MICHAEL D. KENNEY
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Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
I have resided in St Augustine, Florida the last two and a half years. I was New York City based the previous twenty and am still New York City based professionally.

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?
St. Augustine, beneath the surface façade of a tourist city and historic site, is a city haunted by a deep history of conflict and piracy and clashes. St Augustine has a unique culture, different than anywhere else in Florida, or the low country for that matter, and right now, somewhere behind the trolley’s full of tourists and fishing charters, there is a complicated battle brewing between the deep-rooted locals and the influx of transplants from all over the country and their sprawling subdivisions that threaten this culture. This triggered my imagination about the bait shop, the water, piracy and smuggling, and St Augustine. Characters came to life in my imagination and in contemplating the current culture issue, I brought in characters from unrelated short stories written here and there and the seed for the story sprouted.

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?
The first draft I wrote in several days in a notebook. No outlines or cards or boards, just a pencil. The second draft took about a week, which I typed into Final Draft. The final editing took me several weeks as I am just learning the professional technicalities of the screenplay format. I try to keep a daily writing habit. I write in notebooks regularly: short stories, flash fiction, poems, scenes. Anything that comes to mind really, and it helps me sort through source material and keep a creative dialogue with myself. When it comes together enough to start on a specific project I will just start writing, and hopefully within a few pages, the characters take over and drive the story.

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
I am an avid reader watcher, and there are times, very special moments, when reading a screenplay or story or novel, or watching a movie or show, when you get lost in the writer’s world and it becomes your own. You grow very personal bonds with the characters and story that create your own experience that shapes your own worldview.
If I could just once have someone read my work (or if I am lucky watch a finished film) and have a similar experience, where they connect and bond with the characters and places, then my ultimate ambition will be fulfilled.

Which film or television writers inspire you? Why?
For television, Nic Pizzolatto. The first season of True Detective, for me, is pure brilliance in every way. I have read the pilot episode dozens of times. The character studies and the weaving of time and creation of place as a character are magical. The scripts have been a pure joy to read and study. Also, for television, Matthew Weiner and his, and all the writers through the seasons, work on Mad Men. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is pure joy to read, and the level of character depth and the number of story arcs and using New York as a character was all done so beautifully. For film, Charlie Kaufman. I read as much of his work as much as possible as often as I can, and it always sets my imagination racing.

What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show?
Television, True Detective Season One. It captured my imagination on the first watch and has gotten even better and more complex and nuanced after several dozen binge watches.
Film, the answer could be different on any day of the week, but currently I have revisited Sideways quite a few times lately, and the characters and their relationships are incredible. The subtle satire throughout is brilliant, and sticking with my current theme as well, Santa Barbara taking on the role of location and character was well done.
Next week it will probably be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again.

What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Write for yourself and edit for professionals. Have fun and enjoy your characters and the worlds you made for them. Look forward to feedback, especially constructive criticism. Contests are a great tool in your evolution and progress regardless of the results.

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
I write every day. Currently in my stack of finished work are a dozen or so short stories and two full feature screenplays. One is a Florida based drama about a man who walked away from his life and is living in a roadside welfare motel when he gets caught between two women and his new future and his past, and the other a thriller about fear, love, murder, consequence, and commitment based in New York City. In its second draft is a short screenplay, a sort of whimsical fairy tale, about a man who falls asleep floating on his back in the ocean in St Augustine and has a magical journey in the deep sea that ends in a Key West bar where he has a conversation with Brendan Fraser over several beers.
There is a blank notebook on my desk now, that hopefully will be filled with the first draft of my third full feature screenplay soon.

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