Sally Stubbs
Screenplay Finalist
"Centurions"

Where do you live (City, State, or Country)? 

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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?

Centurions was inspired by a rape: mine. I was a child. Ashamed, I remained silent about it for decades. I never even told my mom. When I finally found my voice, I had nothing but questions. Who were those boys? Why did they do it? Why me? I became obsessed by the ‘why?’ of it all as well as themes of imposed silence and recorded footage. 
I adapted Centurions from my stage play. I guess I always knew it should be a film. A video camera and filmmaking are integral to the story. Writing for film opens rich visual storytelling opportunities, and the medium speaks to both youth and adult audiences.
 
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’ve been working about two years on this adaptation. I’ve used outlines, index cards, etc., but I know I’m onto something when an idea finally comes to life for me as an image which I then follow. The first images for Centurions were of: an awkward 18-year-old boy who is stubbornly silent when interrogated by police; and a 14-year-old girl practicing the moves of a great blue heron alone at night on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
 
 What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? 

I want to tell the stories that are brave and intimate and that really matter to me in a way that excites and impacts the audiences I’m reaching out to.   
 
 
Which film or television writers inspire you? Why? 

So many! Taika Waititi, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Martin McDonagh, Bong Joon-ho, Sophia Coppola, Coen Brothers, Sally Wainwright, William Goldman, John Patrick Shanley, Diabolo Cody, Mike Leigh, Chris Lang…   
 
They’re all so different. Each brings a unique voice and vision to the writing which often sweeps me away and gives me, as an audience member, no choice. I disappear into some of the films and series by these writers. I aim to be that kind of writer.  
 
 What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show? 

It changes. For some time now, I’ve been love with Taika Waititi’s film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which he adapted from the novel: Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. Waititi’s adaptation is compelling, moving, and, of course, hilarious.
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? 

Take advantage of the great feedback that’s available, keep writing and rewriting, and believe in yourself even when you don’t. In the words of Ann-Marie MacDonald, a Canadian writer of great plays and novels: ‘Do the work. Keep the faith. It matters.’

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?  

I’m working on a few things, one of which is Underbelly, a TV pilot for a limited series inspired by the first women cops in Vancouver, Canada. Logline: In 1912 Vancouver, a sheltered, young nurse and a streetwise seamstress struggle to establish themselves as the first female police officers while navigating prejudice and one another and hunting for an elusive serial killer in defiance of their orders.

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