WINNER OF THE FIRST FIFTEEN MINUTES SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FOR JULY

D.D. Capps' screenplay Moon has been selected as the winner of The First Fifteen Minutes Screenplay Competition for July. Tanglewood Films would like to congratulate D.D. and recognize the superior craftsmanship in his work. He will be showcased here, receive free coverage on his script and have his work forwarded to production companies actively seeking new scripts.

Moon

A broken down ex-cop helps a woman search for her missing husband.

 

In a previous life (when I was younger) I came to Hollywood fresh from film school (CSUSF), had my first screenplay optioned and thought I was "on my way"...

A few years and a few television assignments (and a few residuals) later I knew I was "on my way"...

But, being young and naïve, and trying to learn my craft "on the job" with no real training to fall back on, I was unable to parlay this modest early success into a career.

In my current life (I am older now, and apparently this is where I was "on my way" to) I work in television as an assistant director. I started in features but now work almost exclusively on sit-coms (I wrote one episode for a show I was working on, but that‚s not where my heart is).

I've always kept writing (in my "spare" time) but recently rededicated myself to the process. With none of my writing contacts left from the old days, I thought I'd try the contest route. This was the first one I entered and, needless to say, I am very appreciative and encouraged by the response.

D.D. Capps

There was a period of time where I would paralyze myself with the internal debate over whether what I was writing would "sell" or not. More debate than writing. Now I try to treat my spec writing as if it were an "assignment" given me by someone else. I forego the question of how "commercial" it is and simply try take what I've got (what I've given myself) and apply as much craft as I can to it without continually second-guessing my initial choice to write it.

The other thing I've come to more fully appreciate is the importance of rewriting. Actors rehearse their performance, writers rewrite theirs (and directors re-shoot and re-edit theirs). You can almost always go back and make something better.

My current rewrite self-assignment is "My Life is Your Life", a Christmas story set in Prohibition-era Chicago about twin brothers, one a bootlegger in trouble with the IRS and the other the accountant hired to help him, who meet for the first time a few days before Christmas. It's a comedy (I hope).