Member Spotlight: Michel Kinsola

My dream as a child was to become a football player (soccer), but the injuries took me away from my dream. So, I studied history, then I discovered a passion for cinema. After my history degree, I spent a year in film school where I had a crush on the screenwriting profession. I did an internship at a fashion and life testimony-oriented documentary director where I took care of various things: video, script, conducting interview, preparation of filming...  I told him that my favorite was screenwriting, and one day he told me that he had a feature film project and was looking for a screenwriter for it.   I offered my services, and he gave me my chance. It was the adaptation of the masterpiece of gothic literature, The Monk, by M.G Lewis. I researched and studied the art of writing a screenplay and spent 6 months to propose an adaptation scenario for this novel. I consulted a script doctor and wrote several versions. The director liked the final rendering, but he was never able to finance the film. For me, it was a founding act. I knew now that I could write a script.

Currently, I am working on a strip script that I would also like to adapt in series. It is a science fiction saga about the last humans on earth. Next year, I hope to finish two feature-length screenplay projects that I have in stock for a long time. These are two police plots, one with a fantastic aspect and the other with a political side.

I would use the famous cliché to say that my best story is always the next. But I have a soft spot for the story I’m writing now.

SoCreate makes the author’s work more exciting.  I have a pretty visual writing, and I see SoCreate as an additional partner in my shaping process.  It is a kind of personal assistant for writing as well as a presentation tool.

I sometimes work from final draft import. In fact, I’m still exploring this great machine.

Discipline:

• Sleep early
• Write in the morning
• Have regular production with regular schedules, such as employment

Creative aids:

• The music
• The visualization
• Be in my creative zone, in my bubble

Notes:

• Do’s and don'ts
• Set daily goals and challenges

Well being:

• Breaks to escape
• Play sports
• Take care of your diet

The typical creation process can be divided into 4 steps:

1) There is first a period of research and preparation.

• Study of the subject and seeking inspiration

2) Then there is a first detachment. A period of introspection where external inspirations come out to confront his inner feelings. This is an important time as we are sorting through all the ideas and making important decisions such as putting in place an action plan.

3) We then move on to the realization. We move on to writing

• Biography of the characters
• Identification of conflicts and issues
• Description and motivation of the premises
• Synopsis long and short
• Processing
• Different versions of the scenario

4) Finally, we move on to corrections

• Proofreading, rewriting
• Notes of intent
• Communication

Escape, by taking a walk or watching a film. Sometimes even a discussion or a moment of introspection. You can also feed your creativity by reading fiction or using script textbooks.

You can also write down everything that comes to your mind, as Ray Bradbury would say.  He added this: "If you have a block (the blank page), try the idea association. You never know what you’re really thinking until you put it on paper.”

The hardest part to overcome was when I started as a professional screenwriter. I was in Paris, I had won a few prizes, I was starting to get network, but I had forgotten the harshness of this environment. In France, we say that it is a world of sharks, where sometimes the cronyism prevails over talent. Living your passion is complicated and can impact your life as a couple and family. I have had difficult times in pursuing my dream, I have had moments where I wanted to give up everything.

I had to juggle food jobs. Today I found a balance. I work in computer science, hoping one day to depend only on my passion as a screenwriter.

It is a tool, and, like any good tool, it should make the user’s life easier.

Writing a script can be intimidating, SoCreate makes the task less intimidating and more enjoyable with lots of indications and drag-and-drop.

I really like their blog, the various tips and encouragement, and the webinars.

The community aspect is also fundamental.

It is also an effective presentation tool in his producer search. The visual side is more talkative and allows a better understanding of his work for different readers.

I won the 3rd prize for short film writing at the Aubagne film festival in 2009. I was selected for the writers' marathon at the Bourges Scenarist Festival in 2010.

I was selected in 2016 by the Maison des scénaristes (house of writers) for a meeting with producers for a feature film script in Cannes film festival.

I was also selected by the Maison des scénaristes (house of writers) for a meeting with producers for a series project at Séries Mania festival in Lille in 2018.

That I'm still writing, I'm glad I didn't give up on my dream.

Living my writing passion in general. I have projects for screenplays, novels, comics, directing and even creating apps.

I advise them to start, because SoCreate can help them realize their writing dreams. Every dream is only of interest if it is realized. SoCreate can help turn the dream into reality.

• Structure first, Robert Mackee
• Never explain something you can show. Stephen King
• Writing is rewriting.
• Every story is a gospel or an odyssey, it’s a phrase of Jorge Borges that implies that these two stories are foundational and that one could almost call each story a gospel or an odyssey. Some people find this reading grid a bit reductive, but I find it very interesting. I like to take inspiration from mythology and cosmogonies. I like the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, for example.
• Pose important conflicts and issues. The more conflict is exacerbated, the stronger the stakes are, the more intense and memorable a story becomes. Robert Mackee said that characters are revealed under pressure.
• Being able to summarize your story in one page. This allows you to have a good understanding of your own story and help explain it to others.
• The writer’s art consists above all in making us forget that he uses words, said Henri Bergson. It is true that the author’s raw material consists of emotions and feelings. But we must not forget that, in a scenario, unlike novels, action has to take precedence.
• 75 percent or more of a writer’s work is devoted to story design. Who are these characters? What do they want? Why do they want it? How do they do it? What is stopping them? What are the consequences? Finding the answers to these big questions and turning them into history is our overwhelming creative task. Robert Mckee
• Drive away friends who don’t believe in you. Ray Bradbury
   They may discourage you and turn you away from your project.
• Art acts primarily on the soul and gives shape to the spiritual structure of man. The poet is a man who has the psychology and imagination of a child. His perception of the world is immediate, whatever ideas he may have. In other words, he does not describe the world, he discovers it. Andreï Tarkovski
• Write with joy. Ray Bradbury
  According to him, writing is not a serious occupation, a job like any other. It is above all a passion.

I was born in Kinshasa, Congo (DRC). I arrived very young in France. I grew up in France and it became my adopted country. I try to absorb its two worlds in my artistic expression. I like to draw on African history which is quite unknown, as in the history of France and Europe which is more widely known.

My journey has taught me perseverance, the art of overcoming life’s trials, and empathy. I think life is not easy for anyone. Every person is unique, even if we all have a common base.

I use my difference, my authenticity to make the emotions that unite us resonate in my peers.

My journey has also validated this thought of Marc Aurèle, who says that there are things that depend on us and others that do not depend on us. I try to do the maximum on what depends on me.