EP. 1421: Screenwriter Cecil Harris (WHITE CHOCOLATE)
Watch the best scene reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-wbuMLmLCQ
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about?
White Chocolate is about a female detective who, along with her male partner, has to solve the killing of a high school basketball prodigy in Yonkers, New York (near New York City). Detective Erika Gonzalez is a single mom and the daughter of a cop killed in the line of duty. Her son’s father, who proved unfaithful during their relationship, has been recently released from prison. The story focuses on Erika’s resilience in the face of personal and professional challenges, as well as the unwanted attention that comes to an attractive woman who simply wants to do her job.
What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Drama, Crime, Sports.
Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
Erika is a character who faces so many challenges in a male-dominated profession and is constantly being tested, which makes her someone worth rooting for. Also, the basketball prodigy represents the hopes and dreams of many in a city not noted for producing famous people. Many in the community live vicariously through him, making his killing difficult for them to process. Fingers are pointed in many different directions. There’s a whodunit element to the story. Those who may be able to identify the killer before the detectives may be intrigued by the lengths to which the killer tries to avoid accountability.
How many stories have you written?
Two screenplays. The other is Iceman, which is about a Black hockey trailblazer in the 1995-96 National Hockey League season.
I’m also the author of four books: Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey (Insomniac Press, Toronto), the first book that told the unique stories of Black players in hockey; Call the Yankees My Daddy: Reflections on Baseball, Race, and Family; Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur to the Williams Sisters; and Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. My books reside at the intersection of sports and sociology. I used to cover the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes for The News & Observer in Raleigh and the New York Rangers for Newsday in New York. The lead character in Iceman is based on Black NHL players I wrote about in Breaking the Ice.
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