter Rhonda Ewing regarding the Screenplay Festival Writing Competition.

A: "Missing Love" which covers 20 years, is the quest of a beautiful,young tenacious, black journalist, who takes on the Army in search of the truth about the death of her boyfriend during the Vietnam war while on a black ops mission. We have entered other contests and did well also. Most recently we won honorable mention in the 2011 Screenplay Festival competition and have been receiving a steady stream of requests for our logline and as well as a copy of our script. We have placed in the 2011 Screenplay Search and are hoping to advance further. We won 1st place in the 2010 Indie Gathering Drama category, Ray Szuch. We won 1st place in a Drama category in the 2010 Cinema City with Suzanne De Laurentis, 2010 Quarter Finals with Page. We are a top ten finalist in this years Indie Producers, Kerry David, top ten Screenplay Search, 2010 2nd round in Austin, Zoetrope 2010 quarter finals, Francis Ford Coppola. We were a finalist in the 2010 Red Inworks, Larry Miles. We were a finalist in the 2010 Movie Script Contest, 2010 semi-finalist in Acclaim. In 2009 and 2008 we placed in 10 competitions.

A: My partner Ronald L. Marchand and I search the internet seeking contests that were reputable and the most beneficial for our needs and exposure.

A: We were satisfied with all the contests we entered. They met their deadlines. We received all our awards.

A: It took us 4 years from start to finish with all the revisions we made along the way. We did write a two page outline. Conservatively, I would say we wrote a dozen drafts until now.

A: We used Final Draft software. We don't use any other software at this time. We are happy with Final Draft.

A: In the beginning, the first two years, we wrote every day. We don't write every day now. When we do, maybe we write about 10 hours a day. In the beginning, we wrote until the wee hours of the morning, and learned not to do that because it generates a lot of mistakes and disagreements.

A: No, we suffer burnout more than writer's block. We take breaks from writing.

A: We have no formal training and are self taught. We have several other screenplays in the works.

A: No, we live in Arizona and Texas. Neither of us have plans to move to Los Angeles at this time.

A: We are putting the finishing touches on "Snow Storm" (minimal cast, location, interracial romance). We also have treatments for: an Ante Bellum horror story in New Orleans, a Sun City Arizona senior citizen dramedy, a fatal romance in Texas, and we are working on a psychological murder mystery.

Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2011