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.
“Silicon Valley Family”
Written by Carol Lee Hall
What motivated you to become a writer?
When I was in ninth grade, my English teacher scribbled a note at the top of one of my assignments: “Carol, you’re a writer.” I put that thought in the back of a closet as I prepared for college. After college, I became a teacher, but after having a baby, I didn’t want to go back to teaching. So I took that thought of becoming a writer out of the closet, dusted off, and tried it on. It fit!
After successfully publishing a non-fiction book the traditional way, I started writing novels. My goal was to write a book that would eventually become a movie. After working seven years on a novel, it was accepted by a publisher, but due to personal reasons, I had to take it off the market. I cried like I had lost a baby! After grieving briefly, I thought, since my end goal was to get movies made of my work, why not write screenplays? I have been writing scripts ever since.
Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?
Many of my ideas come from personal experience, books I’ve read, or experiences of other people. One of my TV pilots actually came from a dream! I dreamt I was watching a sitcom about an East Indian family moving in with a white American family and when I woke up, I thought, I’d really like to see a show like that. I started thinking, why would the Indian family want to move in with the white family and why would that family allow them to? In my imagination, the Indian family moved in because they wanted to live in the desirable school district with high scores and the white family’s mom passed away and they needed rent money to pay the mortgage.
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?
I used to write whatever struck my fancy, but now I am more conscious of other factors needed to get a script to screen. My last two projects are relatively inexpensive because I know it’s hard to raise money. They are family friendly because these types of stories can be viewed by the widest audience numerically-speaking. Diversity is very important nowadays and my stories have diverse characters. I write four-quadrant stories that will resonate with males and females, young and old.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
The TV pilot alluded to in a previous answer is called Silicon Valley Family. The father of the Indian family is an inventor of smart home products, including a self-cleaning toilet that has the capacity to chemically analyze a user’s “output” to determine diabetes, the need for a colonoscopy, etc. While there are self-cleaning toilets on the market today, they are very expensive and don’t make medical analyses. But the type of invention depicted in the pilot can exist in the near future. Smart home products available today such as security cameras, lighting, TVs, etc. can be featured on the show. Deals can be made with manufacturers to provide product placement funds or special “Silicon Valley Family” editions to be sold in stores.
Although I could actually film this television series in my house and areas where I live and post it on Youtube, my dream would be for it to become a major network or streaming TV series that can be viewed around the world.
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
Silicon Valley Family was a semi-finalist in the 2020 Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival held in San Jose, California.
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 have formed my own film production company, Blue Carp Productions LLC, to produce some of my own projects. Besides penning numerous award-winning screenwriting projects, some of my other strengths are organization, administration, marketing, and project managing. I have produced stage productions, written grant proposals, worked with children as a teacher, and headed up various projects in different non-profit situations. My past life experiences have prepared me to be a film producer and work with investor partners to turn dreams into reality.
Silicon Valley Family, at its heart, is about two families who learn to live together despite their cultural, generational, and gender differences. It asks the question: Can their differences keep them together?
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-lee-hall-98317810/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7522566/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.CarolLeeHall.com (til 3/31), SiteGround System Page Coming Soon (after 3/31)