MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Christopher Canole

An interview with screenwriter Christopher Canole regarding the Action On Film Writing Competition.

A: "Her Swastika Sword'' The most heralded sword-woman since Joan of Arc, half-Jewish German Helene Mayer, like a lone gunman of the American west, stands her ground against the Nazi Team SS henchmen and American Olympic officials threatening a boycott to make her point during 1936 Berlin Olympic Game. In our modern times of the Olympics being an arena of national politics, this is the first story of how an athlete was forced to sacrifice her love of sport for the cause of politics and religion.

A: Last year my most successful script, Felix the Flyer, was selected for the AOF but not nominated for any category. I took this as a challenge to write a better script for this year. I also submitted my very first script, Blood Groove, to have two fencing scripts in the competition. Blood Groove was nominated for the Arthur Rosenfeld award for outstanding achievement in writing and Her Swastika Sword brought me the ''Best New Writer'' award. As with all contests, after an award I re-write the script to enter in more competitions especially during this Olympic Summer. I look forward to testing Helene Mayer fencing as well as Felix Carvajal ran in other contest with success the AAA Creative Screenwriting Grand Prize, Script Magazine Grand Prize, Queens International Film Festival, Kids First Film Festival, Screenplay Shootout, and I have placed in the top three or honorable mention of the New York Hip Hop, Indie Producers, Gaffers, Twin Rivers, Indie Gathering, Screenplay Festival, San Diego Film Festival, Acclaim Film, and WriteMovies.com

A: Del Watson is one of the most involved film festival organizers I know. His emails and web site kept me posted to each and every stage of the competition, nominations and benefits to expect from a win. The high quality awards were presented in a unique way at the AOF Writers Awards Dinner. After the nominations for each category were read by the jovial host Mark Mahon (former AOF screenplay winner who returned with a 26 million dollar movie version) and Greg Humphries read a page from the winning script. In addition to this reading the festival videoed 50 script scenes from submitted screenplays and played them all through the festival. And the best feature was to meet so many fellow award winning writers I have competed with in the past, Justin Owensby, Christopher Brockway, Mona Deutsch. Jean Hunter and Michelle Muldoon to name a few of the two dozen category winners.

A: Feedback was redefined at the AOF. How often do you get to see a scene of your screenplay performed and compared to other entries? The AOF made a DVD of this unique feature which I look forward to using in my future promotions.

A: As Del Watson said during his opening remarks at the Writers Awards Dinner, Action on Film not only refers to what you see on screen, but also the action on getting your film or screenplay in the right hands. I am sure each and every writer at the dinner feels this is a festival that continues working with writers after the awards are presented. I had the unique surprise from Del to reinforce this relationship when he announced to everyone there will be a new award next year to symbolize this commitment, the ''Chris Canole Award''. So I encourage all writers reading this interview to submit your screenplay for me to read next year.

A: I am a Cal Arts masters degree graduate, 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), The Last Limo (post 9/11 American Odyssey) and Her Swastika Sword (sports biography).

A: I'm beginning to think, winning film festival contests, perhaps I should get back on my motorcycle and live on the road and be ready to put down my kickstand in Hollywood when one of my stories sells. For now I will continue to live in La Jolla which isn't bad when I see the number of actors, directors and producers who visit my little village.

A: First off is getting the word out to actresses like Charlize Theron and Hillary Swank that there next Academy Award winning script could be Her Swastika Sword. I am now blocking my first romantic comedy, Love at Last, which takes place in a nursing home and deals with the whacky insights I've gained in the past six months taking care of my 92 year old Aunt Dallas. She looked exactly like Bette Davis which created many funny moments in her life. And as the main "Nail Girl" for Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, she saw things few could imagine. And then I'll write the last of my Olympic Trilogy, a biography of my boyhood hero and distant cousin, Jim Thorpe.

Posted Friday, August 8, 2008