WILDsound's The Film Podcast

Screenplay Writing, WritingMatthew ToffoloOctober 30, 2024Mary Oleske, THE LAWS OF THE GODS, screenwriter, writer, Matthew Toffolo

EP. 1341 - Screenwriter E. Wendell, R. M. Olivier (MINA PLAYS THE GAME)

Watcth the screenplay reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsW9eL6aqck

A woman plays a poker game for a second shot at life, but what are the stakes and what is the real prize?

(NOTE: Podcast stopped abruptly due to a power outage.)

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feature screenplay, Independent Film, Matthew Toffolo, Screenplay WritingMatthew ToffoloOctober 30, 2024E. Wendell, R. M. Olivier, Matthew Toffolo, MINA PLAYS THE GAME, screenwriter, writer, screenplay

EP. 1336 - Screenwriter Mel Masry (SHADOWS OF STARDOM)

Watch Best Scene Screenplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX2e0_LBGVI

“Shadows of Stardom” (Inspired by True Events) is a screenplay that follows the journey of Jack, a middle-aged man with unfulfilled dreams of acting and dancing. The story delves into the stark contrast between Jack’s vivid dream sequences, where he experiences success and fulfillment, and the harsh realities of his daily life in his dimly lit living room. Through a series of poignant scenes, Jack grapples with perseverance, resilience, and the pursuit of his passions as he navigates the challenges of pursuing his artistic ambitions. The screenplay explores themes of longing, disappointment, and determination, offering a character-driven narrative that resonates with the complexities of human experience.

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What is your screenplay about?

My screenplay, Shadows of Stardom, is inspired by true events and explores the intense pressures and hidden struggles of an up-and-coming actor in the entertainment industry. It delves into themes of ambition, identity, and the cost of fame, as the protagonist navigates the fine line between personal integrity and the seductive allure of stardom.

Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Shadows of Stardom offers a fresh and poignant look at the entertainment industry, providing an introspective and authentic portrayal of the challenges faced by actors behind the scenes. It speaks to universal themes of ambition, self-discovery, and the human cost of success, making it a story that resonates with a wide audience. Additionally, the script’s blend of drama and psychological tension, grounded in real-life experiences, makes it a compelling piece for the big screen.

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http://www.vanstralenwrites.com/

Writing, Screenplay Writing, screenplay contestsMatthew ToffoloOctober 23, 2024Mel Masry (SHADOWS OF STARDOM), screenwriter, writer, experimental, Matthew Toffolo

EP. 1321 - Screenwriter Beckett Van Stralen (ENGINE OF EVIL)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9umcIT1JMg

A sixteen year old receives an old car as a birthday gift from his stepfather. When he drives it for the first time, he realizes it isn’t powered by conventional gasoline – but instead, an engine of pure evil.

https://twitter.com/vanstral

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Engine of Evil is about a belligerent 16 year old who receives a car for his birthday. Only instead of being ecstatic like most 16 year olds would be to receive such a gift, he doesn’t appreciate it. Little does he know that what powers the car is anything but ordinary – instead, it’s an engine powered by pure evil.

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https://www.shadowhorsetheatre.com/dark-pony-radio

film and television, feature screenplay, Matthew Toffolo, screenplay contests, Screenplay WritingMatthew ToffoloSeptember 4, 2024ENGINE OF EVIL, beckett van stralen, screenwriter, Matthew Toffolo, writer

EP. 1317 - Screenwriter Raed Hojiej (HAUNTED LAMENT)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19tLE4O0mEk

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A couple who are dealing with a loss, and purchase their first home. Only to experience an unforgettable first night where memories, dreams, and nightmares mix and come to life.

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http://www.alandavidpritchard.com/

Screenplay Writing, screenplay contests, Matthew Toffolo, Independent FilmMatthew ToffoloAugust 27, 2024Raed Hojiej, haunted lement, screenwriter, writing, screenplay, Matthew Toffolo

EP. 1307 - Screenwriter Alan David Pritchard (THE PEBBLE CHAMPION)

Watch best scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V89jjei3FHI

When a grieving teenage boy, sent to live with the father he’s never met, is haunted by memories and wrestling with his identity, it takes the magic of pebbles on water and the transformative power of kind friends to help him accept his past and welcome his future.

https://www.facebook.com/PoetryByAlanDavidPritchard/

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The story centers around Chris, a 15-year-old who’s really struggling after his mother’s sudden death in a car accident. He’s forced to relocate to this quiet island off the south coast of England, where he has to begin a new relationship with his estranged father. He also ends up forming a close friendship with Thane, one of his new classmates. Thane becomes this kind of anchor for Chris as he tries to navigate this new, unfamiliar environment.

