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From Short Stories to Screenplays: Wren Valentino's Creative Journey
18 Plays6 months ago
Join Jim Phoenix on What's Kraken as he delves into the fascinating career of award-winning writer, producer, and voice actor Wren Valentino. Discover Wren's evolution from penning short stories to crafting compelling screenplays and movies. Learn about his breakthrough projects, the impact of industry icon Felissa Rose, and Wren's transition into voice acting. This episode offers a captivating look at the creative process and career development in the entertainment industry. Don't miss this inspiring conversation with one of the most versatile talents in the business! #WrenValentinoCareer #ScreenwritingAndVoiceActing
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, Jim Phoenix here, and today's special, What's Cracking, is special indeed. We've got a trifactor, we've got an award-winning writer, producer, voice actor, all around. Great person to have. Wonderful hang. We've got none other than Ren Valentino coming. And at the end, that's right, we have a special offer. We're giving away five copies of his books. Go click on through to the other side. See you soon. Hit it.
00:00:36
Speaker
Hey everyone, Jim Phoenix here, and in today's What's Cracking, we've got a little bit of a trifactor. We've got an award-winning writer, film producer, and voice actor, and none other than Ren Valentino. Ren, pleased to have meet you. Thank you, sir. Happy, very happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
00:00:55
Speaker
You're happy to be here. I'm excited to talk to you. I have to say, I may have looked up some of your stuff before coming on more in depth than and I usually do. And I love what I see your eclectic. It goes all over the place, but it's all polished. It's all well done. It's all gripping.
00:01:17
Speaker
Wow, thank you. What's your secret? What's your secret but your secret in juggling three different careers? No sleep. No, no no sleep till Brooklyn. I think that's easy. Yeah, no, um no, it's ah just a couple of things really. um Just a passion for telling stories would be I think above all that kind of just drives me. right Really great support system that makes it all possible. And then just um I'm not the most self-disciplined, so just trying to like adhere to the best time management that that I can find that works. And justly just the curiosity about the world and people and their stories and how I can capture them and share them in some capacity I think is really
00:01:59
Speaker
behind all of that that, you know, the productivity, if you will. I think you nailed it on the head. It's the being able to capture and tell the stories of people, right? I think that pushes a lot of us as artists, even sometimes a story might be our own, but it's also the, oh, you know, I heard this about, or I love talking to people who live through something that no one believes them. And it's just getting that story.
00:02:26
Speaker
So what brought you into the world of art? Oh, teachers, my teachers. Really? is Yeah, I just, um I don't come from a particularly creative family, which I'm sure they would all admit. ah And so, you know, the age of seven, my first grade, second grade teacher, Mrs. Carter, who I'll forever be indebted to, right? Because everybody has to have a Mrs. Carter at some point in their life, right? Miss Richards. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And um she asked us to write a Halloween story of all things. And
00:02:57
Speaker
I turned in a five-page sort of mini epic about a woman. It was called The Blue Witch, and it was about a woman who didn't want to be a witch anymore. And it was this emotionally complex character that a seven-year-old probably had no business writing. but And then she kept me after class, and I thought I was in trouble. And it was just to tell me that you know to keep writing. And she she reached out to my mom and said, you know he's really creative and can encourage this. and My mom saved up and got me a secondhand typewriter when I was 13. So I taught myself how to type. And then I published my first short story when I was 15 and just kept going from there. and um But i think I think the Mrs. Carter's in my life, I've had many great teachers that really saw something in me even before I did. and like
00:03:46
Speaker
in a world that doesn't always support creativity. i I found that luckily that people just were like, this is what you're supposed to be doing. And so um just having all of that that encouragement at a young age, I think gave me that sort of, I don't know if I call it fearless, but just more of that that willingness to take risk and to do something that not everybody else was doing and tell stories. And I was a big reader too. as they I think books definitely you know brought me into this world.
