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.
“The Chase for the Q-Bit”
Written by Lee Tidball
What motivated you to become a writer?
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I loved going to movies—still do. I was also loved the stories that I read to my students in my teaching career. I taught 6th graders, so I became familiar with much amazing middle-grade and young adult literature. I also read Classics Illustrated comics when I was young, which gave me an appreciation for the classics. Being a screenwriter was always my biggest dream.
Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?
I’m a graduate of Screenwriting U’s Master of Screenwriting Certificate, a professional-level, 18-month course. We used unique techniques to develop hundreds of high concepts that could be developed as screenplays. I also like developing existing ideas, whether ideas dreamed up by a friend, re-imagining public domain novels, buying rights to published material, or writing-for-hire from beat sheets supplied by publishers/producers. Give me great ideas, and creativity starts flowing.
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 tell stories that have not only audience appeal, but appeal to producers, financiers, actors, directors, cinematographers, stunt and effects people, etc. Everything is written with a certain budget in mind and for a target audience. This project is written for a very broad audience, with roles in multiple age ranges and includes current trends like female-driven stories with child/YA stars and adults in main roles. It’s written for a PG-13 rating; edgy, yet suitable for many ages. Though set in the US, characters could be of any race or ethnicity, and it’s in a genre that has lots of international appeal.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
My dream is to see this as a major motion picture and/or novel. Like Jurrasic Park, it’s a compelling, “safe” way to introduce both sides of a near-future technology (the quantum computer) to the world; its amazingly good and frighteningly sinister applications, as well as being highly entertaining and fun.. It would make a great novel which could add richness to the screen story for readers, especially adults and the YA demo. The Q-Bit could become a high-tech toy for kids and teens, an Alexa/Siri specifically for them. There’s a role for a pre-teen singing prodigy that could make it a bigger box office draw and enhance soundtrack sales. Title and logline are below.
The Chase for the Q-Bit – Three kids find the world’s most powerful computer, then must go on the run from its thieves, helped by an unknow soldier who may or may not be their long-dead mother.
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
Right out of the gate, this script, under a different name, was the Winner of the Family Genre Award in the inaugural Capital Fund Screenplay Competition in 2015. After much rewriting, the script’s most recent and significant honor has been placing as a Top Ten Finalist in the Family category of the 2019 PAGE Intn’l Screenwriting Awards, considered one of the top 5 screenplay contests in the world by industry insiders.
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?
Concerning me, I’d emphasize my over 15 years of experience as a novelist and screenwriter including spec writing, write-for-hire, re-writing and polishing, adapting novels for the screen (and vise-versa), and re-writing to producer notes. Concerning the project, besides its broad audience appeal, I’d refer them to Capital Fund’s Commercial Viability Report (CVR) which scores the project in the “ready” range (8 out of 10), with high marks for current competitive market potential, foreign sales, and ancillary sales potential while requiring only medium cash flow. It also notes that it would be best suited for a global audience, its premise is a rising trend, and its encumbrance risk is low. It assumes talent in the low to medium Q score range, and features notable roles for an established female star, and a breakout role for a YA female. This sums up to a project of modest financial risk with considerable upside potential.
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm5883053/