Welcome to The Screening Room of...
JULES CORRIERE
WINNER BEST SHORT SCRIPT
"Standing in Line"
Fall 2023
Jules Corriere, MA, is a playwright, screenwriter, radio show writer, and community builder. She earned her master’s degree in Creative Writing and Literature at Harvard. Jules specializes in Community Story Performance, a genre of theater which utilizes a community’s oral stories in performance as a way to promote greater understanding and develop relationships between people from diverse backgrounds. Over forty of her plays have been produced in the United States, England, Scotland, and Brazil. Her short screenplay, "Standing in Line," based on the story of an Auschwitz survivor, recently won the Paris Art and Movie Awards Summer Session in 2022, the 2023 Fall Palm Springs International Screenplay Awards, as well as seven other national and international film festivals. Where do you live (City, State, or Country)? Jonesborough, Tennessee Your script or media entry stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your project ? I spent time with an Auschwitz survivor. He shared his memories with me late in his life. I could feel how this experience haunted him decades later, as his eyes welled up, pouring out memories for which there were no words. Getting to know him inspired me to explore deeper into that history. The more I discovered, the more I realized how quickly that period in time went from using dehumanizing language to practicing inhumane actions. It was frightening, especially given similar circumstances today, where we see around us this same kind of dehumanizing language on social media and in the news. I wanted to create a film that speaks to this, to depict how quickly our ordinary world can transform into the unimaginable. I feel like right now, we need to remember that history, and recognize the effect that our words, language, art, and actions have on those around us. I want this script to remind us that we each have the power to transform the world around us, for worse or for better, and to strive for the better, while we never forget that we already know what the “worst” looks like. How long did it take you to write your script or produce your pitch deck/sizzle reel/trailer...and what was your development process? I thought for a long time about just how to tell this story. It takes us to a very difficult place, and I couldn’t just begin in that hard place, and I also knew I couldn’t leave my audience in that world. I decided to frame it in a way that almost feels like a PTSD experience, but also feels like some kind of time dislocation. I wanted us to start in a safe space, then we journey together to the hard space, navigated by our protagonist, and then brought back to the safe world again, but changed, with a deeper understanding than when we left. I kept asking myself, what is something my protagonist does that the rest of us could relate to. It’s hard to think of anything we’d have in common with a Holocaust survivor.. But I realized that in the story I was carrying in my head, he stands in line a lot, for everything. So I decided to start our story standing in line with Sam at a grocery store. We’ve all been there, and we can start there, with him, and return there as well. As soon as I decided on that entry point, which took two or three weeks, I wrote the piece in one night. I also originally conceived it as a theater piece, but it works much better as a film script. What is your ultimate ambition as a writer or filmmaker? I’ve been a playwright for a lot of years, but once I found film I really connected with it. As a filmmaker, I want to create a series of shorts that examine the ordinary lives of extraordinary people, to honor them for their experiences, and to inspire other ordinary people like ourselves to persevere, to take actions where and when we can, and to be our greatest selves possible. Real people inspire real actions, and all change starts locally. I want to make films that show this. Which film directors or screenwriters inspire you? Why? The work of Ken Burns has always inspired me. I think I once heard him say, “There are no ordinary lives.” or something like that. From his work, I’ve come to believe that the richest, most inspiring stories are those we humans live out every day. I’ve always admired how he tells the big story by focusing in on the specific. What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show? This is hard to answer because I enjoy so many, but I have always loved The Twilight Zone, old and newer versions. I like the short stories told in one episode, the uncanny, and of course, the remarkable situations faced and overcome (or not) by the unexpected protagonist. 
What advice do you have for others hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Submit your work. Get it as close as you feel like you can, and then submit it. Get coverage if you are worried about whether or not it is good enough. Too many people wait because they want perfection, but you can get stuck doing so. Submit. Get coverage. Let the experts help guide you to create a more polished script, and then do a rewrite and submit it again. What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? I’ve written a Sci-Fi TV Pilot, Dragon Moon. The Pitch Deck for the show was actually chosen as a Quarterfinalist in this competition. I’ve also completed another short script about the women coal miners who were part of the Pittston Coal Strike at the Clinchfield Mines in Southwest Virginia entitled, Which Side Are You On. Where can the world find you? I have a website for the story-based work I do here in Appalachia, where I work with individuals, communities, and organizations to develop and present their own narratives. You can find me at: https://www.integrativestoryworks.com/ |
