December 18, 2025 • 36 mins
Nicole Jones-Dion, a screenwriter, director, and producer, shared her unconventional path into filmmaking, beginning in the world of video games and comics before moving into film. Known for her work on projects like Tekken 2, Dracula: The Dark Prince, and the SyFy thriller They Found Hell, she has built a career in genre storytelling that blends sci-fi, horror, and action. Her persistence paid off after writing more than fifteen spec scripts and seizing opportunities to rewrite and adapt existing material, which she says makes up most of Hollywood screenwriting.
Nicole’s approach emphasizes discipline, structure, and character-driven storytelling, ensuring her projects are both creative and marketable. She also found success with crowdfunding, raising nearly $20,000 for her short horror film Debris, which explored the legend of a cursed samurai sword. The campaign’s popularity proved the power of a strong concept and led to festival recognition. With her directorial debut Stasis and other projects in development, Nicole continues to explore stories that challenge audiences while entertaining them. Her journey demonstrates the importance of adaptability, hard work, and never stopping the pursuit of growth as a filmmaker.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.
Nicole’s approach emphasizes discipline, structure, and character-driven storytelling, ensuring her projects are both creative and marketable. She also found success with crowdfunding, raising nearly $20,000 for her short horror film Debris, which explored the legend of a cursed samurai sword. The campaign’s popularity proved the power of a strong concept and led to festival recognition. With her directorial debut Stasis and other projects in development, Nicole continues to explore stories that challenge audiences while entertaining them. Her journey demonstrates the importance of adaptability, hard work, and never stopping the pursuit of growth as a filmmaker.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
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Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, Episode number four fifty.
Your dream doesn't have an expiration date, Take a deep
breath and try again.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Kat You Whitten broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in
Hollywood when we really should be working on that next draft.
It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and
business of screenwriting while teaching you how to make your
screenplay bulletproof.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I am your humble host Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Now, today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
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Speaker 3 (01:34):
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis. My guest
is a screenwriter, producer, and director. She co wrote Tech
and two. She successfully crowdfunded her film Debris, and now
she's working on a ton of other stuff which we're
going to get into on the show with Nicole Jones Dion. Hey, Nicole,
(01:55):
thanks all for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
You know, it's my pleasure to cole Is. I think
you're the first person who have had on who is
also a member of the Screenwriting You Alumni series. I'm
pretty sure you are the first person. Oh cool, Yeah,
it's uh yeah, I don't know why I haven't had
anybody else on there yet on here yet, excuse me,
because you know it's that that group is always doing
(02:18):
great things. And one of the reasons I wanted to
have you on here is because every time I turn around,
you're always up to something new. You're you're always creating
some great content. So that's why I wanted to have
you on. I think everyone could learn a lot from you.
So just to get started, you know, just learning more
about Nicole Jones Dion, I wanted to ask, you know, Nicole,
(02:39):
what made you get started in screenwriting and the film
industry in general.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
You know, it's funny because when I moved to La
oh God, a long long time ago.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I don't want to say exactly how long go give
away my age, But when I moved out here, my
intention was never to get into films or screenwriting.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
It was to get into the video game industry.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
So I started out working in video games and then
I kind of segued into comics. And then the stories
I was coming up with, people were like, oh, put
the make great movies. And I was like, oh, that's
such a crochet. I don't want to be that cche
Hollywood treen writer and you know, flash forward and here
I am. So I think because I started out working
in that comic book and video game space, a lot
(03:16):
of my my cream plays and the genres that I'm
naturally drawn to are are these like you know.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Fun sci fi action.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Or you know, horror, you know, just just these really
fun fanboy type projects. And and you can see that
in the films that I've done, you know, if you
look at you know, like Dracula The Dark Prints, which
we did John Voight, that's a very even though it's
a Dracula film, it's more of a fantasy epic, you know,
sword and sorcery type take on the Dracula mythos.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
And then kak In Too, which is based on the
video game series.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
You know, I kind of got that gig, you know,
directly through also of Dracula, and then also because I
had that tie with the video game industry and.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
You know, and then writing for the Sci Fi Channel,
which I did last October.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I did an original film for them which aired as
part of their Thirty Days of Halloween heories that was
called They Found Hell Uh. And And now I'm I'm
transitioning into directing, and I just directed my first feature,
which is called Stasis, which is another sci fi kind
of action films. But it's funny, a lot of people
think of me primarily as a horror writer. But my
(04:19):
the genesis of my career in the start of it
is really more in that sci fi video game type space.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So did you find that, you know, the video game industry?
You know, I actually uh made a project for the
video game industry kind of sort of, And what I
found is when I reached out to them, a lot
of them were kind of leary, always about going and
making things you know about you know, uh, you know,
different projects because of you know, X, Y and Z.
(04:47):
So I want to ask, you know, Nicole, did you
find it it's harder or easier? And I know this
is that that's a very run stroke. Did you want
it's harder or easier in the video game industry to
get your foot in the door than it is the
film and TV industry?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I think, I mean it the video gaming hastry changed
a lot since I worked in it.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I mean, just to kind of put it in perspective.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
When I was doing it, it was during that weird
time when they were doing live action video games, so
it was almost like a choo short adventure movie that
was kind.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Of a friend.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So now I'm dating my belt, people will know that
era and at the time and that ended up being
a failed experiment because you ended up with all the
costs and expense of making a movie plus all the cost.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Expense of making a video game. And so they got
away from that really fast. And now was you know,
the way that the computer graphics have advanced, It's like
you're getting like these amazing photo realistic results without having
to do like a live action shoot.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
But I would say because.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Of the costs involved in video games, it's definitely easier
to do films because you can go out and shoot
a little movie on your iPhone. Now, whereas with video games,
you know, you've got programming and and and the solid
modeling and the video you know, all the TEP that's
intrinsic as part of that process.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I think, I think it is the harder not to crack.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Actually, now, you know, you know, I remember all of
those live action video games too. I think there was
one called fox Hunt. And I remember, you know, trying
renting those games. I'm thinking to myself, this can't be
the future ken it And uh yeah, I remember that
era where everyone was doing at least everyone had one.
It was someone called Psychic Detective. I remember that one.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Let me begin, there was kind of the big one
with Mark Cambell was.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, I remember that one too.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Yeah, weird, it was a weird time.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I think people kind of trying to forget that era
I even existed.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, I remember that so well. Uh so, you know,
you went to the video game industry and you know
you you tried your hand at that, and I agree
with you completely. The video game industry has changed immensely
because I have friends who work in the video game industry,
and you know, even when I was pitching some of
my projects, things have changed even five from five years ago, now,
you know, I mean, and now look at us now,
(06:57):
Nicole Pokemon Pokemon Go was the new you know, the
new craze, and they're they're they're making a mobile nes
system for sixty bucks, and you know, I'm sure that's
going to be a number one best seller as well.
So it's like the retro now is making a whole
everything stickleholes. I'm trying to say, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
It's amazing. I mean, an augmented reality. It's such a
fascinating thing.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I'm trying to avoided the Pokemon Go phenomena just because
I have this addictive personality, and I know, once I
get sucked in that did it, I'm done. There goes
my productivity for the rest of my life. But I
did play Ingress, which is a platform that it was
based on, and I think augmented reality is just fascinating.
The gameplay experience is really really interesting, and yeah, I
(07:40):
think there's it could be the way of the future,
at least way of the future for right now. It's
a fun little trend. I'm definitely keeping an eye on it.
I mean, Nintendo's market value went up like seven billion
dollars with a weekend just based off this one game alone.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
So yeah, it's an exigning time.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
It's deciding time to be in video games, film, TV, anything,
because is it just the wild West right now, you know,
with all the new cable outlets and Netflix and Hulu
and everybody doing all this original content. It's interesting because
the rules are all changing and they're changing daily and
like trying to keep you know, you can't even chase
trends anymore because the trends are changing, so it's like
(08:18):
trying to figure out, you know, to have to get
one step ahead of that curve and and stay ahead
of the rest of.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
The flock, you know, it's fun time.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, and even with crowdfunding, you know, I noticed all
the video games now or we're just being crowdfunded because
they were you know, basically they company would say, hey,
we can't take a chance on these video games so
that you know, the developers you know, would go out
and they would go make, you know, raise funds on Kickstarter.
