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Merrily All The Way: We Roll From Stage 32 Consultation Call To Active Development- The Screenwriter's Story

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Posted by Bradford Richardson
This Writer's Success Story is about being in the Right Place at the Right Time with the Right Screenplay. And it’s all thanks to STAGE 32’s Pitch Consultation with Producer Kristen Lucas on the “Written Pitch” for my out-of-the-box Holiday RomCom, MERRILY ALL THE WAY.

MERRILY ALL THE WAY, (now in Pre-Production), never would’ve found its perfect home with Producers Kristen Lucas, Jim Langlois, and Tim Misenheimer of Collab Content Entertainment, or the most perfect Director, Colin Theys, without Stage 32. I’m forever grateful!
 
Merrily All The Way We Roll From Stage 32 Consultation Call To Active Development The Screenwriters Story

Logline: When a business-driven Christmas holiday collides with romantic destiny, Children’s Author Melody, Handyman Vlogger Josh, and their Type-A Agents find themselves on separate road-trip adventures into love.

Comps: SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY'S meets PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.

Why me: I love Holiday movies. They’re all about how hope, kindness, and generosity nudges even the most grinchy curmudgeons to open their hearts and take a chance on love. But love is no guarantee of a happy ending. I should know, I’ve been dumped four times over four Christmases. The lessons I learned from losing at love inspired, MERRILY ALL THE WAY.

Let’s dive deeper...

THE SCREENPLAY OF BRADFORD’S LIFE, SO FAR -

EXT. SUNNY SUBURB OF PHILADELPHIA - DAY

In the backyard of a modest cookie-cutter home, when Peace was the sign, the world was high, and anyone over forty was considered obsolete. Bradford's depth of imagination and genius for captivating storytelling took hold as he, along with the family dog, pretended to be swashbuckling heroes - RECORD SCREECH...

KRISTEN LUCAS: “I have notes. Cut all that. I suggest this instead...”

EXT. HOUSE - DAY
And then he met Goldilocks.

BRADFORD: “Ha! Gotta love Producer notes. Okay, how’bout this...”

INT. SEMI-DARKENED SUBURBAN BASEMENT - NIGHT

It’s Fall, 2003. I jolt awake out of the nightmare where Cops try to grab me from the tent I’ve been living in on the roof of the West Hollywood Super Target. I break away. Scramble toward the access ladder at the roof’s edge. I turn and whip a stack of rejection letters at them. Pages explode into the air, each taking flight on its own as I trip over the ledge...

Heart pounding. Out of breath. My head clears and I find myself sitting in my sister’s basement in Philly. Oh yeah, I’d only imagined that rooftop scenario before my near-empty bank account forced me to abandon LA. Truth is, I was too broke to afford that tent. My Summer house-sitting gig for a friend in Echo Park was over. Stage 32 didn’t exist yet. I’d spent my savings on mailing out pitch letters, and printing out and delivering scripts when requested. I sought out film festivals, and social events, and arranged meetings in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

Merrily All The Way We Roll From Stage 32 Consultation Call To Active Development The Screenwriters Story
I accepted my sister’s reluctant invitation to crash on the couch in her husband’s man cave while I continued writing Feature scripts and TV Pilots.

So, there I was, downstairs next to the laundry room, along with shelves of children’s storybooks and forgotten toys. Halloween decorations. A synthetic Christmas tree. Yellowed clear-plastic totes filled with Christmas ornaments, some I remember from childhood.
 
Months had gone by. The invitation to visit had exceeded its sell-by date. It was time for me to pay my own way. I took a part-time job as a grocery store cashier. The kind of job you don’t bring home with you yet it provides a ton of character intel, tests the resilience of your self-esteem, and most importantly feeds your creativity.

Years go by. My writing gets better by leaps and bounds after I discover the incredibly generous Blake Snyder and his SAVE THE CAT feature screenwriting Beat-Sheet how-to guide. The first screenwriting guide written for the creative mind, which doesn’t read like Greek Algebra.

It’s 2008. I’ve given-up too much to stop now. TV produced for cable & streaming takes-off like crazy. TV writing sounds like a blast so I decided to write a TV Pilot, or three. My incredible luck leads me to Jen Grisanti, who had just left her role as Vice President of Current Programs at CBS/Paramount and started Jen Grisanti Consultancy Inc. Look her up if you’re thinking of writing a TV Pilot, there’s no better guide. Let's get back on track. TV Pilot writing is a whole other wild-ride of a story.

At this same time, I discovered Stage 32. Philly is a long way from LA, yet with each new Feature Script and TV Pilot I’d write, I was able to set-up Pitch and Script Consultations with industry executives whose interests aligned with my brand: “Heartfelt Dramedy, for Features and Series, about the moment of becoming who you were always meant to be.”

The consultation notes I’ve received through Stage 32 Executives have made me an even better writer, strengthened my pitches and kept me up to date with our ever-evolving industry.

Merrily All The Way We Roll From Stage 32 Consultation Call To Active Development The Screenwriters Story

The next step in my goal of building a sustainable Screenwriting career is to finish my new "out of the box" Holiday RomCom, SARAH VS. THE NUTCRACKER. I'm looking forward to utilizing Stage 32 programs along the way.

Never quit following your heart, no matter how long it takes you to find success. Remember what the 14th Dalai Lama said, “The only way to fail is to quit.”

Rejection isn’t failure. It hurts like hell, but rejection is the foundation of success.

Keep in mind what Stage 32’s CEO, Richard “RB” Botto always says: “Every film you’ve ever watched was written by someone who was once a first-time writer.”

Thanks for being an incredible support team, Stage 32.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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