Congratulations, Christian Contreras!

Last week, actor turned screenwriter Christian Contreras set up a high profile pitch. From Deadline:

In a competitive situation, Warner Bros has acquired Principia, a pitch that will be scripted by Christian Contreras, with David Goyer producing through his Phantom Four Productions banner with Kevin Turen.

They are keeping the logline under wraps, but it’s based on actual events. A high-concept historical thriller in the vein of The Prestige, this one involves Isaac Newton and the hunt for a notorious criminal. The scribe, an American who lives in London and has acted in Fury, The Fifth Estate and Zero Dark Thirty, just came to Hollywood a couple of weeks ago with an idea he wanted to write. He signed with WME and Grandview Entertainment, and Goyer heard the pitch late last week and set it up with Warner Bros that night.

— —

Contreras separately scripted Labyrinth, a drama about the murder cases of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., with producer Miriam Segal developing it.

Christian is a longtime GITS follower and Screenwriting Master Class alumnus having taken the Prep: From Concept to Outline workshop with me. In fact, we were in touch in February when Labyrinth went wide and he ended up signing with WME. Here is an excerpt of what Christian wrote to me:

I also know that you’ve made me a better screenwriter.

I thank you for that.

From countless posts or links or interviews that contained a nugget I didn’t know I needed. Screenplays. Core elements. Seriously, this is how my life’s organised: 1–2–7–14. I shit you not when I say Deep Focus: Film School on the Cheap has been my Film School. Full stop. I have breakfast, take a shower and get dressed like I’m going to school. Then I sit down at my computer — 5 days a week — for each subject area. The 1 screenplay-a-week I read is from one of the 2-movies-a-week I watch. Reading the Evolution of Filmmaking and Film Criticism has made me better understand the nuances of the form, a film’s place in the zeitgeist, and innumerable other things I can’t articulate.

Anyway.

It’s a long road ahead, I know. I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done and what you do. You don’t know but you’re a daily part of my life.

So congratulations, Christian! A talented writer who has exhibited the persistence and passion necessary to make it in Hollywood. Here’s a blast of creative juju for both Principia and Labyrinth. WHOOOSH!!! May those projects find green lights!