00:04:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's a combination. I think people don't give teachers enough credit for this or mentors or peers. Sometimes when a child is developing, if you encourage the imagination, they will flourish. If you, the moment you say something negative about their imagination, they shut down forever. Yeah. Like it's forever lost opportunity for that. I'm so glad you had someone to make it,
00:04:41
Speaker
into a short story about a witch who no longer wants to be a witch. I'm pretty sure the other thing was like, ah we need to talk about, is everything okay at home? you know I was imagining that story, and they asked me if it was okay, it was at home, they called my mom. yeah yeah no I'm like, well, that's one an amazing thing. And you taught yourself how to type on the old typewriters that you had to really pound those keys. Yeah. Smith and Corona manual typewriter with the with the red or the black on top of the red on bottom ribbon. Yes. Change every so many pages. I am very familiar with those. That's the reason why I destroyed so many keyboards once it went to, you know, the computers came out. Yeah. Because we're like, bam, bam, bam, bam. The keys like, no, stop hurting me.
00:05:27
Speaker
You go from short story writing and then how do you transition that into film? Well, interestingly enough, my background was in theater. I started working in theater at a very, very young age. Theater was such a great community for somebody who, growing up, didn't always fit in in the wherever. And so so it was such a great safe space, again, provided by teachers. And so theater was really ah how I transitioned from film. The film is an interesting story of how I got into film. I'd written a a stage play called Frozen Stars that was produced in this really like
00:06:03
Speaker
blink and you'll miss it theater in Chicago. I kid you not, it was underneath a freeway overpass. but the way above the theater yeah Yeah, exactly. And I think there was maybe six people a night in the audience, but a woman, God bless her to this day named Belle Hernandez, who I knew as the Spanish teacher on Beverly Hills 90210, so I was a little starstruck, happened to be in town in Chicago. I was an undergrad at a college in Chicago and I was so broke I wrote Frozen Stars in the computer lab at the school because I couldn't afford a computer. And fast forward, we we self-produced this play and she happened to be in town for a Latino film festival, had the night off,
00:06:45
Speaker
that's the play Frozen Stars was a Latina themed play and she saw a little blurb and the Chicago reader and jumped in a taxi and camear came and saw her play, went back to LA and wrote about it in like a Latino trade publication. And then two weeks later, I was on the phone with Miramax and it was that crazy. And I didn't sell it to Miramax, but we ended up working with a subsidiary of Sony. But um just that mention, that validity, that credibility that she gave me as a writer with something that was worth taking a look at right um opened up so many doors. Again, somebody stepping in and helping me in a really great way. um And then it just kind of kick-started it. And then they had hired a film director to direct Frozen Stars, because again, I came from theater. I wrote the screenplay, the adaptation.
00:07:38
Speaker
yeah which they made me go through 32 rewrites for, but that's a story for another time for sure. um wow And two nights before they went into production, the director left the project for another project and they called me in a panic and said,
00:07:53
Speaker
Is there any way you can direct this film because you're the only one who knows this? And so I literally became a film director on accident by default because the original director stepped away. And I made everybody wear name tags the first day with their name and their title. And so I walked around. I was like, who are you? Like, I'm so in time the gaffer. Great. Nice to meet you. What do you do?
00:08:14
Speaker
his i what's a guy Yeah, I literally had to get film training like on the job, but I had a really awesome director of photography for Frozen Stars who carried me in that film ah so the through the process, the technical side of things. The performance side, I felt pretty confident in because of directing theater. Like I knew how to get, you know, but the technical side about lighting and all those and we were shooting on 35 millimeter. So it was weird. But it worked and it's out in the world. And then from there, I really, I don't, I found out very quickly that I prefer writing over directing, not just because of that experience.
00:08:53
Speaker
And then i um the the writing, screenwriting just started to really, it again, it's another form of storytelling. It's different than then the you know fiction of the narrative storytelling on the page in terms of short stories and novels. But um you know I think having all of those experiences on the technical side made me a better screenwriter because screenplays are so technical often um and you're really telling something in moving picture form. So it kind of informed each other. And then, um yeah, and then the film producing kind of grew out of the screenwriting and I still do both and I enjoy both a lot. And I've got to work with some really amazing filmmakers, um especially you know on the indie side of things and a couple of international films and so forth. So... I had been looking at your IMDB and it's...
00:09:43
Speaker
It's everything I want to review, by the way. like After your title's like, how do I not see this one? like I want to review all these, and it's it's wonderful. I have a couple of questions about screenwriting, from directing to screenwriting again, back to producing.