And I was shocked at seeing some of the prices,
you know, some of the amounts that they were raising,
because I was thinking of myself, Wow, you know these
(08:49):
you know, I'm granting you know, these are the head developers,
you know, and they're coming out and saying, you know,
this is us doing this. But but still, you know,
I was a little shocked that they were getting the
private the amount that they were Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well because a lot of these the video game got
based on the board game companies too are using crab
funding almost as a way of doing pre.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Sales for the product. It's also as a way to test.
Thanks could you.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
I do a lot of work now with Sean Cunningham.
This is the creator Friday at thirteenth and they just
did a big crowdfunding campaign for the Friday. The thirteenth
video game, which they just previewed at E three a
couple of weeks ago, and the gameplay looks amazing. So
if you're a fan of I'm gonna go do a
little pitch here. But if you're a fan of A
Friday the Thirteenth franchise, this looks really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Well, and I'm a huge brand of it, so I
can't I can't wait for the video game, by the way.
But anyways, we know, you know, as we we follow
your career, I know, you know, you obviously transuh you know,
translated out of out of video games, and he started
doing doing more feature films. So how did you get,
you know, attached to writing you know, Dracula the Dark
Prints that one.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
It was such a long story, but I had met,
uh where to begin.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
So I had written an adaptation of an image graphic
novel called The Scribbler.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Well be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show, which I'd.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Done for Kicktart Entertainment. They went on to do a
Wanted with Angelina Julie and Davis mcilvoy And so at
the time that we're going around shopping my script, approaching
different directors, and one of the directors that they had
introduced me to as a possibility was this gentleman by
the name of Perry Tail. And then the writer's strike
happened and that project ended up never going anywhere.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
But Perry and I stayed in touch over the ears
and we collaborated on a bunch of projects.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
And he had been approached with, you know, the possibility
of writing and directing this Dracula film, and he's like,
I need help with the script.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Do you want to come on board? And I was like, absolutely, dude,
you're my guy, you know. And so we we worked.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
On Dracula together, that we worked on Tech and together,
and then he just produced my first feature film. So
it's one of these ongoing, you know, long term relationship show.
It's one of the things with this industry. It's all
about building relationships, finding champions, whore willing to go out
there and you know, put their necks out for you,
and making that really good first impression and then that'll
(11:08):
it'll just carry. You can build a creator out of that,
or at least get your foot in the door.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So when you let your foot in the door, were
you mainly doing, like script out of patients, or did
you come in with already having some of your own
original material already written?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Oh gosh, I had probably at the time I did Dracula, I.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Probably had at least fifteen specs already on the shelf
that had won various contests and had been optioned. Nothing
that had actually gone into production at that point. So
with Dracula and Tech and those types of things, those
were all writing assignments that I was brought on to
either fixing fisting scripts or develop ideas from scratch with
the producers. Yeah, but I would say that Stasis, which
(11:48):
is the script the Future that I just wrote and directed,
is the first time I actually pitched an idea. I
was hired to write my original idea. Everything prior to
that had been somebody else had an idea or had
an existing script that needed work, which is what percent
of the industry is is developing other people's stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So before you know, you wrote Drag, before you came
on the project of Dracula, you had written fifteen spec scripts.
So my question then is, Nicole, how did you find
the time to write fifteen specs scripts?
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (12:15):
You just do it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
You just I have no life, and I think. I
mentioned I have an addicted person at healthy so instead.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Of once I actually had to give up video games,
I had to give them up cul Turkey, which is
really hard. And but one of the things I used
to fill the void then is I just write. I
write constantly. I write every day all the time. I
have no lis. I have no real family out here
in la I mean, I have my husband, but all
my family's back East, So it's I don't have a
lot of the normal day to day distractions that other
(12:43):
people have, and I can just immerse myself completely in
my work, which is.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Fine because I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So, you know, just speaking about your work, you know,
could you deal with just a glimpse in, you know,
into your process. You know, is there a certain time
of day you write? Is there anything any siller, special
rituals you go through just to get sort of put
yourself in that in that writing mindset.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
I tend to because I'm kind of a night out
and I get because I tend to.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Write things that are darker.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Anyway, I work better at night, which kind of sucked
to with you're working vampire hours.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
It's hard to associate with the real world. But yeah,
and as far.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
As rituals, I don't really have any rituals.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
I do have a.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Treadmill desk that I use just because sitting is is
not good for you all day, but I like working
on that, and yeah, I just do it at night.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It's like something about when the sun goes down, that's
when my creativity is at it. It's peak.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
So do you do you subscribe to any method like
the USC sequencing method, you know, like you know the
three X structures say the cat? Do you do you
subscribe to any of these of these methods?
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I do kind of a blend. I do Save the
Cat with you know.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
What Cryspto called the many movie method, which is essentially
the sequencing method. I kind of do an overlay of
the two event a lot of the structuring tools, they're
all very similar. There's a lot of overlap anyway, and
if you just look at the things that they have
in common, I would say those are the things to
focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
It's like they all have turning points and act breaks
and inciting incidents, and.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
There's there's some subtle differences.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
But I found that by using Fath the cat with
the mini movie method that seems to cover most of
the bases.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, I've noticed there is a lot of overlap too,
especially with the USC sequencing method and Chriss Maini movie method.
You know, but I think Chris so to me, I
really do like that Mani movie method. And I find
that that, you know, breaking in eight sequences really does
help me sort of plan out the movie, if you
know what I mean, right, and it.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Breaks it down into these smaller, bite sized chunks, who's
not so daunting. So when you're first starting out, you're
not looking at a blank page. You're thinking, oh my god,
I have to write ninety or one hundred and twenty pages.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Now.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I was like, oh no, I just have to get
to the next sixteen pages. And that's a lot more manageable.
I can do, you know, fishing pages in a day
or two and then you're like, okay, onto the next day.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So when when you're sitting down to write, you know,
you sort of what what do you sort of need
before you write? Meaning do you need to sort of
outline this heavily or write even a treatment, or do
you just sort of get a starting point and just
sort of a map from there.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I'm a huge fan of outlining in advance.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And I think this is a really good skill set,
especially if you want to be a working writer in Hollywood,
because a lot of these producers, and I'm just going
to hire you to write the script, they're gonna need
to see outlines, They're gonna need to see treatments in advance.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
And it's just it's a skill you're going to have
to learn. So you may as well practice those muffles
while you, you know, you're working on your own specs.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
For me, I'm so, I do have this one thing
where it's like I can't write a script until I
don't know what it's called.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
And it's this weird hamp I have. So I have
to start with the title, and it's so dumb, and
the title will change, but I have to have to
leave the title and then and then on a solid
log line. I always refer back to my log line,
So I'll first things first, I write the title, I
write the log line, and then I start breaking out
the bare bones of it, you know, doing like the
breaking it up into the four acts, one act, the
(16:03):
first half of the second act, second half of the
second act, and then the third act. At least having
like a sentence for each knowing what that backbone is
for the story, and then I'll start getting deeper into
that they have the cat or the many movie breakdown.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
But yeah, I have to have it leaf at least
the three or four page outline flash treatment before I'm comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Starting actually writing the script.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You know, something I've I found out recently is something
where I basically I can't write unless I can build
the movie and then break it down again, you know
what I mean. Like it's sort of building and rebuilding,
building and rebuilding, and because I don't know why, but
I'm terrible with titles anymore, Like titles to me, you
know what I mean, Like I just if I don't
know the title, what I do is I just sort
(16:49):
of go past because I'll end up obsessing over the
title and I'll, like, you know, I can't figure.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Out what it is.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Spend to day looking up titles. Also another thing I
get hung up on it. This is just my weird
little brain. I have to know what my characters' names are,
and names have to ask significance to the story somehow,
which you know this is.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I can't just call them John and Jane. It's like
they have to have a meaningful name. I don't know,
it's just my own little quirk, I guess.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
But yeah, and for me, if I going back to
that log line, even like if I start to write
and it's not feeling like it's something's not working out,
go back to that log line.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Not always because my sanity check.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
It's like, is this because you want to make sure
it's high concept and marketable and you can sell it
and people get it and just as few words as possible.
