Interview with First Scene Screenplay Winner (HELLCAT) J. Alan Hostetter

I’ve been writing for 40 years, but not self-promoting. The WILDsound Festival is giving me a chance to finally flaunt my wares. It’s time.

– J. Alan Hostetter, on the WILDsound experience.

Watch the Winning 1st Scene Screenplay HELLCAT:


CAST LIST:

NARRATOR – Ryan Fisher
Guise – Geoff Mays
Sterner – Andy Bridge
Fries – Andrew Farr
Cat – Holly Sarchfield

Matthew Toffolo interviews J. Alan Hostetter:

Matthew: What is your screenplay about?

J. Alan: “Hellcat” is about a Pennsylvania state police detective who investigates a blackmail plot as it is going awry, various leads connecting a mysterious woman who once partially castrated her rapist.

Matthew: Why should this script be made into a movie?

J. Alan: Not only is it a tightly plotted thriller, with memorable–even iconic–characters, but the story is actually about something, exploring whether it is more cruel and unusual to put a sex offender in prison for possibly decades or give him an early parole if he agrees to a partial castration. You can’t change a sex offender’s brain, but you can reduce his testosterone production by half by removing one testicle, reducing the likelihood of a repeat offense. And then of course the climax kicks ass.

Matthew: If you can go for dinner with one person dead or alive, who would it be and why?

J. Alan: Off the top of my head, I’d say Anthony Bourdain would make a great dinner companion. I have a lot to learn about food and I’m pretty sure he’d know what restaurant to go to and what to order. And he’d be a blast to talk to as we get properly soused.

Matthew: What was your favorite television show as a kid?

J. Alan: I loved “Combat” and “The Man From UNCLE” as a kid. I loved to play war. Then I got older and wiser and revered Martin Luther King and Gandhi and Christ. I was a very religious Christian teenager, a conscientious objector to war and a virgin until I was 29.

Matthew: What’s been the best year of your life?

J. Alan: I can’t say any single year stands out as my best. Maybe the year after my daughter was born. That was pretty great. I hope it’s a year yet to come. I’ve never been very successful. I’d like to find out what that’s like.

Matthew: Besides your writing talent, what else are you good at?

J. Alan: I’m a pretty good Director of Photography. I’m fast on my feet and I know where to put the lights. It’s a learned skill, a hard-earned learned skill.

Matthew: Do you have a favorite possession?

J. Alan: My favorite possession is my iPhone 6 Plus. I’m on it every day all day long. I wrote an entire musical of 40 songs about the Battle of Gettysburg on my 3S. So many great apps!

Matthew: What has been the best compliment you have ever received?

J. Alan: I don’t fish for compliments but I recently heard my wife tell a friend I was a good man. That’s really as good as it gets.