00:09:58
Speaker
Because I also i i have a screenplay. want see it no I also have done the screenwriting thing for, you know, doctoring or doing whatever scripts. Do you write with a budget in mind because you know what it takes to be a producer and and director? Like, oh, my God, I can have this like car explosion here. What the hell is wrong with me?
00:10:19
Speaker
I absolutely do. I write in terms of locations and the amount of them, yeah the night shoots versus the day shoots. okay so so i have a very I like to think of myself as a very producer-friendly production, right thoughtful screenwriter in that right an aspect because um figuring out how to tell the story with less so that all the money is on the screen, if that makes any sense. No, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. We've seen some movies with budgets that I won't announce the movie. We're like, yeah, we blew up a helicopter. I'm like, that was your entire budget. Yeah. It's one shot. You're done. The yeah entire budget. Everything else was like the craft service was a bottle of water.
00:11:00
Speaker
I was like, here you go. Here's a bottle of water. Good luck. Maybe a cookie. Yeah, maybe. But it's actually an airline cookie. They flew over and stole some. Right. It's not fast. But that's an amazing, right? It's amazing. It's inspirational, really. you You got that push. And I'm wondering, because she pushed you, is that why you also want to produce giving people a little bit their own push?
00:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, you know and I don't know if you know the actress, Phyllisa Rose, who was in... Yeah. Okay. um she She was the sole reason to get me into... it to we She and I, weve we've hung out a few times and um I've produced a lot of her films and have been in some of her stuff as a voice actor. But we met, gosh, probably it was a year and a half ago, I think it was. And I had done some producing at that point, but We had a conversation about it and she really encouraged me to do more. And so I jumped into a couple of projects she was a part of. So I really am grateful to her, but then she, she is ah exactly what you just talked about. I don't know if you've ever interviewed her, but she is the epitome of paying forward in a really beautiful way.
00:12:04
Speaker
And so she's all about connecting people and like really encouraging like seeing something in somebody and saying, this is what you need to do more of. like She's kind of like an unofficial life coach. I hope she doesn't mind me saying this. But um but but and I had that conversation with her and it was very transformative. And that's when I really like rolled up my sleeves and was like, yes, I really need to do more of this. But um but but I think the producing definitely informs the screenwriting and the screenwriting that it informs the producing in a really nice way. They they balance each other.
00:12:33
Speaker
Now I have to, because I know some people listening right now, I have to make a clarification. This is Felicia Rose, the person who might be looking at the penis expectors for the last drive-in with Joe Bob Riggs. Is that the same screen? Yeah, it's a single way camp. Yeah, she's an amazing human being, truly one of the nicest people in the industry and with a big heart. And I just absolutely adore her. But um she really she really encouraged me to continue to to explore that. And so, you know, within that time, I think I've worked on 30 films because of because of her encouragement.
00:13:16
Speaker
As right as both of you should, I believe she, by encouraging you, made a lot of other art come to being through you, and I love it. yeah I can almost go through, if I read your titles out loud, all my people are like, yeah, no, I want to see this. like I'm not going to say Attack the Corn Zombies. That sounds so freaking cool. Yeah, it's a great, that's Acrostar Films, who's a wonderful, they they are producing a really a lot of cool It's sort of a little bit of the a throwback to those 1950s sci-fi driving politics, you know, like like and all those great like Roger Corman kind of early produced on a shoestring budget with all the money into the creature. So yeah, but I love Acrostar for that reason because they're producing that kind of film. And it's so interesting and it's needed, you know, in the horror landscape and then in
00:14:12
Speaker
It's kind of like old horror meets new horror in a really cool way. So, yeah. And and that's why I really like about your work. It is a lot of things that, you know, haunted empty out believes in and it is coming from this honest to God. When you're reading this on the screen, I'm talking to you. I'm like, OK, you really live this. You really love this genre. You are.
