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Screenwriter Interviews
MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Mary McKay
An interview with screenwriter Mary McKay regarding the Red Inkworks Writing Competition.
Q: What's the title of the script you entered in this contest, and what's it about?A: "Bread and Roses", a fictionalized story of a true historical event, the 1912 women textile workers strike in Massachusetts. The "bread and roses" strike was so named because over 20,000 multi-ethnic immigrant women, fighting for "bread -- and roses too!" took to the streets in the frigid winter snows and persisted for nine weeks, despite police violence. Mine is the story of Frances Murphy, a young widow with a son, both of whom go to work in the mills. She becomes a leader in the strike, which complicates her new relationship with a local cop. Frances watches friends die and her child nearly starve before the battle is won.
Q: What made you enter this particular contest? Have you entered any other contests with this script? If so, how did you do?A: Redinkworks was recommended by a friend in a screenwriters workshop I attend. I entered the script in several contests; it placed in the top 25 percent in two of them, and received an honorable mention in another.
Q: Were you satisfied with the adminstration of the contest? Did they meet their deadlines? Did you receive all the awards that were promised?A: Yes to all those questions, although I've learned through the process that I need to follow up closely on most contests to see how my script fared, as notification can be haphazard.
Q: Were you given any feedback on your script? If so, did you find the feedback helpful?A: I got very positive and helpful feedback from two contests: Redinkworks, where the script placed third, and I paid a small fee for feedback from another another contest in which the script did not place.
Q: Has your success in this contest helped you market your script? Were you contacted by any agents, managers or producers?A: The Redinkworks contest has helped me market through the Inktip.com website. I've had several email contacts from producers, and one phone call from an agency who asked to read another one of my scripts. Nothing tangible has come of any of this yet.
Q: What's your background? Have you written any other screenplays or television scripts?A: I've been a writer/editor (paid and unpaid) for most of my life. I'm currently "between gigs." My most recent paid writing job was for the Secretary of Labor in Washington. I've written one novel (yep, it's sitting in a drawer). I'm concentrating now on screenplays -- I have completed three and am working on my fourth.
Q: Do you live in Los Angeles? If not, do you have any plans to move there?A: No, and no. Don't mind visiting though.
Q: What's next? Are you working on a new script?A: I will keep writing scripts as long as the story ideas keep coming. More important to me is to continue marketing "Bread and Roses" -- I want people to know the story of the brave women who marched in the snow, a great but little-known hallmark of the modern labor movement, which gave us the minimum wage, safer workplaces, and the weekend.
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2004
