In each episode, the C.E.O. of WILDsound, Matthew Toffolo, chats about all things storytelling and film. Conversations with talented individual from all around the world.
11 BLOCKS TO GO: THE BET, 10min., USA
Directed by Nathaniel P. Claridad
Samantha, a free-spirited hapless romantic, discovers her 30-something-year-old BFF Drew, a gay high-functioning drug-addled sex addict, hosting an orgy in lieu of honoring his personal commitments.
https://www.instagram.com/11blockstogo/
Conversation wth the screenwriter & stars of the film Jack Utrata & Ashley Alexander.
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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19tLE4O0mEk
https://www.shadowhorsetheatre.com/dark-pony-radio
Get to know the screenwriter:
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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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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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.
Get to know the writer:
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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Watch the Novel Transcript Reading: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/thessalonika
1. The title of my novel about a girl willing to sacrifice her name and her identity
2. The middle name of Cleo Hart, a scholarship student at a prestigious New England university in the 1950’s
3. A feminized form of “Thessaloniki,” a city in Greece possibly named after Alexander the Great’s half-sister
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A college student masquerades as her male classmate to join an archaeological dig in 1954 Crete. While excavating Minoan ruins, she unwittingly enters a labyrinth of post-war sociopolitical conflict.
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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.
Get to know the writer:
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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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzIUindvgrg
Based on the best-selling book about Officer Sam Harris, a bomb squad leader, and her team of experts as they race against the clock to save innocent live from a serial bomber, including their own. Our lead also happens to be a lesbian , navigating her way through a male dominant culture, inspired by the author’s real life experience as a lesbian in law enforcement.
https://srichey147387.wixsite.com/inspirationaldreamer
https://www.facebook.com/garcia.lightemup.9
https://mobile.twitter.com/samkat429
https://www.instagram.com/samkat429/
Get to know the writer:
This one- hour serialized action thriller, based on the bestselling book, Light ‘Em Up, Officer Sam Harris, a bomb squad leader, and her team of expert’s race against the clock to save innocent lives from a serial bomber, including their own. Our lead also happens to be a lesbian, navigating her way through a male dominant culture, inspired by the author’s real life experience as a lesbian in law enforcement.
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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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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKapX4h4I98
A film student makes a call, the answer changes his life.
Get to know the writer:
This one page script The Answer is about the moment I received the phone call that my father had died while I was at film school in New York. I wasn’t told at the moment he had committed suicide, but that was the moment I knew that the only real parent I had passed away.
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Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPTlkoZJlg
Modern day adaptation of Dickens “A Christmas Carol.” Evan Scrooge lives his life as a rich, greedy, bitter, closeted gay man, who despises the holidays. Until one Christmas Eve night, when his dead, ex-lover and business partner, Jake Marley, along with the three spirits of Christmas Present, Past, and Yet to Come, show Scrooge the errors of his ways. Leading Scrooge to open his heart and love for the holidays, as well as his sexuality.
Get to know the writer:
It’s about two men seeking to find love, who spot each other, mutually attracted, but are unable to meet as one is whisked away in his cab.. Both now set on finding the other again, setting into motion a serious of comedic events.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ-DmtHBCeU
Out of work actors in LA plan a robbery of a marijuana dispensary in the middle of Covid lockdown.
Get to know the writer:
The plot is a heist of a dispensary during the peak of Covid lockdown. But the story is about who is winning and losing in the modern American economy. In it, a couple young American males have lost faith in the late capitalist system. History tells us that when young males feel lost en masse, bad things can happen. Here, this group takes a crazy risk with their lives over a compartively small prize. By the start of the film, they have lost faith in institutions, dropped out of higher education, and are pursuing moonshots to achieve what they perceive as success. You could read the story as a mini-revolution with real winners and losers.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCaY3hEnALM
When a jaded housewife realizes that her house is keeping her and her husband stuck in a repeating scene from the 1950s, she fights to awaken her husband from a mysterious trance so they can outsmart the house and escape before they forget who they really are and get stuck in the obsolete scene forever.
Jen Butler on why the script should be made into a film:
Relevance: This story touches on some big-name topics such as rewriting learned gender roles, inner child healing, embracing and overcoming differences in relationships, escaping beauty ideals, aging gracefully, navigating a spiritual awakening, tuning into intuition, and more.
Opportunity: 41.7 million adults in the United States received treatment or counseling for their mental health within the past year. According to Market Research, the self-improvement market’s worth was estimated at $13.2 billion in 2022 with 5.6% average yearly gains. People want help. People want to grow in self-awareness. People want to wake up.
Necessity: A large theme within End of Scene is how to evolve a long term complacent marriage into a conscious relationship where each party loves one another for who they are. More than 50% of all divorce cases claim irreconcilable differences. What would happen if each individual took responsibility rather than projecting their unresolved issues onto their partner?
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM8Y4Z6pwA0
SmokeEasy is a stoner-buddy comedy about two ebony and ivory millennials, Jill and Red, disrupting the cannabis industry one “woke” misadventure at a time. First order of business: Get their THC tampon prototype into the hands of potential investor and festival headliner, Rihanna.
