1. What is your screenplay about?
A team of scientists are stationed in Antarctica to simulate life on Mars, as well as do some research in the area. Dave, a chaplain, arrives at the facility just as the team discovers a mysterious chest buried deep under the ice. Soon after bringing the chest back to their station, things take a decided turn for the worse.
2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
It is sci-fi horror, with some thriller, suspense, and paranormal thrown in the mix.
3. Why should this screenplay be made into a TV series?
Navigating a cast of interesting characters while taking place in a consistent setting makes this a perfect television vehicle, providing ample time to explore and get to know our characters while also building upon the atmosphere of dread and isolation with each passing episode.
4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Isolated suspense.
5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Phil – I’d like to say Halloween or A Clockwork Orange – and they’re up there – but I think the honest answer would actually be The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Logan – That’s a tough one, but it’s probably a bizarre tie between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Shining.
6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
According to our notes, we had the first meeting with our producer, Brianna Gardner, who brought us the original short story, on August 9th, 2019. Since then it’s gone through multiple drafts in varying forms from a film script to a podcast, and finally a TV pilot which is what was submitted to Fantasy/Sci-Fi.
7. How many stories have you written?
As a writing team, we’ve written six screenplays together. If you were to include what we’ve written individually, that number goes up by four for Phil and six for Logan for a grand total of sixteen between us.
8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
Phil – This is tough and I don’t really know if I have a song I’d consider my absolute favorite, so I cheated. According to my Spotify analytics, my most-listened to song of all time is “The Decline” by NOFX, so I’ll go with that.
Logan – “Could’ve Moved Mountains” by Silver Mt Zion is the one that has the most meaning for me, so much so that I got a tattoo on my body to represent it.
9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The hardest part about writing this script specifically was finding the best way to tell the story. The Ice is adapted from a short story by Jordan Lewis and we wanted to stay as true to the source material as possible while finding a way to translate it to screen in a clear and concise manner. It went through a number of different drafts as a film screenplay before our producer Brianna had the idea of turning it into an episodic series. This allowed us to really give the story time to breathe and to be able to flesh out the large cast of characters properly over multiple episodes.
10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
We’re both passionate about making music and were in a number of garage bands together during high school – Logan on guitar and Phil on drums. Apart from that, we both love to travel, love camping and the outdoors, and Logan owns and operates an electronic music label – Special Species Records.
11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
The Ice was submitted by Brianna, though we personally have used FilmFreeway in the past for another feature. The process was smooth, straightforward, and easy.
12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
Right now we’re just trying to submit our work to as many legitimate festivals as we can in order to get feedback and hopefully win some awards and get our names out there. The initial feedback from Fantasy/Sci-Fi was amazing! It was thorough, constructive, thoughtful, and made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Watch the Screenplay Reading:
A research team in Antarctica is plagued by mysterious occurrences after they discover an ancient box hidden in the ice.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Casey: Shawn Devlin
Hill: Julie Sheppard
Demonic Voice/Pilot: Bill Poulin
Matthew Toffolo's Summary 