INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING
Screenwriter/Playwright/Novelist/Librettist
NEWS & EVENTS
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“I am working on my autobiography.”
(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with
Larry Gene Fortin
2025 April 11
-You are a successful screenwriter. What and who inspires you to write your projects?
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Inspiration is an interesting concept. Does it come from life experiences, world events, media events, relationships, books you’ve read, music or even dreams? It is all, yet none. I’m inspired by all of the above yet my own mind’s imagination is prevalent. An example is one of my most popular scripts, FIRE FLIES.
I had seen the film GLADIATOR then downloaded the sound track by Hans Zimmer and it set my soul on fire. Every note and measure of the music created visions in my head leading to creating the story of a young boy coping with the divorce of his parents by creating a world of dragons where he is King and the events in his life parallel between current and Mystical Times. This inspiration has led to three sequel scripts, FIRE FLIES: THE DRAGON’S TOMB, FIRE FLIES: THE GOLDEN DRAGON and FIRE FLIES: THE RETURN OF THE RED DRAGON. These all came from the same inspiring Hans Zimmer soundtrack. My THE TASTE OF RAIN came from sitting one rainy day up in the local mountains listening to Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett and many other fabulous singers. The music combined with the rain and smells started me thinking about an established singer of their level that has a mental breakdown, casting him into the depths of being a failing lounge singer and his return to mental stability and stardom.
Inspirations can come from anything, any place or the combination. It’s your mind that runs with it to make the story pop out and become the script that is compelling. See a flower in a pot on the windowsill of a red brick dilapidated building on the corner and you may wonder who put the pot there and why or who else lived in that building. And yes, it can be of any genre. The building could be haunted. The building could be a portal like in Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER. It could be the apartment building in I REMEMBER MAMA in San Fransisco or in a parallel universe and time. The mind can be inspired by virtually anything.
I wasn’t inspired by any single person but I was supported by people who supported what I was doing with my writing. They can be critical but not condescending. As Liza Minnelli said, “I don’t hang around people I don’t like.” That is important. I may have missed some opportunities in that but it has kept me sane and focused on my writing.
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-Do you think Artificial Intelligence is a threat to screenwriters or a useful support?
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AI . . . what a concept. While it can be fun in animation and creative art, I find it extremely lazy in writing. Why bother? The whole point of writing, in my view, is to utilize your brain and express your ideas and stories on paper, not someone else’s stories or stories created by a mixture of other people’s ideas from a hard drive. That’s not writing. That’s waiting for the printer to stop printing words you aren’t even aware of until you read it. It’s lazy.
-When did your writing journey begin?
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I started writing very late in my life. I was 50. I guess the time wasn’t right until then. I started with a novel, TIN BOX, and discovered many things. I finally was able to put my story thoughts down on paper. To begin with, I didn’t even know if I could write dialogue for a screenplay. I volunteered in Malibu, CA at a small theatre for a premiere play, FELLOW TRAVELER, written by John Herman Shaner. It was a small theatre with a large affect on my life as a writer. I met two of the most important people in my life, the stage manager, Elizabeth, and the playwright John Herman Shaner. Elizabeth is still a close friend and John Herman became my trusted mentor in writing. It was working with him that clarified my work and vindicated my writing skills. He was also my second pair of eyes which is important. He treated me as an equal in intelligence and never ridiculed my work or told me what I needed to write.
It was definitely the right time for me to start my writing.
-What new script are you working on?
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I am working on several things at once, which is commonplace with me as my mind will shift and seems to never shut off. I am working on my autobiography as well as screenplays like STUDIOLISCIOUS, a romp through the mind of a studio worker who has a tendency to step across a time line into the sets of 1940’s & 1950’s movie musicals to cope with his life today and PARALLEL ENTRY: THE FIRST UNIVERSE, a sci-fi story that takes a pair of detectives who fall through a tear in space/time into a parallel universe who eventually discovers there are many more universes and each very different. PARALLEL ENTRY is targeted with many sequels, each one a different universe experience. That said, I could easily start something else as the inspiration hits me or a vivid dream that sweeps me to another story.
