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.

“Shooting at Ballerinas”

Written by Hank Isaac

What motivated you to become a writer?

I pretty much hated writing my entire life.  Writing assignments in school became annoying nightmares.  Grade school, high school, college… Didn’t matter.  Moments of dread.  What I eventually discovered was:  I hated writing because I couldn’t get my thoughts down on the page fast enough.  So it was really frustration which ultimately evolved into disdain.

Then, when I was nearly 50, my wife found a great year-long screenwriting certificate program at a local university.  I ended up hooked.  Why?  First, screenwriting is done best with as few words as possible (Yay!).  Second, it made me realize that, for my entire life, I had always been making up stories.  I just never wrote them down.  I acted them out with friends.  I thought about them.  I built props, sets, etc.  Never wrote them down.

Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?

I have a backlog of ideas which I will never be able to see realized — even in written form.  I’m an only child and was fortunate to have indulgent parents.  So I led a pretty fanciful childhood.  Even the smallest experience can kick off a flood of story ideas.

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’ve often been scolded for writing “non-commercial” films and TV series, but frankly, I don’t care.  Would I like to earn something from my work?  Sure.  Would I alter what I write to do that?  Probably not.  Besides, how many films and TV series which have been wildly successful today would have been considered non-commercial in an earlier time?  My one fear is that I’m headed down the path to become the van Gogh of screenwriting (keeping both ears, of course).  You know I think as writers, we will always be faced with someone remarking — as if speaking to, say, Picasso — “Yeah, I like it, but could you tone down the orange a bit.”

What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.

I envision Shooting at Ballerinas as a WEB TV series because I believe the Internet is the engine of the Third Golden Age of Television.  This is a story about a precocious genius of a child but it’s a story not aimed exclusively at children.

As a result, I feel it could have a pretty wide audience.  Certainly I would love to direct the series, but not directing is not a deal breaker.  I’m also looking forward to flying the airplane which is an important part of the story.

How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?

Shooting at Ballerinas has done okay.  I’ve not yet entered the pilot teleplay in very many competitions but its “success rate” is over 86% at the moment.  It was a Second Rounder at Austin, it won 2nd Place at The Indie Gathering, it was a finalist in the Filmatic Short Screenplay Awards, was an official selection of the New York City International Screenplay Awards, and it won the Comedy Division of the 28th People’s Pilot competition.  It also won “Best WEB Series Pilot” in that same competition.

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?

Shooting at Ballerinas is Eloise meets Jackson Pollock as a precocious and totally weird little girl whose priceless art is recognized around the world as genius conducts an all-out war against a society that’s trying desperately to make her “normal.”

A crazy kid does all the things we all wish we were young enough to do.  What’s not to love.

Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2447350
https://vimeo.com/hankisaac
https://www.myfirsttimemovie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LilacSeries/
https://matthewtoffolo.com/tag/hank-isaac/
https://www.facebook.com/thebenchmovie/
https://hankisaac.weebly.com/

…or just ‘Google’ my name for more.