John R Feeney

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1. What is your screenplay about?

Connie lives on a reality show where everything is provided and she lives in the lap of luxury except she finds out that she has given up her freedom of choice. She soon discovers that the show is run by the devil himself as she struggles to win back her freedom of choice.

2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay?

It was my first screenplay and I just needed a subject. It was an interesting subject and had a range of ideas that I could play with while practicing screen writing.

3. How long have you been writing screenplays?

I have been writing and studying the theory of story for a long time but this is my first screenplay.

4. What film have you watched the most in your lifetime?

That is a tough one because it has changed over the years and I didn't keep count. When I was a kid, I would watch Silent Running with Bruce Dern every chance I got. Of course every kid forgot their past favorites when Star Wars came out. I forget how many times we saw Star Wars over the summer of 77.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I did not have Cable and did not get any TV reception in my building and I only watched my DVD collection or Blockbuster DVDs. It seemed that I had Vanilla Sky in the player most of the time.

5. What artist in the industry would you love to work with?

I always liked Charleton Heston or John Wayne but they are gone now. I am not sure I am too fanatical about todays actors. I like Lisa Gerrard's glossolalia is a great emotional augmentation to any film and team her up with Hans Zimmer and it is awesome. I would love to have them score one of my movies.

6. Who was your hero growing up?

I didn't really have any heroes growing up. I was a little disconnected from the world and living in my head. I was into science and art. I had my own little workshop in my room and was not really aware of the outside world. When I was not building something, I was dreaming of something. 7. Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years?

I would like to be living on the beach someplace. At this time I like Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula or Huntington Beach. I would them be writing my stories or writing my computer programs. I think it would be fun to work on a more efficient Solar Cell.

8. Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?

I like to dream of a character that I would like to watch. I then imagine them in different situations until I find something I like (Right Brain).

Then I create the story structure (Left Brain). Then I flesh it out based on the little dreams that I had at the beginning (Right Brain).

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I have a degree in Computer Science and I have taught myself Accounting because I work in business computing. I love to play with computers and things that can make my job easier. I love the Linux Operating System. I also love playing with Artificial Intelligence or just the Neural Net building blocks. I am also a big fan of the Theory of Story Telling. I like to watch how others have told very beautiful stories and try and figure out what worked in that story. I think my driving force behind all of this is that I just like to see how things work and then test it out myself. 10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Script Contest?

I liked the idea of having actor perform a part of my screenplay. It would be interesting to see what part of it they connect with and would like to perform. 11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

Learn everything you can about anything that interests you. It is all useful in unexpected ways. Try and learn to use both halves of your brain, the intuitive side and the analytical.

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