MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter CarrieAnn Lee

An interview with screenwriter CarrieAnn Lee regarding the Revolution Media Writing Competition.

A: I entered a teleplay entitled AN ELEPHANT IN THE CLOSET. It’s about a seven-year-old girl named Mary, who can’t stop making up stories. Her schoolmates follow her home one day to see if she really is keeping animals for an over crowded zoo; a Little League team comes to play ball on the new baseball field that Mary says she has in her backyard; and a group of elderly people line up on the sidewalk in front of her home, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tom Jones, who is supposedly going to sing at her brother’s Bar Mitzvah.

Mary’s attempts at making new friends fails, and her parents grow weary of the consequences of her shenanigans. So, her father brings her to church, hoping to reform her. Instead, she begins a new quest and that is, to meet God. She sees a homeless man, who resembles a picture of Christ, and invites him home for dinner. Comedy ensues.

I also submitted my story entitled RAG DOLL and it was awarded an Honorable Mention. It is a dramatic piece about a toddler named Anna, who barely survives the neglect of her alcoholic parents. There is some comedy as Anna wanders around the neighborhood showing us a toddler’s view of life, but in the end Anna needs saving. One brave family steps forward to help her when tragedy strikes.

I wrote RAG DOLL in one night while sitting up with a female patient who tried to drink herself to death. She slept all night, while I sat beside her and remembered my own mother’s struggles with alcohol. At 6 AM I scribbled “The End” and sent it off a few days later to this contest. I’m amazed it received any kind of an award, considering the hurry I was in to get it finished and mailed off. (Thank you Revolution Media for your kindness in overlooking any typos etc.)

A: The main characters in AN ELEPHANT IN THE CLOSET and RAG DOLL are children and this contest asked for family-oriented screenplays and teleplays.They also said that they would consider purchasing and/or producing our scripts and that is what I want more than anything – to have something produced.

ELEPHANT took first place in The International Family Film Festival earlier this year. This is the only contest I sent RAG DOLL to thus far – I want to make some more revisions to it before sending it off again.

A: They met their deadlines as promised and I did receive a nice plaque, which is now hanging in my study.

A: Feedback was not offered as part of this competition.

A: Placing in a contest always helps to improve one’s resume. Revolution Media is a production/television company and at least, they are now aware of my abilities. So, who knows. Time will tell.

A: I’ve been telling stories since I was old enough to talk. My main character in AN ELEPHANT IN THE CLOSET is patterned after me. When I was small, I told some entertaining “whoppers” and I also brought home a homeless man, thinking that he might be Jesus Christ. My father was amused; I’d never seen his face so red and my mother well, she took it differently. I didn’t know until then, that she had such a huge vocabulary of bad words. I was surprised and impressed to see how fast Jesus Christ could run.

I majored in Psychology, married young, had ten children (no, that’s not a misprint) and six years ago, I started writing again. My scripts, in order of creation are: UNHEARD CRIES, UNSEEN SCARS (drama-play), IN ANOTHER PLACE (drama-play), THE BEST GIFTS (Christmas story-play), then twenty years and ten children later: WOMEN IN LABOR (comedy-play), CHESS IN THE PARK (Coming-of-Age-play), FINAL AUDITION (first screenplay), TWICE UPON A TIME (MOW), MARGERIE MUDD WAS CHOSEN (comedy-short film script), WAITING FRO MR. GODFREY (Coming-of-Age-SFS), LITTLE SISTER’S AREN’T SO BAD (comedy-SFS), AN ELEPHANT IN THE CLOSET (comedy-SFS), NO MORE SPIDERS (drama-SFS), RAG DOLL (dram-SFS) MISS CHARLOTTE’S SECRETS (Feature Screenplay & in MOW format).

A: LA is a great town to visit and I do so often, but I like my green grass and pine trees in Lakebay, WA. Beside, I ‘m blessed with a helicopter pilot daughter, who can shuttle me about in a moment’s notice – so, I’m not at a disadvantage.

A: I’m always working on something new. I have my main story that I’m working on and then when I need a break, I do research for others. One thing that is wonderful for writers is that there is never a dull moment. There is always a new story to tell; ideas never run out. The possibilities for script ideas are endless – it’s a great line of work!

Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007