And if I start to stray from that log line,
I go back readjust course and then dive back in.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, you know, I oftentimes too where I just put
in like you know, like you know, guard A guard B.
You know, I'm just trying to fly through it. But
I think you know, your method has a lot of
validity to it because character suggests plot. And you know,
if you have a character and just sort of map
that character out and everything, you know, he or she
would dictate you know what they do. You know what
(18:01):
I mean, because for instance, you know, a a upbeat
you know, you know, uh, you know, law abiding citizen
is going to handle problems differently than you know, maybe
somebody you know, you know born and they you know,
they they've decided to take a criminal life, if you
know what I mean. And they both had to, like,
you know, get something from somebody. They each have incredibly
different methods of how to how to get that thing
from that person.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, and one of the things I'll do too. And
I'm sorry, I can't remember which.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Book I got this from, but when you're when I'm
looking at the outline for the story, it's like you
break it down.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
By plot, and then I'll go through and I'll and.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
I'll split it out and say, Okay, what are my
three major characters doing in each of these sequences? And
you always you have your protagonist, your antagonist, and whoever
the emotional character is, sometimes just a love interest or
a best friend or a mentor. But make sure that
each of them is doing something in every scene. And
the other thing to keep in mind is if you
want to have a compelling story, the antagonist is the
(18:56):
hero of his own story. So they need to be
doing something in our position to the protagonist every time.
And so that's I'll break it down and I'll say,
I'll have the plot and then like a one, then
it's description about what each my my protagonists, my antagonists
and my emotional character are doing in that scene as well,
and that helps them.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You can see in.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Character arcs and theme, you know, having a theme is
also very important. And that's a kind of a controversial
topic because I know some people have different definitions about
what seam is, but you know, it's just some sort
of statement about the universal human condition, you know, working
that and that's where that emotional character usually comes in,
helping resonate, you know, to become a change agent, to
bring your protagonet from wherever they are at the beginning
(19:38):
of the film through their character arc to the end
to that changed person at the end. And you can
figure all that out in the outline. It's so much
easier to do it in the outline stays and write
your whole script and then realize how nothing changed or
it doesn't have the heart that it needs. I'd much
rather do all that work up front in the outline stage.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
We'll be right ba after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
When it's easier to fix and and see those problems.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, and you're you're you're ready to because you know,
as I've found, you know, and reading other scripts and
you run my own scripts. The antagonist is sort of
the person leading the film because they're the sort of
the ones you know, in a superhero movie, that's the
super the superhero you know, uh, meets the antagonist when
the antagonist launches their plan, you know what I mean.
Like and you see that in the Avengers movies. So
the antagonist and even in horror movies like you know,
(20:34):
Fire the Thirteenth, Jason's the one sort of you know,
going through the film, and he's taken out these teenagers
one by one up until one of them finds, you know,
oh my gosh, where's my friend that they go look
for they find our dead body. Then Jason springs and
attacks again here stuff like that. You find the antagonist
really is sort of the engine of the whole story.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Yeah, and that's why you have to spend much time
developing your antagonists as you do your protagonist, and you know,
and and make them real, flesh them out, don't don't
come up with the two dimensional you know, mustache twirling villain.
And it's like, give them a goal and a motivation
and a reason for doing what they're doing, and just
you know, be evil for the sake of being evil. Okay,
(21:11):
sometimes you can get away with that, but I think
sympathetic villain dirt least empathetic villains are are always much more.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Powerful and much more effective.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah, very true. And you know you touched on theme.
You know, I was talking to another write about this
about whether the theme should be one word. I've also
heard theme should always be a question. You know, you know,
what would you do to achieve your goal? You know,
big question mark at the end there, you know, because
I've seen you know, like you were saying, you know,
it's always a statement about the the human condition. And
(21:41):
somebody will have said, well, it should be a question
that the movie answers, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
I don't have like absolute you know, when it comes theme,
it's like, yeah, sometimes it takes a form of a question.
Sometimes it's a statement. It just has to be something
universal and that everyone can relate to. And I would
also caution against, you know, writing from a soap box.
You know where you're you're you have an agenda that
you're trying to preach down onto people. I think that
(22:09):
usually falls flat in the in the telling. It's I
think it's much better to take something like a universal
theme and then explore from different angles and maybe leave
the ending ambiguous. It's like what is you know, like
raise this big question, but then maybe there are several
answers and this is just one of many, you know,
And and the attack and I think in the in
the best stories, the antags and the protagonists are both
(22:30):
trying to achieve the same theme.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
I guess, or approach that same theme, but from different directions.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
And you know, maybe you agree with it, maybe you don't,
but at least now it opens a.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Thought provoking conversation about who we are as humans and
that sort of thing. I don't know, kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, I think that is an actual way to put it.
And you know, because you know, I think when we
when when we when we get better? I think, you know,
as I've realized too about when we get better at
certain things, like you know, for instance, you were to
talking about writing the treatment in the outline, there's a
skooes you need to have. And that's also something that
I've realized too, is that you know, as we the
more the more of what we do, the better we
(23:10):
get at it. You know what I mean that's usually
a rule, you know, a rule film, so to speak.
And so when we when we're writing a theme or treatment,
or even when we're writing you know, the script itself,
We're we're always trying to get better at doing those
fine details. And that's that's a trick of screenwriting though,
because we're always trying to put all these different skills together,
you know what I mean, building a world, building a character,
(23:30):
writing compelling action lines, writing compelling stories. You know, it's
it's and themes and all that stuff. That's why screenwriting,
I think is so challenging at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Yeah, and there's always room to grow. There's always room
to learn new things and try new skills. I'm always
trying to get better.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I'm never you know, I've had four films made and
a fifth one that's in post production right now. And
I'm not an expert. I don't claim to know at all.
There's always things out there to learn from other people,
read scripts from from professional writers who are better than you,
and push yourself.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
To get to that next level because there's always room
to grow.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Absolutely, And speaking of some of those movies, you know
you had tech and two because you use Revenge. You
know that that movie came out in twenty fourteen, so
you know, you know, how did you get you know,
how would you get aboard that project?
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Well, it was the same people who had done Dracula,
so it really like Dracula was like approving ground and
then they're like, oh, well, we'd like to bring you,
we'd like to invite you back for Tecan. And Tecan
had its own unique challenges because originally our vision with
that one was we wanted to do something that was
very very true to the video game and very true
to the fan, because the director who was attached at
the time was like a huge tech fan, very passionate
(24:40):
about it, and we pitched them this awesome, awesome thing,
and that's not what they wanted to do. They wanted
to do something different, and so there's been some a
little bit of pushback from the tech and community because
they're like, this isn't really a second movie, and I'm like, dude,
I wish you could have seen the original treatment because
that was it was awesome, and you know, maybe some
day that movie will get made. It's just in this case,
(25:01):
the producers wanted to do something a little different, so
we at the end of the day, I'm just a
hired gun. You know, you'd give them what you You're
there to make the producer.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Happy and give them what they want.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So yeah, yeah, you know I agree with that completely.
You know, that's why you know, I have had friends
in simple situations and you know, at that point, yeah,
you you know, like you just said, you realize you're
the hired gun. You know, the producer, it's whatever. You know,
since they hired you, you're you know, you have to
deliver what they're looking for, you know. And I have
friends who are who've had similar situations. When who are
(25:30):
try and always force the issue and you know, things
didn't go well. Let's just say that, Nicole.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Yeah, Like you know, you have to remember if you're
writing U spec that's yours. You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
But if you're writing for someone else and you and
your job then is to take their vision and make
the best possible version of that vision. You know, even
if you don't necessarily agree with the vision, that that's
not what you're there for. I mean, you can raise
objections or whatever, try to, but at the end of
the day, you work for them. It's their idea, give
them the best possible version of their idea that you can.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yes, yeah, I concur and you know, speaking of your projects,
we actually she moved and talked to you about Debris,
which is, you know, your short horror film. You know,
you actually raised just about twenty thousand dollars on Indiegogo.
You raised three hundred and thirty percent over your goal.
So I have to, you know, ask us, you know,
I have to ask, you know, can you just give
(26:24):
us a little bit about what Debris about? And I
want to ask you too about you know, your crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Yeah, you know, Debris was really funny because it was
the first time I tried to do crowdfunding and I
was like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
We're gonna do this, this is going to be a mess.