00:14:40
Speaker
Into helping people out. You're what the movie and entertainment and industry needs the most. Oh, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Absolutely. Anytime. i know like gosh you right now And I have to say, as a fellow person from Chicago, who probably seen that theater, ah yeah directions, you know, but yeah if you're from Chicago, I'm sure you know. it well Not far from Western Avenue. Oh, yeah. It's like, that's a small world. Yeah, for sure. So you have this great career in the film industry and you're like, I want to make books. Yeah. How do you shift your brain into that?
00:15:20
Speaker
um Yeah, that's a very interesting question because there I mean, it's all storytelling when you think about it, but it's different form. And I think that's, if I ever have a struggle, it's coming up with an idea and a creative idea and then going, okay, what's the form to tell this? set Is this a poem? Is this a novel? right And sometimes I try it in a different form first and then go, it doesn't this it's not working. And so then I'll move over.
00:15:44
Speaker
So I think that's kind of the one of the advantages of working in different genres in different forms, different screenplays, all the different things I do. But um all of it at the end of the day is just connected to storytelling. And I think at the end of the day, I'm so lucky to be able to tell stories in different formats and different genres and that the audiences and the readers show up for those things in those different formats and genres. But um it is it is kind of a little bit of a hat switch, a little bit of a creativity switch. I find um The novels take a lot more out of me than the screenplays. I think just because of the way that they're written, you know, and that there's so much research sometimes with a novel and so much revision, not to say I don't wear my screenplays, but the revision process, the editing process alone in a novel.
00:16:31
Speaker
Different. It's very, very taxing. So it's a labor of love. It is. For for those that you know, especially for a screenplay, you can get away with some stuff on a screenplay because eventually the studio was making it. It's going to make their own decision and then, you know, for sure to see the screenplay itself. Yeah.
00:16:48
Speaker
Novels not so much. That is what people see. That is the product. That's what has to be very polished. And I'm looking at some of their genres right now. Just a little haunted. The mystery. We've been talking about cozy, so I need to know a little bit about this. It's my first cozy. like outsold everything that of course, right? Like the one thing that you do. So we're actually, so just a little, just a little haunted start. It's a, it's a series. That's, that's the first one in a series. The rest of the series doesn't come out yet. And I came up with this really fun character, Stella Sabatino, who's a parapsychologist investigator and has, you know, this, you know, a sassy cat, of course, because you have to have a sassy cat.
00:17:33
Speaker
and and a great assistant and so forth. And ah she's an American living in in the UK, and ah is is while she's grieving the death of her husband, which is still kind of a little bit of a mysterious death, a back story, parallel story,
00:17:49
Speaker
um she's you know serving as this She's going into these places that people claim are haunted to prove that they are art. It's just kind of a fun thing. I did it kind of as a side project and then it literally blew up and I was like, who knew? who knew so um Just a little haunted is getting expanded into a full length novel and and we're I've committed to three of those those books in the next year. That's wonderful. i'm mean I just got back talking about this. So it's really fresh my mind, especially the cozy. Yeah, i look at the cover. I love the colors. I love the way she's looking at the house. Everything is centered perfectly. The font is spot on. yeah It's a short story mystery and your name but underneath it. It reminds me of what a great
00:18:36
Speaker
poster for a movie. Oh, thank you. The old the the ah throwbacks, you know, for those who don't know, movie posters go through like revisions every so often, and there's a style revisions themselves. And this bit, it's so warm, and yet it's spooky. It's Halloween. Yeah, it is. yeah really It's really Halloween.
00:18:57
Speaker
and I can't take any credit for the cover. I have i work with an amazing cover designer named James ah who who runs a company called Go On Right, like W-R-I-T-E in the UK. I've worked with him for years and and he does great work all the time and um really nice guy to work with.
00:19:15
Speaker
while this is amazing and I like the differences of the things you write. I'm looking at the branding. Everything is the everything is there. Everything is there. But I have to ask this is souvenir boys. Yes.
