NY Elite: Congratulations on being an ISC finalist. What does it mean for your work to be selected at the International Screenwriting Competition in New York?

DJ: It means everything.  I scriptwrite as a hobby dreaming of it one day being a job and this feels like such a positive step in the right direction.

NY Elite: Can you tell us about the work that you participated with at ISC? What is the story about?

DJ: The story is about 3 children’s survival against a very real monster that punishes them for their mistakes in order to teach them a lesson.

NY Elite: Can you tell us yourself and your artistic talents?

DJ: Ex military turned writer. I used to be all about the party. Get paid, get to town and get drunk but after I left I lost interest in drinking and started writing more and eventually wrote my first script.

NY Elite: What scripts have you written so far?

DJ: Mainly comedy, I adore it laughing at stupid silly things and just switching off. my first script was a military sitcom and as expected it was terrible, my second that gave me the writing lighting bolt was a larger than life zombie comedy series set in England, I’m still very much in love with that one. I’ve also written a zombie drama series with a single working class nurse and Mum as the main protagonist and a new project I’m currently working on is a large scale character driven prison escape comedy called Death Row.

NY Elite: Top 3 favorite projects that you have been involved in?

DJ:  NETFLIX, Kentucky Fried Movie meets Scary Movie in all out comedy satire war on screen as every show on every watching platform is infected with a virus called the green glow, that slowly changes the story and characters in order to gain complete control.

The BIg Bad, the world’s first real horror movie – intense psychological thriller written to shock and awaken.

And as mentioned Zed Heads, a British Zomedy series about two unlikely survivors being saved and trained by eccentric zombie survival experts 7-year-old kitty and 22 year old Jimmy.

NY Elite: What type of scripts do you want to write in your career?

DJ: The main 4 definitely (Comedy, Action, Horror, Scifi) but something I’m really excited about attempting to write is a musical. I used to try and be a proper manly man denying any liking towards musicals but I got hit hard by the bug and I already have 3 projects I’m excited to start.

NY Elite: As a writer, what is the most important aspect of building a character?

DJ: I like to think it’s how a person/ audience would connect to that character depending on how real you make them feel. It can be done so many different ways with so many different types of characters but I feel once you lose that thought that the character could be real that you lose interest.

NY Elite: What projects are you currently working on?

DJ: Death Row – a notorious gangster’s son is wrongly sent to jail prompting the father to do one good act and join forces with opposing cell block bosses in order to escape.

Farewell to The Supernatural –  a short horror anthology about real monsters and how deceptive and vicious they are.

NY Elite: Do you express yourself creatively in any other ways?

DJ: I doodle without knowing… And I would like to get into fashion and house design but I’m taking things step by step and concentrating on getting better at writing.

NY Elite: What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a career in filmmaking/writing?

DJ: Write and read as many scripts as possible!!! I wish I listened to that advice!