The 14th Annual
FilmMakers International
Screenwriting Awards (FISA)

2016 CONTEST |  ENTER NOW
 

Winners | Biography | Logline | Synopsis | Script Excerpt

Blue River

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
 

Stanley Pool		Spencer Pool

of Los Angeles, CA

Blue River
Drama

Biography

Spencer Pool

Having grown up with a camera in his hands Spencer knew he wanted to make movies from a young age. After moving to LA he soon realized that how challenging that dream would be. After film school Spencer worked his way up to a production coordinator where his job was to make sure the creative team had everything they needed for the projects.

Working on the logistics of other people’s creativity, Spencer knew that the best way for him to get into the creative side was to write his own material. As fate would have it, Spencer’s father, Stan, also has a love for films. They decided to join forces and began writing together. Now in their fourth year of working as a writing team, they continue to develop screenplays and stories that hopefully one day will make it to the big screen.
 

Stan Pool

Stanley Pool's Age is 65. Mr. Pool has been an entrepreneur his whole career and has served as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for two different publicly traded companies. Mr. Pool took sales for one of those, Mity-Enterprises, from startup to $25,000,000 and helped raise the funding capital for SPG, a brand marketing company, that has over 35,000 retail outlets selling hunting automotive accessories. As part of that entrepreneur spirit, Mr. Pool and his son, Spencer, decided to start a film production company to further Spencer's desire to direct movies and Mr. Pool's life long love of film. Mr. Pool and Spencer decided the best way to produce movies was to learn how to write them and took several screenwriting seminars to learn their craft. Writing Blue River followed and continued over the next four years

Logline

Seventeen year old Adda gets caught up in the abolitionist movement as her family embarks on a mission to win Kansas as a free state in pre-civil war America.

Interview Part 1.

I knew I wanted to be screenwriter...

Spencer Pool: after watching Last of the Mohicans as a child. I wanted to create films that could move people the way I was moved.

Stanley Pool: when my son and I decided to start a film production company. We knew if we were going to tell stories, we needed to learn how to write them. If we could write our own stories, we would always have stories to make into films.

I know I've succeeded...

Spencer Pool: in telling the story of people who are often forgotten in the pages of history.

Stanley Pool: when my son and I have produced our first commercially successful film.

My inspiration to write "Blue River"...

Spencer Pool: came from reading the true story of a family’s courage to join a cause that seemed impossible. All the cards were stacked against them, yet it is people like the Stewart’s who believed in freedom enough to risk everything to protect it.

Stanley Pool: came from reading the book Augusta published from Augusta Stewart's journal by her descendant Marjorie Crump and her husband, Ralph Crump who also is my business mentor. As I read the journey of Sam Stewart and his two daughters, Augusta and Add a, traveling from Detroit to the frontiers of Kansas in 1856-58 to support the abolitionist' movement to free the slaves, I knew it was a story that had to be told.
 

Interview Part 2.

FilmMakers Magazine: What inspired you to write?
Spencer Pool: I’ve always loved writing. When I’m not working on a project, I feel stagnant. Writing keeps me tuned into my creative side.
Stanley Pool: It was the desire to know how to tell a story. It was also the opportunity to work with my son on something we are both passionate about.

FilmMakers Magazine: Is this your first script and how long did it take you to complete?
Spencer Pool: Yes. It took about four years to write.
Stanley Pool: It is our first script and it took over 4 years and hundreds of revisions to complete.

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you have a set routine, place and time management for writing?
Spencer Pool: Yes and no. I have routines, but I try to mix them up from time to time so things stay feeling fresh.  
Stanley Pool: No. We write when we can work our schedules to get together.

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you believe screenplay contests are important for aspiring screenwriters and why?
Spencer Pool: Do you believe writing contests are important for aspiring writers and why? Definitely. Not only does it give you goals and deadlines, it allows your work to be read, and if no one is reading it, nothing is happening.
Stanley Pool: They gave us deadlines and the inspiration to do our best. They also gave us great exposure to people in the industry.

FilmMakers Magazine: What influenced you to enter the Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards?
Spencer Pool: This contest seemed geared toward a community that is all about getting films made. While I love writing, my ultimate goal is to have the scripts I write get made into movies so this contest was a good fit.
Stanley Pool: It is a contest focused on film making as well as screenwriting.

FilmMakers Magazine: What script would you urge aspiring writers to read and why?
Spencer Pool: Read the scripts of the movies you love. It’s valuable to see how what is on the page gets represented on screen.
Stanley Pool: Casablanca. We learned the correct structure of the screenplay from that movie.

FilmMakers Magazine: Beside screenwriting what are you passionate about and why?
Spencer Pool: Tennis! I’m a huge fan of the game. Playing and staying active helps to keep my mind clear.
Stanley Pool: Golf and my family.

FilmMakers Magazine: Who is your favorite Screenwriter and Why?
Spencer Pool: My favorite writer is Orson Scott Card. Though not a screenwriter per se, his Alvin the Maker series played like a movie in my imagination as a child.
Stanley Pool: Karen Pool. My wife has published 5 books and taught me persistence is the most important thing about writing.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the director you would love to work with and why?
Spencer Pool: Clint Eastwood. He is a masterful storyteller.
Stanley Pool: Angelina Jolie. She is willing to take risks with new a different material.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the actor you would love to work with and why?
Spencer Pool: Russell Crowe. He has the ability to make you believe in the character he’s playing.
Stanley Pool: Robert Downey Jr. He makes every role not only believable but compelling to watch.

FilmMakers Magazine: Any tips and things learned along the way to pass on to others?
Spencer Pool: Learn to love feedback, especially the constructive. Writing is never perfect, accept that you need others views and opinions to make your writing better.
Stanley Pool: Keep writing and find people who will give you good feedback. Without feedback, you don't know where you are in your development.

FilmMakers Magazine: What's next for you?
Spencer Pool: Another script, then another and another!
Stanley Pool: We are working on our next script and would love to find someone to produce Blue River.

FilmMakers Magazine: Where do you see yourself in five years from now?
Spencer Pool:  Hopefully on a set where a script I wrote is being made.
Stanley Pool: Not only writing more screenplays but producing them as well.

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