00:19:32
Speaker
collection of poetry. So even doing a poetry book. Yes. i have i I just finished my, it hasn't come out yet, but I just finished my third poetry collection. I'm walking in the underground. It won't come out until next fall of 2025. But yeah, um poetry was one of my first loves again, a great teacher. um a teacher knew I was interested in writing and put a book in my hand called The Country Between Us by Carolyn Farshay when I was a very young undergrad at a community college. And it I read it cover to cover multiple times and said, yeah, I want to be a poet. I want to write poetry. my for Of course, early poetry was really bad poetry, but I think every poet would say that. But um ah you know I love poetry because of the brevity of language within poetry of
00:20:18
Speaker
writing in a sense of rhythm, it gives your it gives your language a musicality. um and i And I use all of that in other forms of writing too. So I think poetry is like my purest form of writing in terms of technical technicalities, technical writing, I guess, if you will, like learning the mechanics of it. yeah um And then I just use that in other places. But I don't write the poetry as much as the other things, not because I don't love it, but just it's harder to fit in sometimes. And it's not It's a completely different market in a completely different world. Oh no, I won i bet it is i bet it is. I'm wondering because you do have this little poetry, does that and you bring into other things does that affect your rhythm for dialogue? Dialogue is my favorite. so I will tell you, Jim, that I am a professional eavesdropper. so Are we all? I get so many stories from going to Target you know and watching parenting happen in front of us. There's so many stories out there. I feel like i'm ah just a store I'm a satellite, really. I'm a story detective, and I just hear it. um Dialogue is such that's it's probably why I'm driven or driven like um to or appealed
00:21:36
Speaker
stage plays and screenplays are so appealing to me because they're so dialogue driven. um I feel like as a writer that dialogue is my strong suit um and I feel like I just get the sense, the way that people talk authentically um to each other that translate well for the reading or viewing experience. But yes, to answer your question, the die the poetry has definitely strengthened the dialogue because of all of those elements of poetry that are alive and good dialogue.
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. I think some of the the best ways to really get your creative juices is to go into poetry and then back in the day. it would have be what's, not gonna name this new name, but Twitter made people write more succinctly. How many characters did I get? It really made your dialogue more punchy because you had to do it in that sort of form. Now, if you were gonna give the younger version of you some advice as someone looking back on a pretty decent,
00:22:41
Speaker
amazing career and multiple genres. What would be advice you'd give?
00:22:48
Speaker
Um, choose your battles carefully. My immediate instinct with this was to get us all horrible. And so Hollywood was like, have a good attorney. No, um, I was gonna say I was going, I think, um, this is probably the teacher and me speaking. I would have this conversation with myself, myself which I did study writing. I just was late to the studying of writing. I had to, uh, I made the choice to go back in the middle of my career in LA to finish grad school and so forth. Very glad that I did. No regrets there.
00:23:21
Speaker
I think it would just to be just to continue to study the craft and just know the more you know about those mechanics we talked about earlier, the better the writing will be. And and to to stick to your guns, you know your story better than anybody else will, and your story's going to matter to you more than it's going to matter to anybody else. And also too, I feel like looking back, because I'm kind of at this more like retrospective part of and you know the other side of the career kind of thing,
00:23:48
Speaker
you know i can I can look back and and see um you know taking those brave choices with content and and doing telling the story that you want that you wanted to read as a young person. and Somebody had asked me once, it was another author, I was teaching at a low residency program and she said,
00:24:09
Speaker
do you write for you or do you write for the younger version of you and i thought yeah i do i write for the younger version of myself so keeping and in touch with that younger version of self like you were talking about like going back and telling the younger self what advice would you give um And and just you know it's such a it's such a such an interesting life. in so many It's so unconventional. it's you know that It's not the nine to five. it's like The way you measure successes is really up to you. um There's no prescribed formula of this. you know I mean, of course, there's the accolades and all those those benchmark kind of things. but
00:24:47
Speaker
for your own personal journey is to to really determine what those levels of success are for you and then when you meet them to really celebrate them for yourself because a lot of hard work went to get. either Yeah. And that's what people sometimes miss that is the celebration. It's okay to celebrate your success. yeah No one else is going to trust me. right Exactly. I mean, you got a 30 second dance party in your living room. Yeah. It doesn't have to be like you get a cupcake. That's it, man. Right.
00:25:19
Speaker
go on. And that's the thing. It's a lot of people try to say like, well, especially today's consumer or the, you know, everyone's the instant celebrity for 15 minutes. Like, oh, I didn't, I didn't have like 3 million likes on my Instagram failure. Like, no.