-Do you think WILD FILMMAKER is doing a good job supporting independent cinema, and what do you think we can improve?
Wild Filmmaker has been a strong influence on me entering film festivals because the entry fees are manageable and you support your community. You have created that community and many of us support each other through social media. Your interviews and Variety ad postings of laurels of many who entered, adds to The Indie Community getting noticed, getting their names out there and propagating new works from new and existing writers.
Charlie Chaplin Project
(EXCLUSIVE) Interview with
Larry Gene Fortin
2024 December 18
-When did you discover Charlie Chaplin’s cinema?
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At the age of 73, Chaplin films have been in my life for a long time but it wasn’t until my later years, when I began to really write, that I allowed his creativity and direction sink in. As his films have begun to be restored and remastered it has opened up his early work to being streamed and shown in theaters that specialize in silent films. Even film channels such as Turner Classic Movies has shown his films so anyone should be able to enjoy his work.
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-Do you think that today Charlie Chaplin’s cinema can be understood by younger generations?
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They can be understood by any generation. They are simple yet very complex. It’s a matter of whether the younger generation “wants” to take the leap to understand his work. Every cinema student has their own “nitch” for their writing and film making. Different genres and styles are of the greatest importance and any Chaplin film can be interpreted several ways. Remember, Chaplin had virtually no dialogue to write, and what dialogue he did insert into a film was more of a story line direction setter. He had a story line, emotion and movement which is what every film today has, but now we have actors with dialogue to firm up the film in other ways.
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As he moved forward in his career there came talkies which changed his process, but his underlying abilities stayed the same. As you can see, change in film is a given but those underlying abilities remain the base in everything he did.
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Any generation can learn so much from his work if they look into what’s happening on the screen. Camera shots and lighting were different during his period. Hell, even cameras were different because they used film. No digital shots to adjust on a computer during editing. I don’t think they even teach film usage these days unless there is a special course in vintage film making. I personally feel younger generations of film makers should be required to study everything about Charlie Chaplin’s skills. If they’re smart, they’ll do it on their own because it will open their eyes.
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-The pacifist monologue we can see in “The Great Dictator” is still very relevant today, as unfortunately, there are still many wars in the world. WILD FILMMAKER has a dream, which may remain only an utopia: our dream is to create Article 0 for all the constitutions in the world, in which to insert Chaplin’s pacifist monologue. Would you agree with this?
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While it is a grand dream, is it really a possibility? Everyone has their own definition of what a utopia could or would look like. Maybe I’m a pessimist, but even if the world started over, there is always the rebirth of individuality which no one, even twins, are guaranteed to share. Today we have many definitions of what God should be and require us to do in service, and that in itself is the #1 cause for the most of the non-utopia issues in the world. With that, it is used as a power to control many.
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Utopia is an individual thing. You must find your own utopia and never require anyone else to share it with you 100%. You can legislate it but never obtain a “single” utopia. It sounds silly but I love homemade potato salad with no apple cider vinegar and my closest friend hates it without the sharp tart flavor of vinegar. Simple-minded as an example but serious in all things that matter. We recently went to see Daniel Craig’s new film, QUEER. I thought it was controversial and thought provoking and he hated the film and started texting half-way through. I love Fred Astaire musicals others don’t. Chaplin is fascinating in his films while others may not understand him or enjoy his films. Individuality is inbred.
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That said, the monologue is, in some ways, the same words that started WWII because of the reason for their use and by whom. There is always individuality involved and it may not be for everyone. If everyone has the same utopia, every film would be exactly the same. There would be no need for difference or thought provoking scripts. The characters would be the same, doing the same thing because they must be in an over-all utopia. It is an illustrious dream but, is it really possible? Would it truly be happiness?
-Charlie Chaplin was a revolutionary poet. How much has his art inspired you?
