WRITER PROFILE
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“Fuegia”
Written by Ariadna Sionta
What motivated you to become a writer?
Since I was a little girl I find greatness in everyday stories. I love to listen to every kind of them, sad stories, love stories, epic stories… even dreams! I feel that each story has an emotional approach, and it’s through emotions that we can feel empathy for one another. I want to represent these stories through my writing and in this way, letting them persist through space, different cultures and time. In other words, stories softens us up, they reveal the humanity in every one of us connecting us to one another and that’s why they never get old.
Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?
The idea of having a blank page intimidated me and made me feel anxious, that’s why I came up with a personal rule which actually is to never have my page empty. I always write down a line, even though I don’t feel like it or despite the fact I have to erase it or change it afterwards. Once, I read an interview from a 44 times grammy-winner musician called Gustavo Santaolalla, who said that 90% of his work was “trash”, I quote: “Don’t wait for the fairies of inspiration, they’ll never come, inspiration will find you working”. I bear witness, this always works for me!
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 write to enjoy myself and I prioritize what the story needs. My secret tip is to impress the readers, agents or producers without limiting my imagination. Once I have their attention and according to the estimated budget, we discuss which scenes should be changed or replaced. Personally, I believe that there’s always a producer out there that might be just looking for what you’ve written, so there’s no need to start small. I feel there’s always time to “reduce” but on the contrast you never know how far you can get till you try it.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
For the 19th Century epic drama “Fuegia”, I started off my research in 2015 with the idea it would be a documentary about something that happened to some members of the yaghan tribe, the southernmost ethnic group of the planet. Little by little I started discovering new ingredients and new (very famous) characters that were surprisingly connected to the main story. Next thing I know, a whole movie unveiled in front of me. I showed the script to a couple of producers and they advised me to adapt it to a series since it has many strong, influential characters that can direct the plot towards many sub-plots significants to the main story.
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
To be honest, since it is an epic 19th century drama I think it is a very “big” and ambitious project for most of the contests. I haven only submitted it to my country’s institute fund (INCAA) for script development and another online contest. None of them have yet decided who the winner projects are.
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?
I want to create films that say something about humans and their points of view, passionating stories that engage us as a community and that help us understand where we come from as a society. I consider that with a small contribution, I can offer a debate or a story that may not be yet known but still tells a lot and thus, create conscience and awareness, to avoid repeating past mistakes. Fuegia, particularly, sheds light on a pivotal event that few people know about and changed modern history leading to many of nowadays issues. It is a very passionate story that portrays very famous characters in ways they haven’t been shown before. After reading Fuegia, you won’t see modern history with the same eyes.
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
POR TEMOR A DIOS (Fear of God) (2013)
CODE: PTAD
PELIGRO DE GOL (Score Danger) (2019)
CODE: PDG
EXTRACTO DE CUERDAS DEL ESPACIO (Extract of Strings of the Universe) (2020)
CODE: Cuerdas