00:25:34
Speaker
No, you're not a failure for that. you You need to define your level, if that's your level of success, then go for it. But your level of success, what's gonna make you happy as a creator? Be true to your story, because there's a lot of people who wanna change it. And the thing is, it's not your story, it's your story. And I love what you say, like, someone's successful, as you and it accomplishes you, saying, don't change your story. Be true to that. That's an amazing piece of advice, and I love it. And I'm gonna follow up with this out of nowhere.
00:26:03
Speaker
voice acting, how'd you get into that? Voice acting. I know, i I told you, I'm nowhere. No, no, no, it was it's a great thing. Okay, so during the pandemic, like everybody else had a lot of time on my hands, right? Yeah. And um a really wonderful actress named Nancy Sullivan, who was known for like Josh and Drake from Nickelodeon, um was offering a voice class for animation. um I had done some acting in the past and I had a couple of people who were like, oh, your voice would be great for voiceover. So I took this class and then I just fell in love with it. And then a casting director friend of mine was, and I took the class and then the pandemic, you know, and it was kind of just forgotten about. And then a casting director friend of mine, she reached out and I posted something. I had done some video on TikTok or something. And
00:26:48
Speaker
She's like, your voice would be really good for this project. Can I submit you? And I'm like, sure. So she's like, record this, do this. So I sent her everything she wanted. And then she called me and she's like, I got you booked for three movies. And I was like, what? Oh my God. And so it just kind of like opened up this whole new door. It was kind of like Pandora's box a little bit, opened up this whole new world to me. And I just finished doing the voiceover this week for my 15th.
00:27:11
Speaker
feature film. That's amazing. It's a lot of like newscaster, radio collar, the sassy best friend, but it's fun. It's fun. I have a little like home studio and I go in there and record stuff and then you, it's all digital and remote. It's so perfect. You don't have to go to set hey and you just record it and send that file to the whoever, the producer, director, whoever asked for it. And you know, you do multiple takes and all that kind of stuff. So they have choices.
00:27:38
Speaker
And then you hear your voice at a project, and it's really fun. And I've worked a lot with SRS Cinema. I'm probably familiar with them because of all the horror stuff that you do. yeah but um And they've been great to work with and have been very, very collaborative in that way. so And it's a lot of fun. So, yeah. it's kind of a It was a side project, that went that again, that turned into something a little bit bigger. so and i just kind of when those When that happens, and I think everybody does, just go with it because you never know where it's going to take you. No, you never do. and especially
00:28:13
Speaker
During the pandemic, we're like, oh, we're making move we're not making anything. right How about my TV show? You can't go in people's houses. right or good but like Oh, voice, you can still do voice. yeah di Someone's going to animate and you're going to do the voiceovers, you're going to do the commercial, you're going to do everything else. And I think right now, the internet is still the equalizer of Correct me if, please do correct me if I'm wrong. But what I'm hearing is you no longer have to do the cattle calls where you go to location, you read it off, and you go, oh, it goes back to you. You can just like ce submit up, send it through the website. yeah They get back to you great, otherwise keep rocking and rolling. Put your portfolio up on ah online so people can listen to you or see your stuff. yeah It's become a little more friendly if you want to market that way, yes? For sure, yeah. I think the entire industry has had to shift.
00:29:03
Speaker
And I think some of those shifts that happened during the pandemic are still, they found that it's it's in terms of cost, in terms of you know workload, in terms of everything. i right it it's I mean, it's happened to a lot of industries when you think about it. But but what's what's left behind is like what you were saying, everything's so digital now, you know especially in voice acting because it's all about you know m b three files so and which as you were stating the technology makes it all possible now. So, you know, I've i've been able to work on 15 films from, you know,
00:29:35
Speaker
my bedroom and love studio but without ever leaving my house. it's the so mean It's an introvert stream come true. What do you think about it? But, but yeah, no, it's, and I think, I think that it's going to continue to to happen. I think that acting film acting and television acting, uh, you know, and especially with all the things that have happened recently with, with unions and so forth has really revolutionized, you know, I mean, the way that we go about casting and producing and filming even has changed completely. So, I mean,
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's you know it's rare that things are being even shot on film nowadays. so it's it's It's ah definitely transformed in so many ways. It's a very fast moving industry and that in that way that just things are constantly changing. The way we're producing things changes a lot. so Oh, the way we consume things and actually the way we record things. I remember when Danny Boyle's film came out because he was the big, you know, digital release on on the big screen. If you're like, oh, it's gonna look like crap, it's digital. It looked fantastic.
