We are very happy to welcome Derek Carroll and Joseph Murillo to the consider circle.
Derek Carroll worked hard on his script BOYO and has been fantastic in taking notes and improving draft after draft. In fact, we first read it back in 2020! A real testament to how nose-to-the-grindstone can pay off. BOYO is a coming-of-age story set in the 1980s and inspired by a tragic nightclub blaze in Dublin that killed 48.
Derek moved to the USA from Ireland in 2000 and became a clinical psychologist and public speaker. He started writing during periods of homesickness and quickly realized that he needed to learn more about the craft. He started taking classes.
A mutual friend introduced him to David French, whose life story inspired BOYO. They share a common background, having both grown up in Coolock, Dublin. “(The Stardust fire) was an emotional earthquake,” said Derek. “For many, their world still hasn’t stopped shaking. I knew there was a powerful and necessary story to tell here.”
About his rewriting process, Derek said, “When I get (CI) feedback, I read it properly. Once. Then I go about my business, gently allowing the feedback to sink in. A scene I have been emotionally invested in for months or years (may have) to go or change significantly.
“The challenge of absorbing feedback has two steps for me. First, understanding and appreciating the how/why/when/when/what logic of it in relation to the craft. And secondly, applying it with craftsmanship. Maybe two, three days later I will open the screenplay to edit. In the end, the work improves. It’s that simple. So, the pay-off in the long run helps de-personalize feedback no matter how much it rubs me the wrong way when I read it initially.” Good advice indeed.
Congratulations, Derek.
Our second consider this week is Joseph Murillo. Our readers sparked to his werewolf vs. cowboys and Native Americans horror-western SILVER.
Joseph is a Mexican American Screenwriter born and raised in south San Diego. “As a person with mild cerebral palsy and undergoing numerous surgeries, media played a large part in (my) life. TV, movies, books, comics, and video games occupied much of my time growing up, and with that, a love for storytelling grew.” He received a B.A. in Film and Television Studies in 2010 and a M.F.A. in Screenwriting in 2012.
About the inspiration and development of SILVER, Joseph said, “It wasn’t until I found the setting of a Boomtown did everything else develop. Having a melting pot of people and cultures struggling to coexist really grabbed my attention. Then all the sudden I was seeing parallels of greed, prejudice, injustice, and capitalism between current events and my story.”
He leaned into that and used the werewolf as as outside instigator to escalate these issues. “The protagonist’s story, this person belonging to two worlds but not feeling at home in either, was something I could relate to on a few different levels. My disability is practically invisible. I struggled to do what others could growing up. Finding my place in the world and being comfortable with it and myself was something I could only do when I stopped letting others have an impact on me.”
Joseph says that his protagonist, like himself, “finds his own place in the world and stands up for his own ideals despite those trying to influence him, and that is something I hope everyone can aspire to.”
Congratulations, Joseph!
