MICHAEL ELLIOTT
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Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Annapolis, Maryland, USA
 
Your script stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your story and why did you write a script instead of a short story or a novel?
I’m a current events/news junkie. So I’m aware of the growing crime problems and breakdown of law and order. I wondered what happens to a law-abiding family that gets totally ensnared in horrible crime scenario and then is literally abandoned by the police and legal system? How do they cope with the on-going deprivations from a criminal gang? How far can you go to defend yourself and your family?
 
How long did it take you to write your script...and what is your writing process? Do you outline...use index cards...white board...or just start with FADE IN?
I wrote the first draft around 1988. My then-agent didn’t know how to market it because it seemed, to her, to be too much of a genre-bender. When I got back into screenwriting in 2019 and watched the 2020 riots, I resurrected it, reshaped it and made it more contemporary. That required four more rewrites to get it to where it is today. I’m still working on it to correct structural issues. When I do, I’m confident it’ll go from a “Finalist” to a “Winner”.  My writing “process” is that I develop the basic outline mentally and then just start writing. I’m not a very organized person so doing an outline or something similar is boring and counterproductive.
 
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
I want to live long enough to see something I wrote become a movie or end up on a streaming platform.
 
Which film or television writers inspire you? Why?
William Goldman, Taylor Sheridan. Truthfully, I don’t know who are today’s most in-demand writers. I’m too busy trying to become one of them.
 
What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show?
MOVIE: The original “Magnificent 7”. It’s an old-fashioned morality play about sin and redemption packaged as a Western-themed action movie. TELEVISION: “Cheers”. Great writing, probably the best overall cast in television comedy history.
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
No one fails in Hollywood, they just give up. That’s the key, if you have talent and drive, don’t get discouraged and most of all, don’t give up.
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
I’m really excited about my romantic drama, (I’ll Never Find) Another You. It was a semi-finalist in this contest. It’s my newest script and I believe it has immense upside as a commercially viable story. Nobody’s Heroes, my Vietnam War-era action saga remains my bell cow script, with 31 badges on Coverfly, where it’s been on the Red List since the beginning of 2023. Plus 41 finalist finishes on FilmFreeway. In the right hands, it could be a monster.