WRITER PROFILE
It’s always great to get together with a large group of writers and investors and keep up to date on what’s new, the screenplay contest, any recent deals, new dealmaker contacts, agents or managers that are looking and simply encouraging everyone to keep going after every dream in this difficult industry. For the hard working writer we want to do as much as we can to continue the exposure and word of mouth in the investment circles of the industry. Another way we do this is with writer interviews that we send far and wide and showcase at all possible meetings and markets.
We want to encourage your writing spirit, motivate you and again give you the accolades you so deserve.
Taser
Written by David M Hinds
What motivated you to become a writer?
Misfortune!
Some years ago I suffered two major strokes within one weekend, the second so severe it took out an entire artery in my neck. Half my body was paralysed, but from my hospital bed I decided to challenge myself to write a stroke recovery book. After Stroke was published in the year 2000 by HarperCollins, and I haven’t stopped writing since.
Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?
My own lifetime experiences and, as an award-winning stress management consultant, I have had the privilege of meeting and helping people who have encountered horrendous incidents and suffered great trauma.
Do you write projects knowing that so many other factors need to happen to get it to screen and does that come into your project creation?
No, I don’t because that would put me off. I just get on with it and see what happens.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
My dream for my project titled “Taser” (alternate title “The Happiness Angel”) is for the Taser companies to be brought to account for the thousands of Taser-related deaths worldwide, and to come clean about the real-life problem of post-Taser behavioural change, which inspired this screenplay rather like Erin Brockovich.
There is an interesting prequel for our heroine Candy, known online as The Happiness Angel, but that’s another revenue stream and another story…
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
Very good, so far – I am the outright winner of seven International Film Festival screenplay awards.
If you could stand in a room full of investor partners looking at many projects what would you like them to know about you and this project?
This project has taken me seven years to bring to fruition through extensive research and fourteen thorough rewrites. The last time I spent seven years on a project – in the late 1980s /early 1990s, I earnt £1.4million (equivalent to $6million today) by franchising my stress-management consultancy from home. The earning potential of this erotic, modern-day Erin Brockovich-style thriller is phenomenal.
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
David M Hinds