So I only originally asked for.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Five thousand, which wasn't going to be nearly enough to
get the film made. But I'm like, I don't, you know,
I don't know if I'll be lucky if I get that.
And then the fact that we were able to raise
you know, almost twenty was mind blowing.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I mean I got to the point where I'm like, well,
who are you people? And why are you giving me money?
I don't understand, and I wish I could.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
I wish it for me a little nia so I
could like replicate it at will. And I've done another
craft finding campaign since then for another short film called
Death Date, which is also successful, but not the same
runaway train that Debris was. And I think the difference.
Debrie just had this really cool concept, like a really
high concept that people resonated with.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Into the concept behind Debris is in the aftermath of
the Fukushima tsunami, you had the curse down on his luck.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Pretor Hunter is out with a metal detector on a
California beach and finds a curse Samurai sword that's washed
up on the beach from the Fukushima tsunami wreckage, and
then he brings it home and the bad things happened.
But I think by having this, you know, people love Damuriz.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
There's a huge like cult following.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
I guess this's around Samurais and the fact that the
story itself was based on an actual Japanese legend, and
there's been a variety of films made in Japan about
this particular store and the bad things that happened to
the people who own it. But I thought this was
kind of an interesting put counting out Eastmes actually have
this very ignorant American finds the sword, doesn't realize.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
It's dangerous, and then what Yeah, as his life slowly unravels.
So yeah, we made the short.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Film and it I think it's been in probably all
god over, It's been in over a dozen festivals, like
genre festivals, been nominated for a bunch of awards, won
a couple of awards, and so with that one, now
I'm trying to turn it into a feature if possible.
So I've written a future version of the script, going
out to different producers to if I can find someone
(28:30):
who'd be interested in tackling the subjects on a broader
on a bigger scale, because there's interest. I think it's
I think it's a project that people like and would
be like to see more.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Of, you know, more of this story, more of the sword,
and make it bigger. More.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Is that online anywhere?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
For I want to check out the trailer.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Of the field online, because it's still technically in the
festival circuit, I can't release the film itself.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Well, probably we'll see where things are at by the end.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Of the year, but I think we'll probably finish our
festival run by the end of the year and then
maybe well, either release. We're also looking into getting distribution
deals internationally, so it might be available on I don't know,
video on demand or something TD, whatever markets are available
out there.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Cool, you know, yeah, I definitely think there was a
market for something like that. And you know, when I saw,
you know, how how much by the end, I saw
how much this is? How much this is raising? Which
I think I donated five dollars to this or can't
oh fail under my pleasure because I you know, I
checked on I checked it. I checked on it a
couple you know, a couple of weeks later, and I saw, well,
(29:34):
you know, this is almost ending, and I was like, wow,
Nicole is killing it. I was like, well, here three
past their goal. I mean, and I thought, you know,
either somebody a huge contact list or somebody, well, I said,
you know, somebody did something right, you know somewhere. You know,
either you have a massive contact list. You you know,
you have a rich, very rich relative donate you know
money into it.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Wait, don't I have no rich relatives?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I went, We'll be right back after a word from
our sponsor. And now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
No, this was evidently like the Bernie Sanders of the
crowd money campaign, with a lot of small donations, you know,
and they did to add it up over time.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
And No, it was really.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Phenomenal just to watch the response to this idea and
this little film. It was really gratifying, and it gave
us a lot of confidence that we were making a
story that people wanted, the people wanted to see, and
that resonated with people, and you know, and that at
the end of the day, that's really what it's about,
you know, telling stories that people want to hear and.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Maybe make them think a little bit along the way.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, I concur and you know, obviously, you know, the
the concept was popular as well as you were saying that,
and you know, there's always a crowd for an audience
for horror of any kind, you know what I mean.
There's always gonna be an audience for horror.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Yeah. Well, and it's funny because you know, the when
I was doing all the research for Debris and then
the feature your link script for Debris, I stumbled on
this other Samurai story and so I'm like, okay, I
have to write this one. It's true story set in fuel, Japan,
And and that was a script that ended up winning
the grand prize at the Palm Street.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Film Okay, you're writing competition. So it's like I went
to my little samurai pace, I guess, and it's it's great.
I love it.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
I love action films, I love martial arts films, and
and so it's like I also I always caught some writers.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
About, you know, pigeonholing, because Hollywood will pigeonhole you. And
I'm like, you know what, this is a hole I
got stuck in.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
It's one I wouldn't mind living in because I just
love that space so much.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, and you actually, by the way, congratulations because you
just did. You just did win the Palm uh Palm
Palm Street competition. I always have U was it on Monday,
I believe or today.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
They just announced the winners, like Monday your truth day
of this week. Yeah, so that that's that's very new.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And you know, and that was kind of interesting because
I don't normally enter contact because I'm a genre writer generally,
and and those unless it's a genre of competition, don't
do well in these broad mainstream contests.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
But in this case because it was it was.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Actually an action drama, you know, set in feudal to
pant with Samurais.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
And Fingi's and it's just like going you know, all
kinds of blood in action.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Hey, you know, this one might actually the standard chance
and then it ends up winning to a Grand Prize.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So that was really gratifying.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
So, you know, I know you can't talk too much
about it, but so I wanted to ask obviously, is
you know what upcoming projects that you what upcoming projects
you're working on that you can actually talk about, if
any even you need to talk about.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
I mean, well, let's see.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
So there's my my feature film that I directed, Stasis,
which is currently ampost We already have distribution lined up
for that, which is really exciting too. So that film
is supposed to be ready for Asam which is in November,
and that's kind of the ya sci fi film. It's
been called Terminator for teens, so if you like time
traveling terminator type things, you know, check it out when
(32:54):
it comes out. I think that'd be really cool. What
else I'm working I'm right now I'm trying to raise
money for my next feature, which is a horror script
that based loosely on actual events, so I don't want
to get too much away about that, but that one,
in fact, seems like a phone with you. I have
a call with the producer for that, so that that'd
(33:15):
be nice to get that started production before the end
of the year. And yeah, not Aten' just you know,
I always got things going on. We're still in post
production on Death Day, which is the other short film
that I did after Debris.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
It's a meeting with my editor next week. We're gonna
try to lock picture on that soon. And I don't know.
I mean, he's got multiple irons in the fire, you know,
waiting for something to hit. Just keep on chugging.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, and then that has excellent advice to the cole
Before we go, I have one Twitter question come in,
and that was Nicole, what do you look for when
you're deciding to be involved with a particular project?
Speaker 4 (33:58):
That is always a million.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
Dollar question, right, It's like it has to it has
to appeal to.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
Me at some level.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
It's hard to say. I'm because I have this genre background.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
I love what I guess if it were literature, if
it called speculative fiction, basically Twilight zone type stuff.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Things that appeal.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
To me personally are things that am really cool twists
at the end, or are just thought provoking in some way.
I love like old sci fi from like the seventies
and eighties, when it was like some sort of like
social message, but it was buried within the context of
the film, you know what I mean, Like with Soylent
Green and Planet of the Apes and logans around those
types of films I really like from a sci fi perspective.
(34:40):
On the horror side, I'm drawing more towards what I
call hidden realities, so less flashers, more paranormal, more occult, more.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Supernatural type stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I did have
to some cool like if it could be made into
a video game or comic bookcase is are, I'd like
it because that's where's my world, that where I come from.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Uncle. Very cool. You know, it's been a pleasure having
you on And before I go, I just want to
ask Nicole, where can people find you out online?
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (35:17):
I'm on Facebook. You find me on Facebook. If you
like weird news, then totally follow me on Twitter. I'm
at Navarus and O V A R I S.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
I post all kinds of wacky, weird news stories, conspiracy theories,
and every now and then I'll toss on a screenwriting kip,
just you know, for good measure. Yeah, but that's and
I'm on LinkedIn to you, but mostly I like, I
live on Facebook and Twitter, so that's a good place.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
To look for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
I saw the tweet you just put it out on
National predicts the end of Western civilization.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Yeah, you all love yeah, stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Let's talk with the stuff after the world stuff, conspiracy theories,
killer virus is gonna wipe that humanity.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
If you like that stuff, follow me on Twitter. It's
full of it.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Nicole. I want to say thank you so much for
coming on and I wish you the best of luck
with everything. And I will see you in the screenwriting
you Facebook group and well you know, we'll be chat
in screenwriting there more. And you know, if you ever
need anything, please let me know.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Awesome, thanks so much, Davis a great I want.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
To thank Dave so much for doing such a great
job on this episode.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
If you want to get links to anything we spoke
about in this episode, head over to the show notes
at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv. Forward slash four fifty. Thank
you so much for listening. Guys, as always, keep on writing.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thanks for listening to the Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof
Screenwriting dot tv.
