GRAND PRIZE WINNER INTERVIEW/BIO

We're excited to present the EXPOSURAMA GRAND PRIZE WINNER for 2009!

WINNER: THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT by JOSEPH KENNY!!!

Congratulations again on placing first in our contest, we all enjoyed your screenplay very much.

So how long have you been writing?

A long time. I began dabbling in the arts as an actor and received an acting scholarship while in college. I've appeared on stage in many productions, and in small films, and television and media productions of varying sorts. I also have worked as a narrator. My interest in theatre led to interests in writing for film and TV, and while still in college I began writing and producing entertaning educational programs as part of a PBS series. That led to jobs in local film and video production houses as a writer/producer, and further work as a corporate writer/producer. From there I began to pursue my interests in dramatic writing for stage and screen, and now also the writing of novels.

Have you ever won a contest before?

The Swimmer Manuscript is the recipient of 43 accolades (wins, nominations, placements, or official selections) at U.S. and international film festivals and screenwriting competitions.

How do you select a contest?

Sometimes as a result of a contest's reputation, or magnitude. Sometimes as a result of its geographic location and the audiences it serves. Sometimes as a result of its judges, or the special opportunities or exposure that may come from participation. I selected a number of competitions in diverse locales in the U.S. and overseas as a way of testing the appeal of the story told in The Swimmer Manuscript. The screenplay has done well in all regions and overseas.

 How do you prepare your script to win? 

I write what I enjoy.

Have you taken any classes before? with whom?

As a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing (MPW) program at the University of Southern California (USC), and as a member of the Dramatists Guild, I have studied with luminaries and mentors including, Academy Award-Winner Robert Pirosh (Battleground), Jerome Lawrence (Inherit the Wind), James Ragan (Lusions), Paul Gillette (Play Misty For Me), Shelley Berman (Up In The Air), John Rechy (City of Night), and in workshops, master’s classes, and seminars with Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Peter Stone (1776, Father Goose), and others.

What's the best advice you've ever received from an instructor that has applied to your success with screenplay contests?

 

As a writer, follow your passions, and explore issues and stories important to you.

 

What advice would you give to new screenwriters looking to appeal to judges?

 

Learn what you can. Write well. Fear nothing. Take all the lessons you may derive from your participation in classes, seminars, festivals, conferences, competitions, and writing groups, and from the people you may meet along the way, and apply them to your work. Stay active. Read screenplays. Write every day.

BIOGAPHY  

WRITER / PRODUCER

 

Joseph Kenny is a writer and producer who helps individuals and businesses enhance their written communications and tell their unique and powerful stories. Kenny was the Outstanding Graduate of the College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University (ASU) and a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing (MPW) program at the University of Southern California (USC), where he studied with luminaries and mentors including, Academy Award-Winner Robert Pirosh (Battleground), Jerome Lawrence (Inherit the Wind), James Ragan (Lusions), Paul Gillette (Play Misty For Me), Shelley Berman (Up In The Air), John Rechy (City of Night), and in workshops, master’s classes, and seminars with Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Peter Stone (1776, Father Goose), and others.

Kenny is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Authors League of America. He served as a writer / producer on the 15-program The Exceptional Child television series, which ran for more than 6 years on PBS, and as the writer of Pete Rose’s Reach For The Sky (Appledown Entertainment).

Joseph Kenny’s stage play, In August The Jewelweed Cried, supervised by Jerome Lawrence, author of Inherit the Wind, Mame, and First Monday in October, was produced as part of Mr. Lawrence’s Octet play series. And, his play Out of the Shadows was produced in Los Angeles, through USC’s One-Act Playwriting Festival and Competition where was selected as a finalist. Kenny’s screenplay, The Conjur’ Man, received recognition from the New Century Writer Awards, The Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project, and the Writers Guild of America East Foundation Fellowship Awards. This screenplay, later re-titled The Swimmer Manuscript is the recipient of 43 accolades (wins, nominations, placements, or official selections) at U.S. and international film festivals and screenwriting competitions.

Joseph Kenny Directed the 1986 Scottsdale Film Festival, New Technologies and Movie Magic, The Art of Special Effects, produced in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The American Film Institute. He recruited more than 80 Hollywood dignitaries and Academy Award-winning film professionals who participated in 11 seminar events and career tributes to Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown (Jaws, The Verdict, Driving Miss Daisy), Lili Fini Zanuck (Cocoon), Sam Arkoff (producer of more than 500 films at American International Pictures, AIP), actor Richard Farnsworth (The Grey Fox), and many other notable talents.

Kenny served as West Coast Representative for The 1984 Scottsdale Film Festival, The Art of Special Effects, produced in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The

 

 

 American Film Institute. He recruited Hollywood dignitaries, celebrities and film production organizations for participation in the festival, and traveled to Australia to meet with the Australian Film Commission and a variety of Australian Filmmakers. He assisted in the development of seminars, special events, community and corporate sponsorships, and a tribute to film legend, director Robert Wise (Sound of Music, West Side Story).

Kenny worked as a writer/producer for Scottsdale Arizona-based Swartwout Productions the top-rated film and video producer in Arizona at that time. He served many leading media, businesses and civic groups nationally, wrote scripts and commercial copy, and produced media presentations for the production company and their constituents.

Joseph Kenny also has appeared in dozens of theatrical and media productions for adults and children, as an actor and narrator.

Current Projects Include: 

The Swimmer Manuscript, an epic fantasy feature screenplay, reminiscent of such classics as "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Golden Compass," for live action/CGI, 3-D, IMAX, or animation production, with 43 awards & accolades. Log line: A young conjurer avenges his father's death in an epic story of witches, power, lust and betrayal in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Los Desperados, a western thriller, feature screenplay. Log Line: Thirteen men set off on a secret mission to track down, capture or kill the most notorious outlaws in the Arizona Territory.

 

Native Voices: Myth and Culture, a thirteen-program animated television and digital media series for youths and families based on native and tribal cultures, myths and legends.

 

Tales From The Middle East, a thirteen-program animated television and digital media series for youths and families.

 

And, Bad Juju, a New Age comedy feature screenplay à la Ghostbusters.

TO CONTACT JOSEPH

Please email JENNA at EXPOSURAMA@aol.com 

or email him directly here: josephkenny@earthlink.net

CONGRATULATIONS JOSEPH!!