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Revolutionary is an understatement. Once you’ve witnessed his works and styles, it has to inspire you in some way. It has me. My genres are multi and my writing styles in each is different, as was his. As I believe he did, I see every moment of each of my scripts. I see the character speaking each line and where they are as I write them. In The Taste Of Rain, I feel the rain as the lead character, Roman Barkley, stands in the rain or spirals during his flashback episodes. I see him at the Eiffel Tower drinking champagne with Voleta as he falls in love. I truly believe that is how Chaplin created. That is his effect on me, deep in my creative soul.
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“From Idea to Written Page” PROJECT
(EXCLUSIVE) Interview
with Larry Gene Fortin
2024 November 27
-Every screenwriter needs feedback after completing their project. Is there someone you always turn to for their opinion as soon as you finish writing?
When I first started my writing, late at the age of 50, I had a mentor. John Herman Shaner taught and supported my goals and we spoke on the same level. That is important. He never spoke down or told me what I needed to write. He would read my completed script and make notes throughout and final notes on the back page. We would then meet at his home with his martini and pen and spend several hours discussing what I wrote. Because my genres are wide spread, he always enjoyed seeing what I had written.
He would note punctuation, formatting and places that he may not understand the meaning or if something was repetitive or just not needed for forward the story. We would discuss goals of the story as well as fulfillment of the story line. In FIRE FLIES he loved the story. He noted that he was captivated from the first page until page 70 and then it dropped off. There was nothing that held his interest. He told me to go home and “let it percolate” in my head and figure out what’s missing. He never told me what I needed to write or any type of story suggestions. I sat at home that night and rewrote the end and gave it back to him the next day with the new ending. His eyes were wide open that I had done the rewrite overnight but when we got together to discuss the changes he said with surprise, “You gave me a fucking chase scene. You made it all work as one.”
That is how I learned to keep the story moving forward even if it means removing scenes that I love. He gave me the inspiration of what to look for, not what’s needed to be written. That second pair of eyes is important. Sadly the world lost Mr Shaner several years ago but his thought process stays with me always.
-Are you currently working on a new screenplay? If so, can you tell us more about it?
I have currently been working on several and more recently sequels to my FIRE FLIES SERIES such as THE DRAGON’S TOMB & THE RETURN OF THE RED DRAGON.
FIRE FLIES is part one and FIRE FLIES: THE GOLDEN DRAGON is part three and are both completed. I have since had an epiphany of FIRE FLIES: THE DRAGON’S TOMB which is part two and is currently 50% completed. FIRE FLIES: THE RETURN OF THE RED DRAGON is part 4 and started.
As you can see, my writing is an ongoing creation and learning process. I thought I had done well until I had a dream that I needed to do a part two. Go figure but never close out a thought train. As in FIRE FLIES all the characters are dual roles covering Current Times and Mystical Times ala The Wizard Of Oz. This continues throughout the series because it is young Gerald’s coping mechanism in life, transferring into his fantasy world on paper in his art.
I have also just completed transcribing book 5, SAUTE’D SAPPHIRE: (A Detective Gabrielle Laxx Mystery) into a long form 2 full act TV Film script that is two feature film episodes. I am editing as we speak.
-If you had to describe your writing style using three adjectives, which ones would you choose?
DRIVEN, EXCITED, THOUGHTFUL.
-Which writer inspires you the most?
The late Sue Grafton who wrote the famous Alphabet Series of Detective Kinsey Millhone and of course many of the classics like those of Agatha Christie spur true story telling while carrying on a specific character from book to book. Terry Goodkind and his Sword Of Truth series is another favorite. Janet Evanovich is another prolific series writer. Stories inspire! I want a story with a reason, not a story with an agenda. Agendas are a dime a dozen. A good story is priceless.
-What is the main challenge you encountered while writing your work?
I have so many stories and beginnings in my head I am forced to make notes constantly to remember them all for possible screenplays, pilots etc in the future. Often knowing which to focus on is as easy as waking after having a dream that touches a certain story or even a new one. I have learned that you can just walk away from a script when you’re stuck and allow it to percolate for a while in your head. Do something else other than writing and then suddenly, you find your way in the story. It works for me, but not always.