You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifahpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, Episode number four fifty.
Your dream doesn't have an expiration date, Take a deep
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Kat You Whitten broadcasting from a dark, windowless room in
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It's the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and
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Speaker 3 (00:36):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
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Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof Screenwriting Podcast.
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I am your humble host Alex Ferrari.
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Now, today's show is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage.
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Speaker 3 (01:34):
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis. My guest
is a screenwriter, producer, and director. She co wrote Tech
and two. She successfully crowdfunded her film Debris, and now
she's working on a ton of other stuff which we're
going to get into on the show with Nicole Jones Dion. Hey, Nicole,
(01:55):
thanks all for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
You know, it's my pleasure to cole Is. I think
you're the first person who have had on who is
also a member of the Screenwriting You Alumni series. I'm
pretty sure you are the first person. Oh cool, Yeah,
it's uh yeah, I don't know why I haven't had
anybody else on there yet on here yet, excuse me,
because you know it's that that group is always doing
(02:18):
great things. And one of the reasons I wanted to
have you on here is because every time I turn around,
you're always up to something new. You're you're always creating
some great content. So that's why I wanted to have
you on. I think everyone could learn a lot from you.
So just to get started, you know, just learning more
about Nicole Jones Dion, I wanted to ask, you know, Nicole,
(02:39):
what made you get started in screenwriting and the film
industry in general.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
You know, it's funny because when I moved to La
oh God, a long long time ago.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
I don't want to say exactly how long go give
away my age, But when I moved out here, my
intention was never to get into films or screenwriting.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
It was to get into the video game industry.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
So I started out working in video games and then
I kind of segued into comics. And then the stories
I was coming up with, people were like, oh, put
the make great movies. And I was like, oh, that's
such a crochet. I don't want to be that cche
Hollywood treen writer and you know, flash forward and here
I am. So I think because I started out working
in that comic book and video game space, a lot
(03:16):
of my my cream plays and the genres that I'm
naturally drawn to are are these like you know.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Fun sci fi action.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Or you know, horror, you know, just just these really
fun fanboy type projects. And and you can see that
in the films that I've done, you know, if you
look at you know, like Dracula The Dark Prints, which
we did John Voight, that's a very even though it's
a Dracula film, it's more of a fantasy epic, you know,
sword and sorcery type take on the Dracula mythos.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
And then kak In Too, which is based on the
video game series.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
You know, I kind of got that gig, you know,
directly through also of Dracula, and then also because I
had that tie with the video game industry and.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
You know, and then writing for the Sci Fi Channel,
which I did last October.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
I did an original film for them which aired as
part of their Thirty Days of Halloween heories that was
called They Found Hell Uh. And And now I'm I'm
transitioning into directing, and I just directed my first feature,
which is called Stasis, which is another sci fi kind
of action films. But it's funny, a lot of people
think of me primarily as a horror writer. But my
(04:19):
the genesis of my career in the start of it
is really more in that sci fi video game type space.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
So did you find that, you know, the video game industry?
You know, I actually uh made a project for the
video game industry kind of sort of, And what I
found is when I reached out to them, a lot
of them were kind of leary, always about going and
making things you know about you know, uh, you know,
different projects because of you know, X, Y and Z.
(04:47):
So I want to ask, you know, Nicole, did you
find it it's harder or easier? And I know this
is that that's a very run stroke. Did you want
it's harder or easier in the video game industry to
get your foot in the door than it is the
film and TV industry?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I think, I mean it the video gaming hastry changed
a lot since I worked in it.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
I mean, just to kind of put it in perspective.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
When I was doing it, it was during that weird
time when they were doing live action video games, so
it was almost like a choo short adventure movie that
was kind.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Of a friend.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
So now I'm dating my belt, people will know that
era and at the time and that ended up being
a failed experiment because you ended up with all the
costs and expense of making a movie plus all the cost.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Expense of making a video game. And so they got
away from that really fast. And now was you know,
the way that the computer graphics have advanced, It's like
you're getting like these amazing photo realistic results without having
to do like a live action shoot.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
But I would say because.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Of the costs involved in video games, it's definitely easier
to do films because you can go out and shoot
a little movie on your iPhone. Now, whereas with video games,
you know, you've got programming and and and the solid
modeling and the video you know, all the TEP that's
intrinsic as part of that process.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I think, I think it is the harder not to crack.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Actually, now, you know, you know, I remember all of
those live action video games too. I think there was
one called fox Hunt. And I remember, you know, trying
renting those games. I'm thinking to myself, this can't be
the future ken it And uh yeah, I remember that
era where everyone was doing at least everyone had one.
It was someone called Psychic Detective. I remember that one.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Let me begin, there was kind of the big one
with Mark Cambell was.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yeah, I remember that one too.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Yeah, weird, it was a weird time.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I think people kind of trying to forget that era
I even existed.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, I remember that so well. Uh so, you know,
you went to the video game industry and you know
you you tried your hand at that, and I agree
with you completely. The video game industry has changed immensely
because I have friends who work in the video game industry,
and you know, even when I was pitching some of
my projects, things have changed even five from five years ago, now,
you know, I mean, and now look at us now,
(06:57):
Nicole Pokemon Pokemon Go was the new you know, the
new craze, and they're they're they're making a mobile nes
system for sixty bucks, and you know, I'm sure that's
going to be a number one best seller as well.
So it's like the retro now is making a whole
everything stickleholes. I'm trying to say, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
It's amazing. I mean, an augmented reality. It's such a
fascinating thing.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
I'm trying to avoided the Pokemon Go phenomena just because
I have this addictive personality, and I know, once I
get sucked in that did it, I'm done. There goes
my productivity for the rest of my life. But I
did play Ingress, which is a platform that it was
based on, and I think augmented reality is just fascinating.
The gameplay experience is really really interesting, and yeah, I
(07:40):
think there's it could be the way of the future,
at least way of the future for right now. It's
a fun little trend. I'm definitely keeping an eye on it.
I mean, Nintendo's market value went up like seven billion
dollars with a weekend just based off this one game alone.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
So yeah, it's an exigning time.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
It's deciding time to be in video games, film, TV, anything,
because is it just the wild West right now, you know,
with all the new cable outlets and Netflix and Hulu
and everybody doing all this original content. It's interesting because
the rules are all changing and they're changing daily and
like trying to keep you know, you can't even chase
trends anymore because the trends are changing, so it's like
(08:18):
trying to figure out, you know, to have to get
one step ahead of that curve and and stay ahead
of the rest of.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
The flock, you know, it's fun time.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, and even with crowdfunding, you know, I noticed all
the video games now or we're just being crowdfunded because
they were you know, basically they company would say, hey,
we can't take a chance on these video games so
that you know, the developers you know, would go out
and they would go make, you know, raise funds on Kickstarter.
And I was shocked at seeing some of the prices,
you know, some of the amounts that they were raising,
because I was thinking of myself, Wow, you know these
(08:49):
you know, I'm granting you know, these are the head developers,
you know, and they're coming out and saying, you know,
this is us doing this. But but still, you know,
I was a little shocked that they were getting the
private the amount that they were Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Well because a lot of these the video game got
based on the board game companies too are using crab
funding almost as a way of doing pre.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Sales for the product. It's also as a way to test.
Thanks could you.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
I do a lot of work now with Sean Cunningham.
This is the creator Friday at thirteenth and they just
did a big crowdfunding campaign for the Friday. The thirteenth
video game, which they just previewed at E three a
couple of weeks ago, and the gameplay looks amazing. So
if you're a fan of I'm gonna go do a
little pitch here. But if you're a fan of A
Friday the Thirteenth franchise, this looks really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Well, and I'm a huge brand of it, so I
can't I can't wait for the video game, by the way.
