MovieBytes Interview:

Screenwriter Lee Tidball

An interview with screenwriter Lee Tidball regarding The Movie Deal! Writing Competition.

Q: What's the title of the script you entered in this contest, and what's it about?

A: PRINCESS REBORN is about GINAH, a wife, teacher, mother of two who is actually an alien princess and ex-superhero in hiding who's trying to enjoy a "normal" life after years of fighting crime in LA and wars against her father's enemies on a planet light-years away. She grew to hate her former life, and has kept it a secret from everybody, including her family.

But now her daughter LARI is manifesting weird superpowers of her own and wonders if they have anything to do with her mom's phantom past. But before the two can connect on this, an old alien nemesis from Ginah's past reappears on Earth, bent on revenge and world domination. He kidnaps Lari, sends Ginah's husband and young son over a cliff in their van, and moves on Washington DC to finish his well-planned coup. Ginah's the only one powerful enough to stop him--or at least, she was--but now is as rusty as an old gate and frantic with the apparent loss of her family.

The story then is about how Ginah must somehow regain her former prowess, and, with the help of Lari, her family, and various friends from her former life, defeat the evil megalomaniac and his henchmen and save the world. And of course, along the way, she rediscovers who she really is and her family learns valuable lessons about honesty, openness, and working together.

Q: What made you enter this particular contest? Have you entered any other contests with this script? If so, how did you do?

A: I entered The Movie Deal because it's a new contest and its judges are working professionals and not just "readers." Any time I can get my material before real, live producers, directors, actors, etc., it's more people who can actually make decisions reading my stuff, and that's invaluable exposure in itself, irregardless of the prizes that you might win. Also, The Movie Deal allows you to compete in genre categories, which I feel is a much more fair way to set up a contest and gives better and more specific exposure to the industry if you do well or win.

I've entered PR in lots of contests over the years, and it's done very well, been a Finalist or Top Ten in at least a half-dozen including PAGE International and BlueCat Screenwriting Lab. The Movie Deal, though, is its first win.

Q: Were you satisfied with the adminstration of the contest? Did they meet their deadlines? Did you receive all the awards that were promised?

A: This was a very well-run contest, especially for its first time. I can't remember all the published deadlines, but what I do remember is the constant communication I got from the contest people giving updates if or when anything new was going on. And when it came time to narrow down the 200 or so finalists to the winners, etc., that all happened right on the money. I was informed of my win by special email right on the promised deadline (early February, 2009), and had received all my prize package by mid-March, which, BTW, included a free WinningScriptsPro subscription which I have already taken advantage of :).

Q: Were you given any feedback on your script? If so, did you find the feedback helpful?

A: I think there was a feedback option offered for more entry fee money, but I didn't use it. PR has been around for a long time and I've gotten tons of feedback already.

Q: Has your success in this contest helped you market your script? Were you contacted by any agents, managers or producers?

A: So far, yes, but it hasn't been through the contest itself. They said they'd send out info on the script to their list of contacts, etc., but so far nothing from that.

But what I was also able to do as a result of this win was to put out a blurb on one of the filmmaker email networks that I'm a part of, and from that I got about ten requests for the script, which resulted in some new contacts, some very good feedback, and at least one option possibility so far. And there's other similar networks I'm hooked into that I haven't been able to "blurb" yet, so maybe there will be more. It also gives me something more to add to my pitch, which I'm hoping will work well for me when I head to pitch markets and such over the summer.

I also was offered (and did) an Internet interview with Hal Croasmun of ScriptforSale.com concerning my win, and that has also resulted in more exposure than I'd have had otherwise.

Q: What's your background? Have you written any other screenplays or television scripts?

A: I've written probably 7 or 8 feature scripts total, but have only polished PR and one other one (SANDI CLAUS, a family holiday fantasy--was also in The Movie Deal, made Top Ten in the Fantasy/Animation category) to the point where I feel good about marketing them and entering them widely in contests, etc. I've also self-published a graphic novel version of PR. The first part (of a three-part series) is currently out, having won Honorable Mention in Writers' Digest magazine's 15th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards (middle-grade/YA category) in 2007, and Chapter Two should come out sometime later in this spring or summer. I've also written two novels for the middle-grade audience, HIDDEN TALENTS Ginah's Journals, Journal #2 (upon which Princess Reborn and Midnight Princess are based) and WINDFORK SECRETS, an historical fantasy.

My "day job" is teaching 6th graders, and through it I not only get endless inspiration but also gain a unique perspective on what works and doesn't work in the whole family entertainment genre by being in such close and constant proximity to the actual audience. I can get genuine audience feedback literally any time I want!

Q: Do you live in Los Angeles? If not, do you have any plans to move there?

A: I live "upstate" from LA in Modesto (yup; same place Susan "Ginormica" Murphy of Monsters vs. Aliens is from--and George Lucas too) and would love to spend more time in LA, but it's hard with the teaching job. Once I retire from teaching, I'd like to spend a lot more time in LA to be able to market and network better, but I'm not sure at this time if I'd move there permanently or not.

Q: What's next? Are you working on a new script?

A: I've recently ventured into writing TV pilots (TV seems to be a much more open market these days...) and have one all set to go for this spring and summer after working on it since last summer. It's called MIDNIGHT PRINCESS and is based on the novel that I extrapolated Princess Reborn from, so the series would be, in essence, a prequel to the PR screenplay. I entered an earlier version of it (called HIDDEN TALENTS) in The Movie Deal also and it was given an Honorable Mention award

There's also the afore-mentioned graphic novel chapter coming out that I'll be marketing, and I've also been exploring new feature concepts, hoping to come up with something that's both fantastical, irresistible, and (unlike PR) cheap to make!

Posted Saturday, March 28, 2009