MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Christopher Canole

An interview with screenwriter Christopher Canole regarding the Twin Rivers Writing Competition.

A: Felix the Flyer

As a Cuban mailman runs in the 1904 Olympic Marathon he recounts his 1200 mile super-run up the Mississippi River to battle the world's greatest marathoners chasing him in the most bizarre race in history, filled with racism, cheating, and drugs to become an inspiration for all future underdogs.

A: Having worked as a Set Photographer on a movie in North Carolina I wanted to return as a screenplay writer to challenge myself at the Twin Rivers Film Festival. Also two of my lifelong friends now live there, which gives me a chance to visit and celebrate my win. The variety of filmmaking categories at the Twin Rivers attracts all forms of creative talent, who I hope to meet in the future. So far Felix’s results in contest are: AAA Creative Screenwriting (Grand Prize) Scr(i)pt Open Door ( Winner - Gold ), Screenplay Shootout ( Winner - Gold ), Queens Film International Film Festival (Winner- Gold). International Family Film Festival (Winner Gold)WriteMovies.com ( Winner - Gold ), Contest-of-Contest ( Winner - Silver ), Screenplay Festival ( Winner - Silver ), Acclaim Film and TV ( Winner - Silver ), San Diego Film Festival ( Winner - Bronze ), GAFFERS Film Festival ( Winner - Bronze ), Hip Hop Film Festival (Winner Bronze) 20/20 (Finalist), All Access (Finalist), Red Inkworks (Finalist), Scriptwriter Dig (Finalist), Script Shark (Semi-Final), Scriptapalooza (Semi-Finals), Page International (Semi-Finals), American Accolades (Semi-Finals), Writers on the Storm (Semi-Finals), Fade In Magazine (Quarter-Finals), AAA Screenwriting (Quarter-Finals), New York City Latino Film Festival (Quarter-Finals), FilmMakers International (Quarter-Finals), Nicholl Fellowship (Quarter Finals) and is listed as a recommended movie with Kids First, and selected screenplay for the Indie Producers, Action of Film and Cinema City International Film Festival.

A: A film festival that takes place over several months provides great exposure, and a little patience for some contests that are decided later, like the screenplay competition. The organizers notified all finalists we would at least receive and Honorable Mention to use in our advertisement, which I did till I received the Third Place award. Like most film festivals, which are the greatest way to get your screenplay talked about, the laurel wreath logo I can add to the eventual movie one sheet will acknowledge Felix is popular all over the country.

A: Feedback is not a part of this competition.

A: My manager Leslie Rabb of RPM International uses these wins at film festivals to promote all my scripts. And the announcemet came the same day as an article on me and Felix in the July/August issue of Creative Screenwriting magazine.

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 eleven 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), Pen Dragon (comic book fable), and The Last Limo (post 9/11 American Odyssey).

A: I live in La Jolla and keep a suitcase packed for film festivals across the country…next stop the Cinema City Film Festival at Universal Studios in September where I plan on meeting future directors, producers and actors looking for a great Latino film.

A: I am now rewriting my eleventh screenplay, Her Swastika Sword, about Helene Mayer German a Jewish fencer attending the University of Southern California who drew her sword to fence in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I am writing in the style of a Western lone gunfighter forced to stand tall against multiple antagonists including Hitler and the US Olympic Committee. One of the great advantages of Moviebyte is the communication between writers like Kristin Fieseler who contacted me after her becoming a finalist in the Screenplay Festival contest with her script The Merman. Kristin lives in Germany and is providing invaluable help in making Her Swastika Sword a better script.

Posted Monday, August 20, 2007