 |
KATE IANNOTTI
On the cover of my application to film school,
I quoted Sharon Stone: "My mind is like a
bad neighborhood. I shouldn't go in there alone."
Then and now, her words seemed to sum up my personality
in a fairly clever and succinct manner.
I grew up in a small town in the smallest state
in the U.S., a very typical suburban childhood
along with three brothers and my school teacher
parents. At 18, though, I ran away to Hollywood
to study screenwriting at the University of Southern
California. In four years, I lived a whole other
lifetime, and I became a Writer. It is my passion,
my future and the only thing I have ever really,
truly wanted to do.
Influenced by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese,
brilliant writers like Paul Attanasio and David
Milch, the acting of Marlon Brando, and the stories
of Tennessee Williams, I have relied on where
I come from to give me stories and characters
that live and breathe all on their own. A character's
ethnicity, like mine, is a large part of who they
are, and I often draw on my own upbringing in
an Irish-Italian family in a very ethnic part
of the country to give realism to the character,
their families and the places they live and work.
For the last several years, I've been on the
East Coast again, writing, working and trying
to get my first feature film off the ground. Though
the lights of Hollywood are always there, beckoning
me back for frequent visits, my heart and soul
belong with my roots. Every character I create,
piece of dialogue they speak, street they walk
down is an exploration of where I have been, who
has come before me, and where and why we all make
the choices that we do.
Back To Top |
 |