But anyways, we know, you know, as we we follow
your career, I know, you know, you obviously transuh you know,
translated out of out of video games, and he started
doing doing more feature films. So how did you get,
you know, attached to writing you know, Dracula the Dark
Prints that one.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
It was such a long story, but I had met,
uh where to begin.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
So I had written an adaptation of an image graphic
novel called The Scribbler.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Well be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show, which I'd.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Done for Kicktart Entertainment. They went on to do a
Wanted with Angelina Julie and Davis mcilvoy And so at
the time that we're going around shopping my script, approaching
different directors, and one of the directors that they had
introduced me to as a possibility was this gentleman by
the name of Perry Tail. And then the writer's strike
happened and that project ended up never going anywhere.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
But Perry and I stayed in touch over the ears
and we collaborated on a bunch of projects.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
And he had been approached with, you know, the possibility
of writing and directing this Dracula film, and he's like,
I need help with the script.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Do you want to come on board? And I was like, absolutely, dude,
you're my guy, you know. And so we we worked.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
On Dracula together, that we worked on Tech and together,
and then he just produced my first feature film. So
it's one of these ongoing, you know, long term relationship show.
It's one of the things with this industry. It's all
about building relationships, finding champions, whore willing to go out
there and you know, put their necks out for you,
and making that really good first impression and then that'll
(11:08):
it'll just carry. You can build a creator out of that,
or at least get your foot in the door.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So when you let your foot in the door, were
you mainly doing, like script out of patients, or did
you come in with already having some of your own
original material already written?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Oh gosh, I had probably at the time I did Dracula, I.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Probably had at least fifteen specs already on the shelf
that had won various contests and had been optioned. Nothing
that had actually gone into production at that point. So
with Dracula and Tech and those types of things, those
were all writing assignments that I was brought on to
either fixing fisting scripts or develop ideas from scratch with
the producers. Yeah, but I would say that Stasis, which
(11:48):
is the script the Future that I just wrote and directed,
is the first time I actually pitched an idea. I
was hired to write my original idea. Everything prior to
that had been somebody else had an idea or had
an existing script that needed work, which is what percent
of the industry is is developing other people's stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So before you know, you wrote Drag, before you came
on the project of Dracula, you had written fifteen spec scripts.
So my question then is, Nicole, how did you find
the time to write fifteen specs scripts?
Speaker 6 (12:14):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (12:15):
You just do it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
You just I have no life, and I think. I
mentioned I have an addicted person at healthy so instead.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Of once I actually had to give up video games,
I had to give them up cul Turkey, which is
really hard. And but one of the things I used
to fill the void then is I just write. I
write constantly. I write every day all the time. I
have no lis. I have no real family out here
in la I mean, I have my husband, but all
my family's back East, So it's I don't have a
lot of the normal day to day distractions that other
(12:43):
people have, and I can just immerse myself completely in
my work, which is.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Fine because I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So, you know, just speaking about your work, you know,
could you deal with just a glimpse in, you know,
into your process. You know, is there a certain time
of day you write? Is there anything any siller, special
rituals you go through just to get sort of put
yourself in that in that writing mindset.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
I tend to because I'm kind of a night out
and I get because I tend to.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Write things that are darker.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Anyway, I work better at night, which kind of sucked
to with you're working vampire hours.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
It's hard to associate with the real world. But yeah,
and as far.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
As rituals, I don't really have any rituals.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
I do have a.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Treadmill desk that I use just because sitting is is
not good for you all day, but I like working
on that, and yeah, I just do it at night.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It's like something about when the sun goes down, that's
when my creativity is at it. It's peak.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
So do you do you subscribe to any method like
the USC sequencing method, you know, like you know the
three X structures say the cat? Do you do you
subscribe to any of these of these methods?
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I do kind of a blend. I do Save the
Cat with you know.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
What Cryspto called the many movie method, which is essentially
the sequencing method. I kind of do an overlay of
the two event a lot of the structuring tools, they're
all very similar. There's a lot of overlap anyway, and
if you just look at the things that they have
in common, I would say those are the things to
focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
It's like they all have turning points and act breaks
and inciting incidents, and.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
There's there's some subtle differences.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
But I found that by using Fath the cat with
the mini movie method that seems to cover most of
the bases.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, I've noticed there is a lot of overlap too,
especially with the USC sequencing method and Chriss Maini movie method.
You know, but I think Chris so to me, I
really do like that Mani movie method. And I find
that that, you know, breaking in eight sequences really does
help me sort of plan out the movie, if you
know what I mean, right, and it.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
Breaks it down into these smaller, bite sized chunks, who's
not so daunting. So when you're first starting out, you're
not looking at a blank page. You're thinking, oh my god,
I have to write ninety or one hundred and twenty pages.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Now.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I was like, oh no, I just have to get
to the next sixteen pages. And that's a lot more manageable.
I can do, you know, fishing pages in a day
or two and then you're like, okay, onto the next day.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So when when you're sitting down to write, you know,
you sort of what what do you sort of need
before you write? Meaning do you need to sort of
outline this heavily or write even a treatment, or do
you just sort of get a starting point and just
sort of a map from there.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I'm a huge fan of outlining in advance.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
And I think this is a really good skill set,
especially if you want to be a working writer in Hollywood,
because a lot of these producers, and I'm just going
to hire you to write the script, they're gonna need
to see outlines, They're gonna need to see treatments in advance.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
And it's just it's a skill you're going to have
to learn. So you may as well practice those muffles
while you, you know, you're working on your own specs.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
For me, I'm so, I do have this one thing
where it's like I can't write a script until I
don't know what it's called.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
And it's this weird hamp I have. So I have
to start with the title, and it's so dumb, and
the title will change, but I have to have to
leave the title and then and then on a solid
log line. I always refer back to my log line,
So I'll first things first, I write the title, I
write the log line, and then I start breaking out
the bare bones of it, you know, doing like the
breaking it up into the four acts, one act, the
(16:03):
first half of the second act, second half of the
second act, and then the third act. At least having
like a sentence for each knowing what that backbone is
for the story, and then I'll start getting deeper into
that they have the cat or the many movie breakdown.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
But yeah, I have to have it leaf at least
the three or four page outline flash treatment before I'm comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Starting actually writing the script.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
You know, something I've I found out recently is something
where I basically I can't write unless I can build
the movie and then break it down again, you know
what I mean. Like it's sort of building and rebuilding,
building and rebuilding, and because I don't know why, but
I'm terrible with titles anymore, Like titles to me, you
know what I mean, Like I just if I don't
know the title, what I do is I just sort
(16:49):
of go past because I'll end up obsessing over the
title and I'll, like, you know, I can't figure.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Out what it is.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Spend to day looking up titles. Also another thing I
get hung up on it. This is just my weird
little brain. I have to know what my characters' names are,
and names have to ask significance to the story somehow,
which you know this is.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
I can't just call them John and Jane. It's like
they have to have a meaningful name. I don't know,
it's just my own little quirk, I guess.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
But yeah, and for me, if I going back to
that log line, even like if I start to write
and it's not feeling like it's something's not working out,
go back to that log line.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Not always because my sanity check.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
It's like, is this because you want to make sure
it's high concept and marketable and you can sell it
and people get it and just as few words as possible.
And if I start to stray from that log line,
I go back readjust course and then dive back in.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, you know, I oftentimes too where I just put
in like you know, like you know, guard A guard B.
You know, I'm just trying to fly through it. But
I think you know, your method has a lot of
validity to it because character suggests plot. And you know,
if you have a character and just sort of map
that character out and everything, you know, he or she
would dictate you know what they do. You know what
(18:01):
I mean, because for instance, you know, a a upbeat
you know, you know, uh, you know, law abiding citizen
is going to handle problems differently than you know, maybe
somebody you know, you know born and they you know,
they they've decided to take a criminal life, if you
know what I mean. And they both had to, like,
you know, get something from somebody. They each have incredibly
different methods of how to how to get that thing
from that person.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, and one of the things I'll do too. And
I'm sorry, I can't remember which.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Book I got this from, but when you're when I'm
looking at the outline for the story, it's like you
break it down.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
By plot, and then I'll go through and I'll and.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
I'll split it out and say, Okay, what are my
three major characters doing in each of these sequences? And
you always you have your protagonist, your antagonist, and whoever
the emotional character is, sometimes just a love interest or
a best friend or a mentor. But make sure that
each of them is doing something in every scene. And
the other thing to keep in mind is if you
want to have a compelling story, the antagonist is the
(18:56):
hero of his own story. So they need to be
doing something in our position to the protagonist every time.
