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.

“Surviving Esperance”

Written by Zach Kalinyak

What motivated you to become a writer?

Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek had a lot to do with why I’ve started writing and especially screenwriting. From the time I was 13 on I was writing Star Trek spin-offs for myself. That led to creation of a new franchise I call The Television Trilogy under the advice of P.E. Novak who co-wrote more than a thousand episodes of our Star Trek fan fiction. The Television Trilogy consists of The Great Endeavour, Surviving Esperance and The Trials of Telepathy, which is where our efforts are currently focused, due to coronavirus.

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

Life. Every plot usually reflects an issue that’s pressing in the modern day. Then there are just scenes that snowball, especially when co-writing into a full episode and sometimes even two parters. Real life inspiration and dividing characters when co-writing are the keys to prolific and still popular writing.

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?

Most often writing is about the plot, regardless of production details. The less stressed when writing the more entertaining the plot. Then figuring out how to get it made is a totally different process.

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 purpose of The Television Trilogy is to provide entertaining and inspirational fairly accurate Sci-Fi, the way Star Trek used to. You can tell that Star Trek influenced aspects, but other aspects resemble Galaxy Quest, Star Wars and Firefly, so this is really an eclectic project. The Trials of Telepathy is strictly for morale boosting, due to coronavirus. However considering it’s a pilot episode that’s very strongly tied to both The Great Endeavour and Surviving Esperance there’s a lot of options for ancillary revenue in many possible ways. Mostly syndication on streaming services and television networks after the popularity becomes clear.

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

Varied results. I haven’t submitted Trials of Telepathy for screenwriting contests The Great Endeavour — Wake Up, Brother John, which I consider the best script was submitted to this contest and got no attention, Surviving Esperance, which I considered second best had it’s pilot selected for the Page Turner screenplay contest, so there’s been very mixed results.

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?

The Television Trilogy projects are like the Star Trek series. Only more closely linked. The half hour sitcom, Trials of Telepathy, is about two aliens who met the Endeavour attempting to make first contact with Earth and causing a paradox instead, because of the Endeavour’s time travel. But it’s better when watched in conjunction with The Great Endeavour.

The Great Endeavour starts with a movie trilogy, consisting of Wake Up Brother John, Give the Ship a Map, and A Hole in Guwanmilt’s Case, following the story of fifteen astronauts, lost in space and time, with the help of some screaming Ulndirites and a Wilcox Special Investigator on par with Sherlock Holmes. In deep space, these astronauts trained only for Mars must learn to become basically the crew of the starship Enterprise in a ship more comparable to Firefly’s Serenity. Then the plans of NASA that sent the Endeavour through time lays the backstory for Surviving Esperance.

Surviving Esperance is about an international effort, orchestrated by IFSE, the International Federation of Space Exploration to colonize Mars. This was going to be the hardest sell, until coronavirus hit. Now we all know what kind of supply issues will be faced on Mars. This was the part that no one else seemed to understand, when people kept comparing it to The Expanse. But I feel I have a common frame of reference now, to make the sale easier. So as you’ve heard/read each brief description now, you understand that these projects are sufficiently intricate to need investors in a variety of places and probably each piece of The Television Trilogy will appeal to a different type of investor.

The Trials of Telepathy logline: A telepathic operative observes Earth, defending it from paradox while struggling to maintain his self-control, surrounded by dangerous vortexes known on Earth as narcissists that could compromise his self-control completely.

The Great Endeavour logline: Lost in space and time, fifteen astronauts team up with aliens from the Trappist-1 system in a long sojourn to discover when and where they are, solving problems, crimes and mysteries of space on their journey home.

Surviving Esperance logline: It’s those who can survive without hospitals, those who can survive without factory supplies, who come from the remote corners of Earth to make a Mars colony able to survive.

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

I’m on IMDb as Zach Kalinyak, my production website is https://www.strangehorizonsmedia.com where all three projects are detailed. On the matter of The Television Trilogy project it’s a three in one deal. We’ve already got casting underway for all three. Some casting decisions are public knowledge on IMDb others have been cast more behind closed doors, like The Great Endeavour.