Get to know the writer:
Jill and Red are millennial underdogs as different as ebony and ivory, literally. Together, they helm SmokeEasy™, a line of ultra-feminine weed products designed to disrupt the Bay Area cannabis industry one woke misadventure at a time. Today’s mission: Get their THC tampon prototype into the hands of potential investor and festival headliner, Rihanna. Overzealous security guards, surprise menstrual cycles, and festival jail can’t stop Red and Jill from making the pitch of a lifetime.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
RECEDING, 16min., USA, Drama Directed by Renee Garcia
Sophia, is an 8-years-old girl suffering from Alopecia, where she can have sudden hair loss or a receding hair line. She gets bullied by other kids for her hair condition, but then surprises her mom, Mary when she asks permission to try-out for cheerleading which unexpectedly builds bravery and confidence in her.
https://www.instagram.com/sophianesterova2023/
Interview with director Renee Garcia
Producer/writer Valentyna Nesterova-Ashakhmetova
Actor Sophia Nesterova
Get to know director Renee Garcia
Valentyna Nesterova-Ashakhmetova, the Ex. Producer wanted to tell her true story with her daughter Sophia, their journey they went through together with having Alopecia. Adriana Kostetska, the Producer brought it all together and brought in an award-winning Director Renee she has worked with prior to Direct, write and tell their inspirational story on film that she is honored to tell their story.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0SYt9uBuDU
In 1930s El Paso, Texas, when a timid Swedish maid and a strong-willed Mexican American maid develop an unexpected friendship, tension arises between them as the Swedish maid finds a mentor in her household but the Mexican-American maid is fired by her bosses for her assertiveness and fighting off sexual advances. The Mexican American maid becomes active in a fledgling Maids Union until she faces deportation and despairs. Her Swedish friend finds strength she never knew she had and takes steps to save her friend from deportation.
Get to know the writer:
Set in 1930s El Paso, Texas, this screenplay is about the value of an unexpected friendship between a Mexican American maid, assertive and proud, and a timid Swedish maid and how they both grow intellectually and emotionally based on their friendship.
As maids working in rich households, Hilde finds a mentor while Nita is fired for standing up for herself and for fighting off sexual advances.
Nita becomes a union activist in a fledgling Maids Union. Hilde joins the union eventually but reluctantly and filled with fear that she’ll be fired.
Nita is jailed and faces deportation for her activism and Hilde disappears from her life. Hilde, though, realizes the value of this friendship and draws from her hidden strengths to save her friend from deportaion and, equally important, restore their bond.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Watch the Screenplay Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhTtzLnS2a0
When A TV star finds out his best friend is dead it leads to uncovering a world of alternate realities, monsters, fantasy and more.
Get to know the screenwriter:
A TV star learns his best friend from childhood has died and heads back to his hometown for his funeral. He soon realizes that his dead friend has created an entire fantasy universe that could hold the key to his death.
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
DOWN BAD, 27min., USA, Drama/TV Web Series
Directed by Rogelio Salinas de la Torre
After a night of infidelity, Nia navigates the awkward morning-after with her one night stand and battles with what this means for her already stalled engagement.
https://www.instagram.com/toni_adeyemi
From Toni:
Growing up, I yearned to see TV that was rooted in Black humanity. We are often tokenized and/or made to be exceptional – with little room for error or flaws. I wanted to create a concept that allowed us the same slice-of-life realism and character depth that many of my favorite shows are afforded.
DOWN BAD is a project that started as a short story for a creative writing class at Stanford and later became my first screenplay. Throughout the process of writing, producing, acting in and editing this piece, I’ve been inspired to grow as an artist and collaborator.
For most of the cast and crew, this was our first time in these roles on a scripted set. To have this project be so Black – and so grounded – feels radical to us. I hope you enjoy the DOWN BAD magic as much as we do!
You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
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‘The Legend of the Mermaid Tree’ is a romance period piece bridging the past to the present on St. Simons Island. Joshua, a goal driven analyst, finally gets the opportunity for a promotion, but has to return to the island after hearing of his grandfather’s untimely death. As he packs his grandfather’s belongings, he comes across a journal and a map that details a love story with a mysterious woman, Colleen. After seeking help from a local waitress, Joshua will have to reevaluate his desire in life. A goal or a home.
Interview with writer, plus best scene screenplay reading - audio version.
Playing on the Film Festival Streaming service later this month. You can sign up for the 7 day free trial at www.wildsound.ca (available on your streaming services and APPS). There is a DAILY film festival to watch, plus a selection of award winning films on the platform. Then it’s only $3.99 per month.
Subscribe to the podcast via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
SEVERENCE PAYBACK is a winning THRILLER/SUSPENSE Festival screenplay. Great chat with writer Richard M. Kjeldgaard on the process of screenwriting, and his other award winning work.
Watch the winning screenplay reading HERE
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Female Voice/Amanda: Kyana Teresa
Female Voice #2/Teenage Voice: Val Cole
Male Voice/Parking Attendant: Allan Michael Brunet
Lindsey Voice: Julie Sheppard
Robert Voice: Bill Poulin
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Follow WILDsound Podcasts on all social media channels: @wildsoundpod
Submit to the festival anytime via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/WILDsoundFilmandWritingFestival
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PERMISSION is a winning short screenplay about a married couple still suffering from an unimaginable tragedy, and are challenged with an unexpected opportunity.
Great conversation with screenwriter Joe Capucini on the process of writing screenplays and writing in general.
Watch the Winning Screenplay Reading HERE
Still suffering from an unimaginable tragedy, a married couple is challenged with an unexpected opportunity.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Ethan: Sean Ballantyne
Ashley: Julie Sheppard
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Follow WILDsound Podcasts on all social media channels: @wildsoundpod
Submit to the festival anytime via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/WILDsoundFilmandWritingFestival
Subscribe via Twitter: https://twitter.com/wildsoundfest
