Step out and see what award-winning screenwriter Doug Folsom is working on. He’d like feedback on a number of aspects of his latest script, The Return of the Santa Fe Super Chief.
FROM DOUG:
Movies to compare it to: This four-quadrant film is Field of Dreams meets An Affair to Remember on America’s most famous luxury train.
Genre: Inspirational/Aspirational, Magical Realism, Romance, Drama.
Logline: A mysterious stranger convinces an airline ad executive to spend his inheritance on restoring an old passenger train for one last run.
I would like you to help answer these questions:
- What genre do you think best describes this story?
- Does the logline work? Something better?
- Do you think the beginning/middle/end scenes of the unemployed man work or don’t work? Should they be changed or taken out?
- Is Roger Storm a relatable enough character?
- Is Eve too bland?
- Are there any cliches you would get rid of or change?
- Sometimes antagonists in stories are not people, but events or circumstances that are obstacles for the protagonist. Can you accept that the antagonist to Roger is in some ways Mr. Chapman in the first act, and Brook in Act two, but overall the antagonist is the overwhelming cost of putting a ride like this together and potentially bankrupting Roger? Do you have a better idea for an additional antagonist/obstacle?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Doug grew up in Massachusetts, and graduated from New York University—majoring in acting and English. After years of pursuing acting in New York City, he became an ordained pastor and chaplain. He moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and continued his creative pursuits by producing and acting in four award-winning short films.
He decided to focus on writing in 2009. He’s written two feature screenplays, The Return of the Santa Fe Super Chief (semi-finalist at PAGE), and Over the Monster (Winner, Best Screenplay, 2014 Woods Hole Film Festival). He’s also written two critically acclaimed novels based on the screenplays, which can be found on Amazon. In 2014, he taught screenwriting as an adjunct at Stevenson University in Maryland.
Doug returned to Massachusetts in 2014 with his wife and young daughter, who he takes care of full-time. For his next writing project, he’s working on a WWII romance based on a true story.
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