Interview:

Sensing an untapped market for comedies about accounting, Mike wrote his first screenplay, SMILERS. To date it has placed in more than 25 national writing competitions including first place wins in Script Savvy and "The Contest of Contests," a contest limited to winners of other screenwriting contests. SMILERS Is currently the 3rd "most winning" romantic comedy ever on Moviebytes.com.
Mike is a CPA with a bachelor of science in Accounting from the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University. Mike lives in the Chicago area.

Is “DEATH TAX” your first script? If not, what else have you completed?

My first script, SMILERS, won a number of competitions. I also wrote THE CAPTAIN'S TABLE, a comedy about a restaurant in New Orleans that won first place in Storypros. I'm working with Fidelity Films on developing a small horror movie entitled ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.

Why did you write "DEATH TAX? And how long did it take you to write it?

DEATH TAX was inspired by a paradox in the tax law where the estate tax gradually gets smaller until it disappears entirely in 2010, only to reappear in its entirety on January 1st, 2011. So if your relatives die in 2010 you owe nothing, but if they die in 2011 you owe a lot of money. Thus Congress inadvertently produced an incentive for murdering your parents - an incentive my characters take full advantage of.

I write quickly, and usually finish my first draft in a few weeks. Then I spend a lot of time tightening dialogue, mainly to make the comedy play faster.

Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?

I write as time allows. If I can go to a food court and write until they turn off the lights and toss me out it’s a great day.

What inspires you to write?

I'm not a tortured artist: my scripts are screwball comedies, and are a blast to write. DEATH TAX pits a by-the-book IRS auditor against a MBA style assassin who views murder as just another revenue stream. Writing makes me laugh.

Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I have a wonderful family, and a great job where I work with people I care about. I have a terrific writing group made up of other contest winners who are talented and unfailingly kind and generous. I’m a very lucky person.

What influenced you to enter the Movie Script Contest?

I hadn’t entered DEATH TAX in many contests, and I was curious to see how it would stack up, and whether I could make the finals.

Do you feel that screenwriting contests are worthwhile for writers and why?

Yes, I think they allow you to see how your work compares with other writers, and give you a chance to show your work to producers who would not otherwise see it.

Who is your favorite screenwriter or writer and why?

Aaron Sorkin, George Bernard Shaw, Billy Wilder, Mark Twain.

Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

I'm a beginner, and wouldn't be presumptuous enough to advise others more talented than myself. The best advice I ever received was to enjoy the entire process: love the writing, the rewriting, the queries, entering contests, winning and losing. It's all part of the dream.

What’s next for you?

Hopefully getting a movie MADE someday soon! Until then, I’m going to continue to love the writing.