“You’re in a dark fairy tale. And I don’t think you know how this story began.”
— Quote from “Waiting” by Virginia Shine.
Moviegoers who attended area festivals, like the Maumee Film Fest and the recent Glass City Film Festival, have been treated to a short but effective chiller called “Waiting,” about a doctor desperate to contact his wife in the afterlife. The piece, based on Shine’s script, is a result of a collaboration between filmmakers Keith Soper and Virginia Shine.
“Keith and I had talked about doing a project together outside the 48-hour challenges, and we both are kind of into spooky stories, but not quite full-on gore or horror films. So we talked about just doing a spooky tale,” Shine said.
Improve the process
“Waiting” is Shine’s second short as director, but just the latest in a long line of projects she has tackled as a writer, having written multiple screenplays over the years (many of which, she admits, are still waiting to be produced). The founder of Glass City Screenwriters, a group that meets regularly to provide support and feedback to fellow filmmakers in the community, Shine is an integral part of the Toledo film scene.
“I think that one of the biggest things when I started the group is, I wanted to gather people to bring their different projects in,” Shine said. “Part of screenwriting, to improve the process, is to do table reads of the actual screenplay so that you hear dialogue out loud, (which allows the writer to find) ways to improve it. But it also just kinda makes connections— people can come and connect with other filmmakers.”
Through Glass City Screenwriters, Shine and many of her fellow creators are tackling their biggest project yet: “The Choice,” a film about a man who loses his wife. (Shine is hesitant to share many more details about the story just yet.) The project was filmed this past winter, a process that Shine said was daunting given the freezing temperatures.
“When we planned it, we thought, March in Ohio— maybe it’ll be warmed up a little bit,” she said with a laugh. “So we filmed it during freezing cold temperatures, out in the middle of nowhere in a cabin location. It was cold and we had a lot of things to deal with, but that’s normal. Filmmaking, you deal with what you’re dealt that day.”
A larger scale
Shine is also collaborating with Capture1 Studios to write the narrative component of an upcoming docudrama called “The Legend of Holcomb Road,” which focuses on a supposedly haunted Wood County road, adapted from real accounts and legends of happenings on the locally famous road.
“Matt Erman at Capture1 Studios, he put out a post about possibly doing something with this, and it kind of blew up online,” Shine said. “And he decided to hire me to write the screenplay for the narrative portion.”
“The Choice” will soon be entered into area film festivals, and Shine will also be working with Capture1 Studios on an additional project later this year. But she always keeps an eye on those feature-length scripts she has tucked away, waiting for a chance to bring those to life.
“I would love to have one of my features produced on a larger scale, but also I have thoughts of doing one locally as well. Obviously, the larger the production, the more that can be done with it. But I do like to focus on my screenwriting, because I’m not as talented in other areas. The writing is my focus.”
“Waiting” can be viewed on YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/PZxgTSXz0Ho
