Spec Script Deal: “The Longest Birthday”
Victoria Films acquires the rights to spec script “The Longest Birthday” written by Savion Einstein. Logline: A mother and her son, who is dying from terminal cancer, travel from Israel to Los Angeles to make his last birthday the best, as well as the longest due to their traveling across time zones.
I had the opportunity to work with Savion on “The Longest Birthday” as a mentor during the 2014 Black List Screenwriters Lab, so I reached out to her for more background on the project:
Anna and Maxim first learned of the script when it was chosen for the Black List Lab and won the BlueCat Joplin award. Since we signed the option, ‘The Longest Birthday’ was among 8 projects presented at the Venice Film Market pitching forum, was selected for the upcoming Film London Production Finance Market and is also one of 8 projects participating at B’EST EAVE producers’ workshop this year. As the search for a director begins, it will be interesting to see who will end up at the helm as we believe the script could easily become a director’s passion project. The contained setting and timeline also make it a great vehicle for actors.
I got some great notes at the Black List Lab. It was a safe, non-competitive environment in which you felt comfortable sharing your ideas and thoughts. But I guess the biggest takeaway for me was becoming a member of the Black List family. I grew up in Israel and didn’t go to film school, so I don’t have that network of people I can turn to for connections or advice. I remember mentioning this to Franklin at the end of the lab to which he replied: “Well, now you do”. And it wasn’t just empty talk.
Here’s a link about the Venice Film Market.
“The Longest Birthday” is a wonderful, well-executed, and character-rich drama which deserves to be produced as a movie. Moreover it a perfect example of what the Black List and Go Into The Story are all about: Supporting talented screenwriters with great stories who are outside the system by providing insight about the craft and creating avenues to buyers.
There are three upcoming Black List screenwriter labs:
October 3–4, 2015 at Columbia College in Chicago, IL
October 17–18, 2015 in San Francisco, CA
November 21–22, 2015 in Los Angeles, CA
Each represents an opportunity for you to work on your original script with me and other professional writers as your mentors in an intensive weekend, as well as become part of the Black List family. For more information, go here.
By my count, “The Longest Birthday” is the 44th spec script deal in 2015.
There were 40 spec script deals year-to-date in 2014.
