What motivated you to become a writer?

Honestly, it was never my dream to become a writer. It was more like waking up after an amazing dream and finding out that you’re pregnant. Not that I’ve ever been pregnant. I am a guy, after all. It’s just that I experienced something unexpected in the Peruvian rainforest that planted itself, like a seed in my mind. For months that experience grew, always looking for light to become something more. At some point I knew it had to become a story. At that point I knew I had to learn the craft of writing.

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

I think attacking the ‘blank page’ is toward the end of the creative process. Long before that I ask myself many questions about who my characters are, what their lives are like, what they want and what they are afraid of. I imagine their world and its dangers, and its pleasures. Then I ask myself what happens in my character’s lives that change everything. From these questions, and many others, I start feeling, and organizing, the story structure. At a certain point I begin to ‘see’ scenes and ‘hear’ characters speaking in their unique voices. That’s when the blank page just becomes a repository for what I’ve already seen and heard.

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 probably should, but I don’t, at least directly. My screenplays, so far, have been for feature animation. As an animator myself, I do have a sense of the genre, and what is happening these days in the field. When I wrote my first screenplay, “Spirit of the Rain,” i.e. my rainforest story, It was not certain that the animation industry was capable of creating some of the rich and beautiful scenes that I envisioned in my mind. Since then the technology has made anything possible.

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

As far as ancillary revenue goes, I think that’s probably not my job. I leave it to the marketing folks to figure out. That said, “Spirit of the Rain” is full of fun, cute, courageous, flirtatious and memorable characters. I mean, what could be cuter than pygmy marmosets? (Not the main hero characters). More interesting to me is the theme of reverence for the ancient rainforest, and fostering a commitment to preserving all of its amazing characters and beauty. “Spirit of the Rain” could rekindle a popular demand for preserving the rainforest forever.

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

You win some. You lose some. Since “Spirit of the Rain” is a family film, I’ve found that entering contests that don’t have a “Family Film” category, rarely results in a win. When “Spirit of the Rain” was included in the list of winners in the Capital Fund Screenplay contest, it really made my day. I meant that my imaginings had some potential value beyond my own personal escape into the rainforest of my mind.

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 would say, Give everyone, in every nation, a window into the Heart of the World,  through the lives and adventures of Chico and Amor, and all of the beautiful, funny and amazing cast of “Spirit of the rain.”

Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
I believe that “Spirit of the Rain,” and another screenplay of mine, “Desert Rat” can be read on Talentville.com