Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
After euthanizing his mother, John Q, a mixed race Chinese-American, is drawn back home to Chinatown where he faces off against dirty cops, the Chinese mob, and his own father, in a personal search for atonement.
CAST LIST:
Fast Eddie: Zazu Oke
Daniel Q: Allan Michael Brunet
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
John Q: Hugh Ritchie
Lucas: Isaiah Kolundzic
Get to know the writer:
1. What is your TV PILOT screenplay about?
John Q is about the title character, an Anglo-Chinese-American, and his search for redemption by searching for a missing girl whom he doesn’t even know.
2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
John Q is a crime drama.
3. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV show?
Because it’s AWESOME! It has action. It has romance. John Q is a crime drama set in the Asian-American community, which places an Asian-American in the role of a hard-boiled detective, an archetypical American hero. The show uses the crime genre to examine aspects of modern life such as: ethnic diversity versus ethnic conflict, immigration versus nativism, money versus honor.
4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Cruel and Kind.
5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
The Maltese Falcon. Saw it for the first time when I was ten and watch it two or three times a year.
6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I started working on the idea in a TV writing class with Ken Urban at Primary Stages ESPA in late 2016. I wrote the first draft in March 2017.
7. How many stories have you written?
Two full-length plays. Five short plays. Three short films. One short story.
8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
I’m not sure. I took dance for seven years as a child/teenager and our warm up song was “Let’s Groove” by Earth Wind and Fire, which is also a song I love, so that’s probably the song I’ve listened to the most.
9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
From a writing standpoint, I had to make sure that the lead character was not just an archetype but had an internal life that made him a full character. I didn’t start writing the script until I worked that out.
10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
I’m very passionate about history and learning about the way people lived in the past and how we got here.
11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
I love using FilmFreeway. It is an easy and convenient way to submit and track work.
12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
This is one of the few festivals dedicated to Crime/Mystery so I felt my script was a natural fit. It has been a fantastic experience, to get very thoughtful and relevant feedback on my script from the festival.
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Producer: Matthew Toffolo http://www.matthewtoffolo.com
Director: Matthew Toffolo
Casting Director: Sean Ballantyne
Editor: Kimberly Villarruel
Camera Op: Mary Cox
Crime/Mystery Film & Writing Festival 