-When you plan the realization of a film project, what are your objectives?
First off, I thank the WILD FILMMAKER editorial staff for including me in the Cannes Film Market. My primary objective upon the conception of a new screenplay is to tell a story derived from my personal experience in a manner that will resonate with many moviegoers. I have learned that is the most essential aspect of a story from Tammy Gross of ReelAuthor (tammygross.com) my friend and film script guru since 2022. My film scripts American Money and Padre Guns do just that. I have signed an Artist-Producer agreement with Incandescent Pictures, an independent film producer based in Nashville, to produce American Money in the near future. Padre Guns, a film script addressing sacrifice & redemption, will likely hit the market in late April. On the other hand, an example of one of my film script ideas that needs a lot of work is Peace Of Mind, the story of my 1990 exit from Wall Street. Tammy read the “barf” draft of the script and made the astute and valid comment about a key character, who was based on my extramarital girlfriend at the time, “No man will want to watch this movie with his wife.” So, it’s back to the drawing board to make that aspect of what I believe to be a great story that would have been completely screwed by the fictional Lana Grace, whom I love but everyone else would have despised.
-With Artificial Intelligence, cinema is undergoing a phase of transformation even more radical than the one that occurred in the 1920s with the transition from silent films to sound. What is your opinion on this?
The effects of AI on all art are akin to a major earthquake caused by the movement of major tectonic plates. I’ve read filmmakers can easily duplicate intellectual property such as musical performances and visual designs. AI has even given filmmakers the ability to “manufacture” a person; there’s no need to discover a Norma Jeane Mortenson in a World War II airplane factory because AI can simply generate a Marilyn Monroe. So, those artists need legal protection. In my humble opinion, writers are better protected, for now; I believe the current state-of-the-art of AI cannot write quality film scripts, but AI is getting better and better as the calendar pages flip. I’m 92 days away from my 70th birthday. By the time I live out my natural life, by the grace of God, AI will be as good as Tammy and I are now. I love to paraphrase the idea Al Franken expressed in an article on the subject of AI versus native intelligence published in The New Yorker during the recent Writers’ Guild strike: Artificial Intelligence has never hugged the porcelain throne puking its guts out from food poisoning after being jilted by a lover. Native intelligence rules…for now. Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial.
-To which production or distribution company would you like to propose your new project? Give us a profile, including some examples.
Film festival juries since February 2025 have primarily steered American Money toward indies and arthouses. Then, in November I signed with Incandescent Pictures. I believe this trend is because of how I tend to write, and I’m thrilled with those prospects. One indie producer has already committed to read Padre Guns. Once I make Lana Grace more palatable, I can see Peace Of Mind headed toward arthouses. A fourth film script idea for which I’ve written the ending, Soaring Dove, may have the potential for more mainstream production. An Everyman helps a woman who is the future of benevolent American politics resolve a threat to her constituents. It’s set in the mid-1990s and has a Notting Hill feel to it. So, we shall see about that one. I love how I got here and I like where I’m headed. Indies and arthouses are fine with me.
-WILD FILMMAKER can now “sit at the table with the big players” alongside The Hollywood Reporter and Variety during the Cannes Film Festival, but we have chosen to continue being a Global Cultural
Movement with an ethical mission: to bring democracy into cinema, placing the Work of Art at the center of our project rather than Marketing.
Do you think we are doing a good job?
Absolutely! WILD FILMMAKER is doing a wonderful job, and I’m speaking both as an artist and a fan of film. Every movie begins with an idea; placing the work of art at the center only makes sense because that makes marketing easier. Personally, as a screenwriter, WILD FILMMAKER has taken me places I never thought were assessable to me. I’m a retired mechanical engineer who sought advice from three great writing teachers to turn his hobby into calling waiting to happen. I have the utmost appreciation for Michele Dioma and the editorial staff of WILD FILMMAKER. Thank you all. It’s been an awesome journey that I hope never has a destination. May the Peace your higher power gives you be as sweet as the Peace that The Holy Trinity provides me.
