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.
Lions of Florence and A Fire in the Mind
Written by Ken White
What motivated you to become a writer?
My fifth grade teacher, Jack Leach, inspired a love of reading in me and my fellow students. The more stories I read, the more I realized I was a storyteller. I was a history major in college. I went to work in corporate communications and advertising. Each endeavor was about communicating a message through story. When I discovered Joseph Campbell and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, there was no turning back.
Starting on a blank page is not easy-where does your creativity come from?
I write what I know, which is the Central Valley of California in general and Modesto specifically. Everything I have written revolves around my home town. It is amazing, but not surprising, that there are so many stories inspired by this place. I will never have time enough to write them all.
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?
Absolutely. Storytelling is a collaborative medium. Having come from the worlds of corporate communications and advertising, I understood very early the need for working together. I learned the skills of discipline, patience, and cooperation while working in those fields. I am confident those skills will allow me to successfully work collaboratively.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
Lions of Florence and A Fire in the Mind are my two favorite projects of the many.
I have written. The first is about a painting competition between Leonardo and Michelangelo staged by Machiavelli at the height of the Renaissance. The second is a story about how mythologist Joseph Campbell nearly derailed the career of novelist John Steinbeck before it began by having an affair with Steinbeck’s wife, Carol. Both scripts are biopics and historical dramas. My hope is to find a manager, producer, and/or director who is as passionate about these projects as I am.
(A Fire in the Mind finished in the top 10 in the 2017 Capital Fund Screenplay Competition.)
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
I have won contests with both and finished as a quarterfinalist, semifinalist, and finalist in a number of others.
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?
Although they became legends, these are real people with real problems. In one, it’s the price of fame. In the other, it’s the price of love. The story in each is about how they deal with those problems. The reason to tell the story is the lesson each teaches us about how we can deal with those same issues.
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc. that you would like to share?