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Matthew ToffoloAugust 26, 2024Alan David Pritchard (THE PEBBLE CHAMPION), screenwriter, writer, screenplay

EP. 1302 - Screenwriter Steve Mikals (SPEAK MONKEY SPEAK)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHrGLMF19w

Will two chimps type Shakespeare? A pot smoking visionary enlists a struggling book shop owner in a screw-loose plan to jumpstart Evolution. Against long odds and a couple of Mob loan sharks, the rewards are higher consciousness, human speech, and a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Get to know the writer:

It’s a comedy about a hare-brained plan to jump-start Evolution. I began with that old probability teaser, How long would it take one hundred monkeys to type Shakespeare? The answer? Exactly two chimpanzees, in a surprisingly short time! Heaven has a vested interest here in correcting our course of planetary and self-destruction, too. A crazy, maybe dark, premise. But the comedy comes from the characters involved: a hapless bookseller and a pot-smoking visionary, their more stable, sensible wives, two Mob loan sharks, and two chimpanzees, Dick and TOOP.

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Matthew Toffolo, Screenplay Writing, WritingMatthew ToffoloAugust 16, 2024Steve Mikals (SPEAK MONKEY SPEAK), screenwriter, writing, screenplay

EP. 1301 - Screenwriter Matthew W. Kelcourse (GEMINI WORLD)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwV3Uzcjzrg

The climate apocalypse and extinction of mankind is about to erupt when a NASA pilot, recalled to lead her crew and precious cargo to an exoplanet 4,000 light years away, must defeat a vengeful enemy that hijacks her ship to be the first colonists on the new world.

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A NASA firebrand challenges personal loss, inner demons, and a vengeful wartime adversary to unite her crew on a perilous journey for humanity to thrive on a new world. Discovering climate change is beyond the point of no return, an international coalition builds a transport ship to send a small crew and 2,500 passengers on a 4,000 voyage to reach Gemini One, an exoplanet thought to be Earth’s “twin”. With all the potential dangers on such a long flight, it turns out that mankind has much to learn about humanity cooperating to save mankind.

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Environmental, Film Festival, film and television, Matthew Toffolo, screenplay contestsMatthew ToffoloAugust 16, 2024Matthew W. Kelcourse (GEMINI WORLD), screenwriter, writing, Environmental Festival

EP. 1295 - Screenwriter Carlos Gabriel Ruiz (Galentine's Day)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/galentines-day

After finding her fiance with another woman, Lisa and her friends all head on vacation together to celebrate Galentine's Day. However, they were not prepared for the dangers they came to face.

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Valentine's Day is etched in Lisa's memory as a day of betrayal. Four years ago, she embarked on a journey through a relentless snowstorm to surprise her fiancé, Jim, only to stumble upon a scene that shattered her – Jim with another woman.

In the wake of that devastating revelation, Lisa's friends — Debbie, Mandy, Jenny, and Katie — fashioned Galentine's Day, a cherished retreat where solidarity among the women reigns supreme. But nothing lasts forever. This is the final Galentine's Day because the women each have busy lives and romantic partners they'd rather spend Valentine's Day with. So the women get together for one last hurrah at a secluded lake house in the Ozarks.

Ultimately, Galentine's Day is about friendship, love, betrayal, and how people slowly grow apart and change, no matter how hard they try to stick together.

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Matthew ToffoloAugust 7, 2024Carlos Gabriel Ruiz (Galentine's Day)\, screenwriter, writer, writing, matthew toffolo

EP. 1267 - Screenwriter Kristine Spindler Denton (WHAT ARE BEST FRIENDS FOR?)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9Sloz1fUg

A woman who ran away from her past discovers that you can’t, as it catches up to her and drops off a 5 year old on her doorstep which forces her to grow up, face her past and move forward more honestly.

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Matthew Toffolo, screenplay contests, Screenplay Writing, WritingMatthew ToffoloJune 22, 2024Kristine Spindler Denton (WHAT ARE BEST FRIENDS FOR?), Matthew Toffolo, screenwriter, screenwriting, LGBTQ+, writer

EP. 1263 - Screenwriter Batoul Shay Mourad (AJNABIYEH)

Watch the best scene reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRNU8SevZIE

As Israel occupies her home in 90s Lebanon, a stubborn teenage girl and her family who have returned to the homeland after growing up in Australia struggle just to get by socially as they brave the real danger around them, their judgemental peers. In this show, the scariest thing about The Middle East may very well be their teenage girls.