00:30:35
Speaker
Right, pristine, yeah. And I was like, whoa! Now, I'm seeing movies that were done by two iPhones. Yeah. That was it. Yeah, I was like, oh my god. Yeah, and and that's what I'm so excited about filmmaking is those people who do those first time things that change everything that comes after though those pioneers so that you just gotta to so you know give give props to those folks because you know it takes somebody to come in and be like, but wait, let's try it this way. And then they prove it to be successful and then everybody follows suit. But but i I admire those people that those risk takers that jump in there and say, nope, let's try it this way. And then they they prove us right or wrong. And it's a really cool thing.
00:31:11
Speaker
We need them. We need them. We need more people like you. We we honestly do. It's been wonderful. um I said we're going to 20 minutes. It's already past 30. My fault. Usually like... No, you're done. This has been a great time. I appreciate it. Oh, I appreciate it. What are you working on? I know this might come out sometime knocked over. Yeah. Before Halloween. What are you working on now? What are you working on now?
00:31:33
Speaker
So i I just finished um a couple of screenplays. um One is called Scare Me Kill Me, and it's out on submission right now. It's a throwback to the 1980s slasher flicks set in the boarding school in the middle of nowhere. And it's all about a game, sort of a truth and Derek gone wrong.
00:31:49
Speaker
um That's out right now on submission, so hopefully we hear back on that soon. And ah I'm ah working on a really fun horror screenplay right now called Executive about a very lonely office worker who finds a portal in her office building, and like sort of a time travel portal.
00:32:05
Speaker
to another sort of existence parallel life where she's the executive. And to maintain that lifestyle, she is required to kill people in her current lifetime. um So it's sort of a serial killer. A serial killer gone office worker. It's definitely a hybrid project, but my beta readers have really been liking it. So I think I'm in good good shape there. It's fantastic. I mean, wouldn't you? I mean, like, I would be like, I don't know, maybe.
00:32:34
Speaker
And then once you start doing one. Right? Yeah. It's kind of an addiction. Yeah. For sure. It's like a tattoo. don go of like camera That's what I've been told. So yeah.
00:32:45
Speaker
So yeah, and just, and I have on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I have a urban dance romance novel coming out in February past beat, which has been a lot of fun to write. So it's a love story. So set in Chicago. sort of You got me. You you said anything Chicago, ah except for apparently a football team, but actually they're doing better it's been a long decade or two. You have made Chicago. I'm there. And this is why I love.
00:33:15
Speaker
your background. I love talking to you because we went from the slasher throwback to the let's kill someone to be rich, yeah the the inter-genre and to the urban. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, mixed for an interesting day always. It it has to, it has to.
00:33:34
Speaker
right Where can they find you on social media? I'm all over social media. so Ren Valentino everywhere, Instagram. Please, if you're a a writer that I can help in some way, never never hesitate to reach out. I'm all about paying forward. Happy to connect you with resources if I can.
00:33:50
Speaker
if i can so And Valentino dot com is my website, all the things that are there that that you would need to connect. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. And not because I'm just feeling generous, generous, but I really do love these mysteries. So for the first five people, first five people just a little haunted Estella 17 mystery. If you contact me through socials, it will get to so your door.
00:34:18
Speaker
on us. Oh yay. Five copies on us. I want to spread this love and it's really a great, great thing to do. Just take it out and read. We all need more reading. Thank you, sir. i Appreciate it. Thank you and thank you for this and for what you do. Well, thank you for appearing and as always, thanks for everything and I hope to see you soon and always feel free to drop us a line and remember,
00:34:47
Speaker
It's all been fun until you get lost in the corn maze and you got some zombies chasing after you. I'm guessing that's ah that that that the book not the book. That's the book. That's the movie. I knew it. Thanks, everyone. Bye.