And so that's I'll break it down and I'll say,
I'll have the plot and then like a one, then
it's description about what each my my protagonists, my antagonists
and my emotional character are doing in that scene as well,
and that helps them.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You can see in.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
Character arcs and theme, you know, having a theme is
also very important. And that's a kind of a controversial
topic because I know some people have different definitions about
what seam is, but you know, it's just some sort
of statement about the universal human condition, you know, working
that and that's where that emotional character usually comes in,
helping resonate, you know, to become a change agent, to
bring your protagonet from wherever they are at the beginning
(19:38):
of the film through their character arc to the end
to that changed person at the end. And you can
figure all that out in the outline. It's so much
easier to do it in the outline stays and write
your whole script and then realize how nothing changed or
it doesn't have the heart that it needs. I'd much
rather do all that work up front in the outline stage.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
We'll be right ba after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the show.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
When it's easier to fix and and see those problems.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, and you're you're you're ready to because you know,
as I've found, you know, and reading other scripts and
you run my own scripts. The antagonist is sort of
the person leading the film because they're the sort of
the ones you know, in a superhero movie, that's the
super the superhero you know, uh, meets the antagonist when
the antagonist launches their plan, you know what I mean.
Like and you see that in the Avengers movies. So
the antagonist and even in horror movies like you know,
(20:34):
Fire the Thirteenth, Jason's the one sort of you know,
going through the film, and he's taken out these teenagers
one by one up until one of them finds, you know,
oh my gosh, where's my friend that they go look
for they find our dead body. Then Jason springs and
attacks again here stuff like that. You find the antagonist
really is sort of the engine of the whole story.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Yeah, and that's why you have to spend much time
developing your antagonists as you do your protagonist, and you know,
and and make them real, flesh them out, don't don't
come up with the two dimensional you know, mustache twirling villain.
And it's like, give them a goal and a motivation
and a reason for doing what they're doing, and just
you know, be evil for the sake of being evil. Okay,
(21:11):
sometimes you can get away with that, but I think
sympathetic villain dirt least empathetic villains are are always much more.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Powerful and much more effective.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Yeah, very true. And you know you touched on theme.
You know, I was talking to another write about this
about whether the theme should be one word. I've also
heard theme should always be a question. You know, you know,
what would you do to achieve your goal? You know,
big question mark at the end there, you know, because
I've seen you know, like you were saying, you know,
it's always a statement about the the human condition. And
(21:41):
somebody will have said, well, it should be a question
that the movie answers, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
I don't have like absolute you know, when it comes theme,
it's like, yeah, sometimes it takes a form of a question.
Sometimes it's a statement. It just has to be something
universal and that everyone can relate to. And I would
also caution against, you know, writing from a soap box.
You know where you're you're you have an agenda that
you're trying to preach down onto people. I think that
(22:09):
usually falls flat in the in the telling. It's I
think it's much better to take something like a universal
theme and then explore from different angles and maybe leave
the ending ambiguous. It's like what is you know, like
raise this big question, but then maybe there are several
answers and this is just one of many, you know,
And and the attack and I think in the in
the best stories, the antags and the protagonists are both
(22:30):
trying to achieve the same theme.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
I guess, or approach that same theme, but from different directions.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
And you know, maybe you agree with it, maybe you don't,
but at least now it opens a.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Thought provoking conversation about who we are as humans and
that sort of thing. I don't know, kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, I think that is an actual way to put it.
And you know, because you know, I think when we
when when we when we get better? I think, you know,
as I've realized too about when we get better at
certain things, like you know, for instance, you were to
talking about writing the treatment in the outline, there's a
skooes you need to have. And that's also something that
I've realized too, is that you know, as we the
more the more of what we do, the better we
(23:10):
get at it. You know what I mean that's usually
a rule, you know, a rule film, so to speak.
And so when we when we're writing a theme or treatment,
or even when we're writing you know, the script itself,
We're we're always trying to get better at doing those
fine details. And that's that's a trick of screenwriting though,
because we're always trying to put all these different skills together,
you know what I mean, building a world, building a character,
(23:30):
writing compelling action lines, writing compelling stories. You know, it's
it's and themes and all that stuff. That's why screenwriting,
I think is so challenging at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Yeah, and there's always room to grow. There's always room
to learn new things and try new skills. I'm always
trying to get better.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I'm never you know, I've had four films made and
a fifth one that's in post production right now. And
I'm not an expert. I don't claim to know at all.
There's always things out there to learn from other people,
read scripts from from professional writers who are better than you,
and push yourself.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
To get to that next level because there's always room
to grow.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Absolutely, And speaking of some of those movies, you know
you had tech and two because you use Revenge. You
know that that movie came out in twenty fourteen, so
you know, you know, how did you get you know,
how would you get aboard that project?
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Well, it was the same people who had done Dracula,
so it really like Dracula was like approving ground and
then they're like, oh, well, we'd like to bring you,
we'd like to invite you back for Tecan. And Tecan
had its own unique challenges because originally our vision with
that one was we wanted to do something that was
very very true to the video game and very true
to the fan, because the director who was attached at
the time was like a huge tech fan, very passionate
(24:40):
about it, and we pitched them this awesome, awesome thing,
and that's not what they wanted to do. They wanted
to do something different, and so there's been some a
little bit of pushback from the tech and community because
they're like, this isn't really a second movie, and I'm like, dude,
I wish you could have seen the original treatment because
that was it was awesome, and you know, maybe some
day that movie will get made. It's just in this case,
(25:01):
the producers wanted to do something a little different, so
we at the end of the day, I'm just a
hired gun. You know, you'd give them what you You're
there to make the producer.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Happy and give them what they want.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So yeah, yeah, you know I agree with that completely.
You know, that's why you know, I have had friends
in simple situations and you know, at that point, yeah,
you you know, like you just said, you realize you're
the hired gun. You know, the producer, it's whatever. You know,
since they hired you, you're you know, you have to
deliver what they're looking for, you know. And I have
friends who are who've had similar situations. When who are
(25:30):
try and always force the issue and you know, things
didn't go well. Let's just say that, Nicole.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
Yeah, Like you know, you have to remember if you're
writing U spec that's yours. You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
But if you're writing for someone else and you and
your job then is to take their vision and make
the best possible version of that vision. You know, even
if you don't necessarily agree with the vision, that that's
not what you're there for. I mean, you can raise
objections or whatever, try to, but at the end of
the day, you work for them. It's their idea, give
them the best possible version of their idea that you can.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Yes, yeah, I concur and you know, speaking of your projects,
we actually she moved and talked to you about Debris,
which is, you know, your short horror film. You know,
you actually raised just about twenty thousand dollars on Indiegogo.
You raised three hundred and thirty percent over your goal.
So I have to, you know, ask us, you know,
I have to ask, you know, can you just give
(26:24):
us a little bit about what Debris about? And I
want to ask you too about you know, your crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Yeah, you know, Debris was really funny because it was
the first time I tried to do crowdfunding and I
was like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
We're gonna do this, this is going to be a mess.
So I only originally asked for.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Five thousand, which wasn't going to be nearly enough to
get the film made. But I'm like, I don't, you know,
I don't know if I'll be lucky if I get that.
And then the fact that we were able to raise
you know, almost twenty was mind blowing.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I mean I got to the point where I'm like, well,
who are you people? And why are you giving me money?
I don't understand, and I wish I could.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
I wish it for me a little nia so I
could like replicate it at will. And I've done another
craft finding campaign since then for another short film called
Death Date, which is also successful, but not the same
runaway train that Debris was. And I think the difference.
Debrie just had this really cool concept, like a really
high concept that people resonated with.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Into the concept behind Debris is in the aftermath of
the Fukushima tsunami, you had the curse down on his luck.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Pretor Hunter is out with a metal detector on a
California beach and finds a curse Samurai sword that's washed
up on the beach from the Fukushima tsunami wreckage, and
then he brings it home and the bad things happened.