Get to know the writer:

Ajnabiyeh is a comedy series focused on a 15-year-old girl and her family and friends living in Lebanon during the Israeli occupation in 1998. It’s based on my mom’s experience being born in Australia then moving to Lebanon in her adolescence. I thought the kind of reverse fish out of water model was interesting. The characters are in a space that is technically their home, but they feel like foreigners or outsiders anyway. I think despite the specific premise, the feeling of outsider status is quite universal to any immigrants or children of immigrants.

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Matthew Toffolo, Screenplay Writing, WritingMatthew ToffoloJune 22, 2024AJNABIYEH, Batoul Shay Mourad, screenwriter, Matthew Toffolo, writing

EP. 1257 - Screenwriter Bethany Yoder (BOB’S BURGERS spec)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wva5vodSs0

Title: Boby’s Burgers: Word to the Pennywise

After Louise trades 1000 Pennies for a $10 bill, she discovers that rare pennies can be very valuable. She enlists Gene and Tina to hunt down her traded pennies, but finds something more valuable than money. Meanwhile Bob and Teddy challenge the notion “you are what you wear.”

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Word to the Pennywise is a spec script set in the Bob’s Burgers’ Universe. The episode largely follows Louise, Gene, and Tina as they run around Wonder Wharf trying to find “Mr. Penny Man,” someone that Louise believes is in possession of a very rare penny. During this episode, Bob and Teddy also start questioning their clothing (and ultimately life) choices.

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fan fiction, Matthew Toffolo, Screenplay Writing, screenplay contests, TV Pilot, WritingMatthew ToffoloJune 13, 2024BOB’S BURGERS spec, Bethany Yoder, screenwriter, fan fiction festival, screeenwriter

EP. 1242 - Screenwriter Thomas Anthony Brannagan (PATHFINDER DOWN)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eKEkCgFa-I

She’s an emotionally damaged agent with a dilemma. Find a downed airman behind enemy lines, then decide whether to become his saviour or his assassin.

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Pathfinder Down is about the horrors of Totalitarianism, regardless of what political or religious dogma it cloaks itself in. It is also about the futility of war…even the victors emerge damaged.

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Matthew Toffolo, Screenplay Writing, WritingMatthew ToffoloMay 26, 2024Thomas Anthony Brannagan, screenwriter, PATHFINDER DOWN, Matthew Toffolo, screenwriting, screenwriters

EP. 1238 - Screenwriter Rhyess Nash (SAND – Part I “Burial”)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buP7_6XCNEg

Summary: After Nefret goes missing, it puts Mazim’s place in the war in doubt, but despite his family’s safety, he won’t leave without Nefret, which leads him to face horrifying consequences.

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My screenplay is about, thematically, the struggle of reconciliation. The protagonist, Mazim Al-Farouq, chooses to have he and his family (wife and son) remain in their home village of Zareda, despite the encroaching invaders. His extraordinary super power is also his vice as he cannot emotionally live without his steppe eagle, Nefret. In reality, he should leave and put his human family members first, but he refuses to abandon his avian companion. This decision indirectly results in the death of son, Mezut. The remainder of the script explores the fallout from this tragedy.

Mazim and his wife, Layla, along with Mazim’s close friend, Firadh, escape the village upon the invasion, but Mezut falls to the sword by the Sojan warlord. Mazim and Layla must now emotionally reconcile the damage done by their beloved son’s demise. And Mazim, alone, must reconcile the fact that he could have saved his son from death and himself from unbearable guilt. As Layla grows increasingly resentful of Mazim, blaming him for Mezut’s death, the couple grows emotionally apart. However, despite this falling out of love, they must pick themselves up and return to the village to bury their son so that his soul may find peace in the Field of Reeds, for only those buried can find their way out of the Underworld and into Paradise.

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Matthew Toffolo, WritingMatthew ToffoloMay 23, 2024SAND – Part I “Burial”, Rhyess Nash, screenwriter, Matthew Toffolo, writer

EP. 1222 - Screenwriter Jessie S. Hymowitz (DOCTOR WHO “The Prodigal Heist”)

Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKxzQH6JMdY

In this episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor and her friends are caught in the middle of a museum heist, but the perpetrator is a familiar face to the Thirteenth Doctor. But who is she?

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My screenplay is about The Thirteenth Doctor and The “Fam” are caught in the middle of a museum heist on the planet Prodigal. The Doctor seems to recognize the perpetrator, but she is unsure from where. This screenplay is mostly about the mystery of the criminal and the secrets of Prodigal.

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