JONATHAN GEFFNER

ALSO ON SITE

1. What is your screenplay about?

A serial killer is on the loose near a creepy old inn isolated in rural England. A young actress - Chloe - has retreated to this inn to rest her frayed nerves after a personal tragedy. Yet she now believes that the killer's primary target is her. She calls her former lover - an American detective/ventriloquist Van Trillo - and persuades him, along with his wooden partner, Sam Suede, to come to the inn to protect her. But will Trillo and Suede be able to catch the killer before they become the next victims?

2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay?

I have written several prior feature film screenplays featuring the ventriloquist/dummy detective duo of Trillo & Suede. The screnplays take place in various locations: NYC;, Shanghai, China; a mythical Indian city, and England.

Each screenplay had apparent funding sources lined up and ready to fund production as an indie film, and each time the funding disappeared. This time I was determined to write a Trillo & Suede screenplay that could be produced on a small budget, since I believe that a stumbling block to funding the previous scripts was the required budgets.

I also felt that the location of an inn in rural England would provide a good opportunity to explore and combine genres as I would like, i.e. film noir combined with the traditional English country manor mystery genre. I like that mix, and I also like the friction of juxtaposing the hard-nosed, no-nonsense NYC detective with the upper class British characters, as well as the various other British characters.

I did write and produce a 15 minute demo for the Trillo & Suede film series, Oxford Park, which can be seen on our website, www.trilloandsuede.com.

3. How long have you been writing screenplays?

About 14 years.

4. What is you all-time favorite film? (name only one)

Casablanca

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

Martin Scorsese

6. How many screenplays have you written?

Seven.

7. Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years?

Back in NY (I'm living in Hong Kong now), writing and producing indie films.

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

I find that I must plunge in, feverishly writing down all kinds of ideas, plot threads, characters and snippets of dialogue. I gradually shift to deleting most of what I've written, and start developing what I feel are the best ideas into a detailed plot treatment. Then I incorporate dialogue and must constantly remind myself to be brutal in editing out most of what I write until I have that first draft. Then I give it a rest and come back to it fresh - inevitably realizing that I still must make eveything more concise, while possibly expanding other elements due to what I feel are strokes of genius that invariably turn out to be piles of crap.

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

My children, my ventriloquist career, Guided Chaos (a martial art) and film noir.

10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Script Contest?

It sounded unique in that the winners actually get to have a reading of their scripts for industry pros.

11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

Since I am an unproduced screenwriter (aside from one self-produced short film) I think it would be a chutzpah for me to give advice to anyone.

Jonathan Geffner, Jonathan Geffner, Jonathan Geffner