Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I'D LIKE TO THANK...

It isn’t the biggest award…
Nor the most prestigious…
But it’s mine…
And I earned it.
I won…
Ta ta ta TAH…
Honorable Mention in the…
80th annual...
Writer’s Digest Writing Competition…
In the Television/Movie Script category for…
My script The Diary of Tiffany J
There…
I bragged about it!
And I’m bragging…
Not just because it’s my first award for writing…
But it was my first screenplay ever.
After working many months on this project…
Funding fell through and we couldn’t continue to filming it.
Unlike writing novels…
There has to be upfront money.
A lot of passion went into writing this screenplay…
Because the subject matter was close to home—teen prostitution.
A few years back, the F.B.I ranked my city…
First in teen prostitution recruitment.
What a horrible statistic for a city to have to live with.
And what horrible real life stories I had researched.
But even more horrible…
Are the real experiences…
So many young teens are subjected to...
And sadly, many of these teens won’t survive.
The purpose of this short film…
Was meant to alert and teach teens…
The techniques pimps use to lure them.
It would have been shown…
In schools, churches, and youth organizations nationwide.
Perhaps one day…
Funds will find there way to this project…
But for now…
My bragging about my award...
Is the only attention...
This film about the reality of teen prostitution is going to get.
Thanks for reading about it.


Always, Em-Musing

8 comments:

Anne Gallagher said...

Wow! That's fantastic. Congratulations!!! You can brag all you want. It's a shame the funding got cut because that is a serious issue. Maybe if I win the Powerball tonight, I'll give it to you.

Karen Baldwin said...

Aww, thanks.

Lydia Kang said...

That's AWESOME! What a nice validation of your talent!

Misha Gerrick said...

Congrats on the award! I hope that funding comes through for the project.

Talli Roland said...

WOW! Many congrats - that's fantastic! I hope you celebrated.

Theresa Milstein said...

Congratulations! That's wonderful. I hope you celebrated too.

Isis Rushdan said...

Congratulations on your award! How exciting. You deserve to brag :).

Sarah Nicolas said...

Congrats, Leigh! That's awesome! I haven't written a script - they scare me! <3