But I think by having this, you know, people love Damuriz.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
There's a huge like cult following.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
I guess this's around Samurais and the fact that the
story itself was based on an actual Japanese legend, and
there's been a variety of films made in Japan about
this particular store and the bad things that happened to
the people who own it. But I thought this was
kind of an interesting put counting out Eastmes actually have
this very ignorant American finds the sword, doesn't realize.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
It's dangerous, and then what Yeah, as his life slowly unravels.
So yeah, we made the short.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Film and it I think it's been in probably all
god over, It's been in over a dozen festivals, like
genre festivals, been nominated for a bunch of awards, won
a couple of awards, and so with that one, now
I'm trying to turn it into a feature if possible.
So I've written a future version of the script, going
out to different producers to if I can find someone
(28:30):
who'd be interested in tackling the subjects on a broader
on a bigger scale, because there's interest. I think it's
I think it's a project that people like and would
be like to see more.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
Of, you know, more of this story, more of the sword,
and make it bigger. More.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Is that online anywhere?
Speaker 4 (28:47):
For I want to check out the trailer.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Of the field online, because it's still technically in the
festival circuit, I can't release the film itself.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Well, probably we'll see where things are at by the end.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Of the year, but I think we'll probably finish our
festival run by the end of the year and then
maybe well, either release. We're also looking into getting distribution
deals internationally, so it might be available on I don't know,
video on demand or something TD, whatever markets are available
out there.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Cool, you know, yeah, I definitely think there was a
market for something like that. And you know, when I saw,
you know, how how much by the end, I saw
how much this is? How much this is raising? Which
I think I donated five dollars to this or can't
oh fail under my pleasure because I you know, I
checked on I checked it. I checked on it a
couple you know, a couple of weeks later, and I saw, well,
(29:34):
you know, this is almost ending, and I was like, wow,
Nicole is killing it. I was like, well, here three
past their goal. I mean, and I thought, you know,
either somebody a huge contact list or somebody, well, I said,
you know, somebody did something right, you know somewhere. You know,
either you have a massive contact list. You you know,
you have a rich, very rich relative donate you know
money into it.
Speaker 4 (29:54):
Wait, don't I have no rich relatives?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I went, We'll be right back after a word from
our sponsor. And now back to the show.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
No, this was evidently like the Bernie Sanders of the
crowd money campaign, with a lot of small donations, you know,
and they did to add it up over time.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
And No, it was really.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Phenomenal just to watch the response to this idea and
this little film. It was really gratifying, and it gave
us a lot of confidence that we were making a
story that people wanted, the people wanted to see, and
that resonated with people, and you know, and that at
the end of the day, that's really what it's about,
you know, telling stories that people want to hear and.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Maybe make them think a little bit along the way.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, I concur and you know, obviously, you know, the
the concept was popular as well as you were saying that,
and you know, there's always a crowd for an audience
for horror of any kind, you know what I mean.
There's always gonna be an audience for horror.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Yeah. Well, and it's funny because you know, the when
I was doing all the research for Debris and then
the feature your link script for Debris, I stumbled on
this other Samurai story and so I'm like, okay, I
have to write this one. It's true story set in fuel, Japan,
And and that was a script that ended up winning
the grand prize at the Palm Street.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Film Okay, you're writing competition. So it's like I went
to my little samurai pace, I guess, and it's it's great.
I love it.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
I love action films, I love martial arts films, and
and so it's like I also I always caught some writers.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
About, you know, pigeonholing, because Hollywood will pigeonhole you. And
I'm like, you know what, this is a hole I
got stuck in.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
It's one I wouldn't mind living in because I just
love that space so much.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, and you actually, by the way, congratulations because you
just did. You just did win the Palm uh Palm
Palm Street competition. I always have U was it on Monday,
I believe or today.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
They just announced the winners, like Monday your truth day
of this week. Yeah, so that that's that's very new.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And you know, and that was kind of interesting because
I don't normally enter contact because I'm a genre writer generally,
and and those unless it's a genre of competition, don't
do well in these broad mainstream contests.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
But in this case because it was it was.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Actually an action drama, you know, set in feudal to
pant with Samurais.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
And Fingi's and it's just like going you know, all
kinds of blood in action.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Hey, you know, this one might actually the standard chance
and then it ends up winning to a Grand Prize.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So that was really gratifying.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
So, you know, I know you can't talk too much
about it, but so I wanted to ask obviously, is
you know what upcoming projects that you what upcoming projects
you're working on that you can actually talk about, if
any even you need to talk about.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
I mean, well, let's see.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
So there's my my feature film that I directed, Stasis,
which is currently ampost We already have distribution lined up
for that, which is really exciting too. So that film
is supposed to be ready for Asam which is in November,
and that's kind of the ya sci fi film. It's
been called Terminator for teens, so if you like time
traveling terminator type things, you know, check it out when
(32:54):
it comes out. I think that'd be really cool. What
else I'm working I'm right now I'm trying to raise
money for my next feature, which is a horror script
that based loosely on actual events, so I don't want
to get too much away about that, but that one,
in fact, seems like a phone with you. I have
a call with the producer for that, so that that'd
(33:15):
be nice to get that started production before the end
of the year. And yeah, not Aten' just you know,
I always got things going on. We're still in post
production on Death Day, which is the other short film
that I did after Debris.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
It's a meeting with my editor next week. We're gonna
try to lock picture on that soon. And I don't know.
I mean, he's got multiple irons in the fire, you know,
waiting for something to hit. Just keep on chugging.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, and then that has excellent advice to the cole
Before we go, I have one Twitter question come in,
and that was Nicole, what do you look for when
you're deciding to be involved with a particular project?
Speaker 4 (33:58):
That is always a million.
Speaker 5 (33:59):
Dollar question, right, It's like it has to it has
to appeal to.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
Me at some level.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
It's hard to say. I'm because I have this genre background.
Speaker 5 (34:09):
I love what I guess if it were literature, if
it called speculative fiction, basically Twilight zone type stuff.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Things that appeal.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
To me personally are things that am really cool twists
at the end, or are just thought provoking in some way.
I love like old sci fi from like the seventies
and eighties, when it was like some sort of like
social message, but it was buried within the context of
the film, you know what I mean, Like with Soylent
Green and Planet of the Apes and logans around those
types of films I really like from a sci fi perspective.
(34:40):
On the horror side, I'm drawing more towards what I
call hidden realities, so less flashers, more paranormal, more occult, more.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
Supernatural type stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I did have
to some cool like if it could be made into
a video game or comic bookcase is are, I'd like
it because that's where's my world, that where I come from.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Uncle. Very cool. You know, it's been a pleasure having
you on And before I go, I just want to
ask Nicole, where can people find you out online?
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (35:17):
I'm on Facebook. You find me on Facebook. If you
like weird news, then totally follow me on Twitter. I'm
at Navarus and O V A R I S.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
I post all kinds of wacky, weird news stories, conspiracy theories,
and every now and then I'll toss on a screenwriting kip,
just you know, for good measure. Yeah, but that's and
I'm on LinkedIn to you, but mostly I like, I
live on Facebook and Twitter, so that's a good place.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
To look for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:42):
I saw the tweet you just put it out on
National predicts the end of Western civilization.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
Yeah, you all love yeah, stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Let's talk with the stuff after the world stuff, conspiracy theories,
killer virus is gonna wipe that humanity.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
If you like that stuff, follow me on Twitter. It's
full of it.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Nicole. I want to say thank you so much for
coming on and I wish you the best of luck
with everything. And I will see you in the screenwriting
you Facebook group and well you know, we'll be chat
in screenwriting there more. And you know, if you ever
need anything, please let me know.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Awesome, thanks so much, Davis a great I want.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
To thank Dave so much for doing such a great
job on this episode.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
If you want to get links to anything we spoke
about in this episode, head over to the show notes
at Bulletproof Screenwriting dot tv. Forward slash four fifty. Thank
you so much for listening. Guys, as always, keep on writing.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
No matter what.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thanks for listening to the Bulletproof Screenwriting podcast at Bulletproof
Screenwriting dot tv.
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