LuckyBoy

Lucky Boy Lucky ... ready for reading

2008-05-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Lucky Boy Lucky, my spec script about the race between love and luck to overcome despair and death, shows six months in the life of Carlito (Carl) Faustus. Carl, a 25-year-old Adonis, in the words of his agent, has the world "by the balls" until he undergoes medical castration to save his life.

Having distanced himself from his dysfunctional family and only half-heartedly worked at establishing any friendships or other meaningful relationships, he suddenly finds himself alone in the world except for his dog, Socrates. When Carl's choices lead to the loss of the dog, he surrenders to his despair and attempts suicide only to be saved by his own careless timing. More discouraged than ever, he tries to outrun a diverse cast of former friends and lovers, a burned out priest, an ineffective shrink, and a wise elderly man (the symbolic head of an informal family of homeless misfits), and three lottery playing co-workers -- all of whom want to save him from his worst enemy, himself. Lucky Boy Lucky is drama built around universal themes that date back to the story of Venus and Adonis, and Dante's Divine Comedy.

This story is divine drama, with romance, suspense, and wisdom. Screenplay now available for review. Reply to this post if interested.

Phase One Complete!

2008-04-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today, I celebrate! LUCKY BOY, the first draft, is complete. Of course there is an ironic twist to this. I downloaded a trial version of Sophocles Screenwriting software from the creator's website, imported my notes from MS WORD, and wrote the whole thing on Sophocles, thinking when I finished I'd register the program. I really liked Sophocles! So...having completed the draft, I clicked to register at www.sophocles.net and got the dreaded "Page cannot be found" error message. A long search using Google and Yahoo reveals nothing as to the cause of Sheehan Software's disappearance from the web. In the meantime, I am stuck with a finished screenplay that I cannot export or print. Perhaps I can just float my laptop around to the various studios and they can read it directly on screen...right. Well, if you are reading this and have any idea what happened to Sophocles, please let me, and the world, know. Meanwhile, I'll go sit by the front door and wait for UPS to deliver my copy of Final Draft...so I can begin retyping Lucky Boy in time for the Nillson contest deadline.

Writing Lucky Boy

2008-04-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

The idea for this screenplay blossomed almost complete in my head late last winter. I wrote the whole story on 27 index cards, then invited my wife out to breakfast to hear it. When I finished telling her the story, she looked at me with as much love as I have ever felt and told me I had to write it. The first draft was actually a full treatment, very detailed, with much of the dialogue. It weighed in at 105 pages. From there, I wrote the first true draft of the screenplay, 122 pages before I reformatted it to Hollywood Standards. I'm working on the second draft now, using tools from SAVE THE CAT and Paul Chitlik's REWRITE. My goal is to have the finished screenplay ready to mail by the May 1, 2008 deadline for the Nicholl's Screenwriting Contest and then to take it and a half-dozen ideas to Pitchfest in June. I'm loving this process!

Lucky Boy Luck

2008-03-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Coming soon, my latest Screenplay...