Welcome to June’s installment of the Terra Nova Newsletter!
Hey friends,
I’m writing to you from a cozy VRBO in Puerto Rico, where I’m spending the week with my family. It’s been years since I’ve been back.
The last time I visited was by cruise ship, just long enough to hop off and see my grandfather. Here he is below. 102 years old. Still Kicking!!!!
Here’s a more recent photo of him… (my aunt, brother, my niece, and gpa)
Being here again has brought up a lot of memories.
A lot has happened this past month.
I’ve been deep in development mode, working on several stories for Film and TV. It’s been a whirlwind—in the best way.
Back in March, I stumbled across a reel by actress Evangeline Lilly (who, by the way, has a beautiful creative presence right here on Substack—check her out here).
In the reel, she shared about a writer’s retreat happening this September in Italy called Script to Pitch, where she’ll be mentoring alongside a team of directors, producers, screenwriters, and studio execs.
To apply, I needed a full treatment or script for a feature film. For those of you who don’t know, a film treatment is a detailed, prose-based synopsis of a movie, acting as a bridge between an outline and the full screenplay.
At the time, I had neither. Just a flicker of an idea that came to me while traveling through Europe last year. So I sat down and, over the course of 15 hours, wrote the entire treatment from scratch. And… I got in.
Only 12 people were selected, and I’m incredibly honored to be one of them.
In the video below, I share more about it:
In a world constantly pulling us in every direction—especially online—I’ve had to work hard to keep my mind focused and present with the creative projects in front of me. Between screenwriting and music, I’m in a season writing. If you’re in a season like that too, I hope you can find time to unplug, tune in, and keep showing up for your art, whatever form it takes.
And of course—it wouldn’t be a Terra Nova Newsletter without some free music.
Thanks for being here. More soon.
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