Author + Screenwriter that Connected on Stage 32 are Making Moves with their Project!

It has been exactly one year and six months since I started to turn my novel into a screenplay with screenwriter Christina Patjens. Click here to read about how our collaboration started right here on Stage 32. 

I'm beyond elated to let Stage 32 know that the script's first draft is finished as is the synopsis.

Meanwhile, many wonderful things have transpired.

International actors from Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are full of praise for the script and its story and are interested in acting.

A Hollywood film financier and a Stage 32 member would like to contribute eighty percent and he has referred me to a Los Angeles based agent who's also a partner.

Screenplay Title Page, "The Syrian Jewelry Box"

A director of photography turned screenwriter who has worked with A-list actors is excited to offer feedback.

A professional actor and a Stage 32 member with thirty years of experience is doing both, a voice over and reading some script pages.

In March I will be having a meet and greet at our local bookstore.

Things are unfolding, and I cannot believe how far I have come.

A contributor writer for an expatriate publication for expats in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia interviewed me about my story.

Citing my parents: The beauty of life comes from supporting one another and embracing our inherent cultures; no matter the religion, the culture or ethnicity.

About Carina S. Burns (Author)

I am an American published Author working with Christina Patjens aka Lucie de Jong. She has completed my book to film adaptation, and the synopsis is in development. I am also an English Trainer, wife, mother, and I enjoy reading, nature, and all aspects of foreign cultures, including exotic cuisines, cultural history, and language. I've traveled the globe throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia. I've studied writing at DeAnza College and Stanford and am a member of the California Writers Club South Bay Branch. I grew up in the Boston area. My husband and I lived in Paris from 2016 - 2019. We have returned to Palo Alto, California where were living from 2007 raising our three sons.

About Christina Patjens (Screenwriter)

Christina Patjens aka Lucie de Jong, is a Germany - (Hamburg) based screenwriter, screenwriting teacher, script consultant, story analyst and a several published author in various anthologies with poems, prose and short stories and translator. She has studied screenwriting from 2012 to 2016 with Marie Amsler, a Swiss screenwriter with a MA screenwriting from the University of Bournemouth. Specialized in linear drama who has worked for Bavarian Television and ARTE.

She writes in the genres horror, crime, comedy and adventure. Book adaptations with historical elements, autobiographies and memoirs are the main genre she adapts. The Syrian Jewelry Box, a published autobiography by Carina S. Burns, is completed. Its synopsis is in development.

She is multi-lingual, translates short stories, short scripts, poems and medical records from German, Spanish and French into English and vice-versa. She also has a rudimentary knowledge in Portuguese and Arabic language. She has a background in medicine and pharmaceuticals. She writes articles for movie websites, blog posts and is an artist for photo grams, screen prints and object collages.

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