Jay's Bizarre Story Pitches

Bruce Von Stiers

Jay used to be a talent agent. Kind of washed up, Jay is trying a slightly different career path. He's going to be a screenwriter. He's convinced his friend, Simon, to quit his job at Men's Warehouse and write screenplays with him.

Into Jay's office comes Rita, an actor who'd been Jay's Emmy winning best client. She's come to Jay's office, thinking he's booked her a role in a feature film. But, instead, he pitches her story ideas of roles for her.

This is the plot of the short comedy film, Write This… The screenplay was written by Holly Logan, who also stars as Rita. She has starred or appeared in over twenty short films.

The film was directed by Christopher Ortega, who has over forty screen credits as a director. Of somewhat interest is that the film's IMDB listing shows the cinematographer as Frank Macanan who has over twenty films under his belt as a cinematographer. But the ending credits for the film show Frankie Galvez as the cinematographer. He's known as primarily an actor. I'm not sure which listing is accurate. Maybe they should fix this.

The story ideas that Jay pitches are bizarre, weird and apparently not even close to what Rita would want to act in. A pimp hands out 1099 forms to his ho's to keep the IRS off his back. Rita's character would be his top earner. Then there's a bizarre thriller idea with some S & M tossed in. And a psychologist who uses belts instead of soothing words. Bad pickup lines and holy rollers trying to convert street thugs are a few of the other ideas pitched to Rita.

This is an unconventional comedy film. It takes one washed up talent agent trying to be a screenwriter, an Emmy winning actor who apparently isn't getting any good roles now, an assistant screenwriter who may be better of selling men's suits and melds them all into a bizarrely comical situation. Not only are the story ideas that Jay pitches just plain bad, but they also seem to be poorly mimic successful film and television plots. The twist here is that they mimic incidents in Jay's earlier life. As strange as that seems, it kind of works here.

Jay was played by Ken Gregory. He has appeared in and directed numerous short films and has been in films like End of Loyalty. Simon was played by Bryce J. Ramos. He's appeared in shows such as All American and Quantum Leap and a couple of recent episodes of General Hospital.

Allie McCarthy, Bohdi Wilcox, Shaunna-Gay Wilson, Victoria Lauren Collins and Moe O'Rourke played the ho's in the 1099 story pitch. The pimp was played by Tyrone Stewart. Other actors in the film included Jim Nieb, Brian Michael Reed, August Erhart, Bryce Devincenzi, Diego Waller, Clinton J. Williams and Deeivya Meir.

Write This.. is a film that doesn't take itself seriously. The concept of a has been agent trying to change direction and become a screenwriter seems viable enough. And trying to drag your best former client in with also seem viable. But the ridiculousness of the story pitches is what makes this interesting comedy.

Write This.. has been submitted to the Santa Clarita International Film Festival and is currently under consideration.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers