Burning Virtue

Back in October 2022, while I was still living the island life, I entered a screenplay for NYC Midnight's Short Screenplay contest. The prompt was Drama / Car Rental Agency / Generator and I had 48 hours to submit a 5-page screenplay. This was a rough one, but an idea came to me while I was 60 feet under water off the west coast of Yap with Su from Nature's Way diving (highly recommended). It was an unexpected roller coaster of a story that received 1st place for my group that round.

Photo Credit: Zachary DeBottis

Logline: Ellen McNulty, just out of prison after 20 years, is faced with a dangerous dilemma when a young girl seeking an abortion tries to rent a car to leave Texas and the extremist militiamen seeking the governor's bounty come knocking.

It is my view that my country is in dangerous territory and at risk of falling backwards into religious fundamentalism, ignorance, and unrequited hate. Ellen is not an action hero. She's not going to storm a compound guns blazing or make impassioned speeches to Congress, because that's not what most of us would or could do. She fights back the way she knows how: all or nothing. Ellen is meant to be all of us in one way or another.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Bishop

She's a character with whom I have little in common, save for that principle. Could I take the guns blazing or capitol speeches approach? Maybe, but doubtful and hopefully it never comes to that. So for now I'll contribute through the written word and making films.

Burning Virtue achieved the title of Finalist in the Bluecat Screenplay Competition, among others. It was an honor to be in the top 5 short scripts of 2023 and I'll take that as a sign that this is a story that needs to come to life. I will likely be teaming up once again with Catriona Rubenis-Stevins (director of The One They Wanted) to bring Ellen's fight to the screen and hopefully future festivals around the country.

We will begin fundraising later this year once we have the logistics planned out. Stay tuned.