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Issue #128 – Student Successes I
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
When you’re working on breaking into film, you never know what’s going to connect and resonate with someone important. Just ask Film Connection grad Victor Cobb, who recently signed a contract to have his first screenplay optioned!
The script is called “Misguided Behavior,” which covers the subject of bullying. By “first screenplay,” we don’t just mean it’s the first script of Victor’s that will be made into a movie. Victor tells us it also happens to be the first script he ever wrote.
“I wrote [it] about five or six years ago,” he says. “I’ve probably rewritten it about six or seven times. And I thought it was a pretty good script, but I didn’t think it was my best work. I think I’ve gotten better with my other scripts as time moved on.”
Nevertheless, when he met and began working with film producer Sharon Tomlinson of Studio 11 Films in Atlanta, GA… “She asked me to send her some of my scripts,” says Victor, “and I forwarded her two or three. And the one that she ended up picking was the very first script that I wrote…She immediately liked it, she connected with it…We signed the option agreement about two or three weeks ago to finalize the deal.”
Victor’s recent success is also a lesson in patience. He first enrolled in the Film Connection about three years ago, apprenticing under filmmaker Steve Carmichael at Radiant3 Productions in Atlanta, and also studying screenwriting with writer/producer Richard Brandes via Skype. Victor says he drew upon their advice to polish his writing.
“A lot of the things that I learned from Richard [Brandes] and Steve Carmichael aided me when I was going to rewrite the script,” he says. “I rewrote it six or seven times during my time in the program…I had a lot of people just read it and give me their perspective on it, and from there, my creative juices just got going, I just kept rewriting it until I just thought I had given it all I had and I thought it was done.”
After graduating, Victor says he kept working on whatever film gigs he could find (often as a PA) while looking for his break, and continued to write screenplays in the meantime. After working on some projects with Sharon Tomlinson, when she offered to read his work, he was ready with several screenplays to give her. Even so, it took several months before she actually had time to read them. Sharon (who is now a Film Connection mentor herself) tells us she resonated with one in particular—specifically, the first script Victor had written.
“I could not put it down,” says Sharon. “I mean, literally, the script was so good… “It was so refreshing to get a well written script that moved so good and read so well, that hit me, and [I] sent that script to a couple of people, and they all said the exact same thing. The story, it’s a great message about bullying…we wanted a movie with a message. So it has a great message about gun violence, dysfunctional families, bullying, a great story, and it involves youth.”
Now, with his first screenplay officially optioned, Victor continues to look to the future. “I still want to write, direct, and co-produce my own projects,” he says. “As of late, my focus has been on writing. I think I’m getting very good at writing. I’ve recently written a play…I wanted to challenge myself and venture outside of specifically screenplays, so I wrote a play, that I think is a pretty good play. I’m going to see if I can direct it and co-produce it myself within the next year or so.”
In the meantime—be on the lookout for a new film called Misguided Behavior, written by Victor Cobb. Congratulations, Victor!
or call (800) 755-7597
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