Interview with Michael Miceli, Feature Screenplay Winner (BESA)

WILDsound has a reputation for providing on-the-money professional feedback for each submission. I like to enter every project I do in WILDsound because it is a great barometer for comparing your work to what is hot in the industry.

– Michael Miceli, on the WILDsound experience (review)

Watch the Winning Feature Script Reading of BESA


CAST LIST:

NARRATOR – Sedina Fiati
Gino – Peter Nelson
Ilir – Roman Spera
Uke – Jarrid Terrell
Carmine Jr. – Robert Notman
Valbona – Erynn Brook
Valbona – Steve Rizzo

Matthew Toffolo interviews winning writer Michael Miceli:

Matthew: What is your screenplay about?

Besa is the story of a loyal Italian father, forced to defend his son who has inadvertently sparked a New York mob war between Sicilian and Albanian crime families.

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

Besa is based on the electrifying novel by Louis Romano, who did an incredible job of capturing the criminal world as it exists today. Our version of the mafia is a weak fossil of what has been depicted in films over the past forty years. The real power is in the fresh blood: Albanians and Russians.

Matthew: How long have you been writing stories?

I wrote my first script when I was in second grade. It was for puppet show I put on for my class about a very lucky dog. Before I could write, I used to draw stories, frame by frame, on a piece of paper and then pull the paper past a make shift projector I had made – which was a flashlight aimed through a toilet paper tube, shining onto my bedroom wall. So I guess you could say storytelling and “filmmaking” has been there since the beginning for me.

Matthew: What movie have you seen the most in your life?

I saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark” twice in the theatre when I was 4 years old. The moment that boulder came rolling , I was hooked.

Matthew: What artists would you love to work with?

Working or not, I’d love to be in the same room with Steven Spielberg for an hour with the hope that I’d catch whatever he has. E.T., Jaws, and Schindler’s List are three completely different genres and he mastered them all.

Matthew: How many stories/screenplays have you written?

I have written 13 feature film scripts. Most recently, “Beautiful Me”, a faith-based film being produced by Restoring Truth Media, and “Chimerism”, a medical thriller being produced by Girl On a Rocking Horse Productions. Both are going into production in 2015.

Matthew: Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years?

On set, anywhere, bringing a script to the screen.

Matthew: Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?

Characters first. Once you’ve written everybody’s whole life from birth to the first page of your script, then you’re ready to begin the journey. From there, I don’t try to structure creativity. I write out of order, just tackling any scene as it grows out of my mind. The smoothing out comes in subsequent drafts.

Matthew: Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I have three little kids that seem to be passionate about everything. So I am passionate about them being passionate about everything.

Matthew: Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

Every writer should always remember the golden rule of screenwriting: simple story, complex characters. If you can do that, you’re more than half way there.