Teresa Amadei is a young stylite, a wandering, ascetic demon hunter, trained in the Way of Fire. Her teacher, Father Simon, a Byzantine martial artist monk, sends her on a journey to the city of Alexantine in the Midwestern US, where many are moving to escape the growing chaos in the world. Along the way she stops at towns and cities and battles the Daemoklos, demons who have escaped from their prison, to seal them away by writing them back into their eponymous grimoire. She is aided by her older cousin and fellow stylite, Matthew Abbate, and crosses paths with the mysterious black knight, the Saracen, with his own agenda.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Teresa: Hannah Ehman
Stymphala: Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

Teresa Amadei is a depressed young woman dealing with the sudden death of her mother, Juliana, with whom she has long been at odds since the murder of her father, Peter, when she was little. Her aunt and uncle, Bridget, and Jesse Abbate, send her to be helped by a Byzantine stylite in the Nevada desert, Father Simon. Father Simon trains her in the Way of Fire, a form of meditation that translates into a martial art, into a wandering, ascetic demon hunter and Lamp Bearer.

Teresa is sent on a journey to the city of Alexantine in the midwestern US, where many have started to move to as a refuge against the growing turmoil in the US and the West as a whole. Along the way Teresa fights the Daemoklos, demons who have escaped from their eponymous grimoire, led by their god-king Varazhah. To survive against the outer demons, Teresa must face her inner demons. Key to achieving this, Teresa must at last make peace with Juliana, who continues to speak to her daughter beyond the grave.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

“The Stylite” is Action/Adventure, and can also be classed within “Drama,” “Spiritual,” “Coming of Age,” and “Sci-Fi/Fantasy.”

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

I believe “The Stylite” provides a unique, or at least not seen in a while, take on the hero’s journey, especially for young characters coming-of-age.

I wanted to write Teresa in a manner different from what has been “conventional” over the past several decades when it comes to female characters, especially in media targeted to younger people, namely in her relationship with her elders, and her “sibling bond” with Matthew. Often media wants to show these type of characters as “antagonistic to social norms” in general; and with regards to male siblings, the relationship is often portrayed in a “lopsided” way where the brother gets “discredited” in some way for some sort of “hypocrisy” that vindicates the sister’s views. Now Teresa has antagonism, particularly with her mother, but in a different way (or at least, a different style) than is often the case in media. The jibing between Teresa and Matthew is one part “normal sibling interaction,” but not at the expense of discrediting Matthew, the “elder brother,” as a character, which would ultimately have hurt his role in the story.

The dialogues and bantering between characters, good guys with good guys, heroes with villains, and even villains to each other, are all meant to express various themes and ideas that reflect many issues in the real world, especially cultural events in the West over the past thirty years. Yet at the same time, I tried to maintain a balancing act in weaving all these things in a way that doesn’t overshadow the story and characters to become a speech, but rather fits each character’s personality and motives.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

“Overcome yourself.”

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Nothing comes to mind at the moment. There are many movies and shows I have rewatched over the years, mainly older ones from the 2000s and before. For “historical dramas,” I can say I have watched the 1974 miniseries “Fall of Eagles” (starring such people as Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davis, Kenneth Colley, Colin Baker, etc.) several times over the past decade.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

The initial idea for “The Stylite” came back in the summer of 2014, while I was doing a graduate course. I was reading the book “In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and The Rise of the Global Arab Empire” by Tom Holland, which details the history of the Middle East and Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. The book went into detail on the Byzantine Empire, life in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) the stylites/Desert Fathers & Mothers, Christian monks/nuns who lived in seclusion in the dessert, and the Zoroastrianism of Sassanid Persia, namely their fire temples.

Reading all of that both indoors and outdoors in the summertime, one could feel immersed in the hot, dusty environments of that part of the world. From there came the first idea of a superhero-like character based on the stylites and the fire temples of Persia.
I first started with designing the armor suits that Teresa Amadei, her older cousin Matthew Abbate, and the Saracen wear. My first draft for the novel was started only in 2019; after taking a year break, it was finished around Eastertime of 2022. The rest of 2022 was spent getting the draft beta-read and creating second and final drafts, and compiling the series bible before finally publishing the script in 2023, and the actual book early in 2024.

7. How many stories have you written?

Since 2008, I have completed a total of eight stories, and am in the process of developing several more. Many of those I used to post on tokusatsu fanboards and other sites; “The Stylite” is the first story I have published in an official manner. Two of the other completed stories will soon be published as well.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

I’ve never really had a favorite song, or music genre. I mostly play things by ear: if it sounds good, I listen, and go back to listen again.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

Dialogue has been the constant issue I’ve had with writing, namely coming up with such that sounds natural yet not too “contemporary” or “slang-y.” I like to use the dialogues from old TV shows and movies from the 1940s through the 2000s, as inspiration for my work. The trick has always been to try to emulate their style and “grandness” while still feeling like something my characters (especially the younger ones) could believably say. It often takes a few rewrites before coming up with something that I think is workable. The ultimate test of whether it worked, is how readers/viewers will respond.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

History and nature (namely, books and shows on historical and natural/biological topics), martial arts (currently a 2nd Dan black belt in taekwondo), and tokusatsu.

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?

FilmFreeway has been a generally good experience. I have noticed that the more I submit my work, the more I get invited by other festivals to submit to them.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

Feedback has been informative and appreciated. What spurs me on to enter festivals is based on the theme of said festival, and whether or not my scripts comply with that theme and their terms (If it’s the right length/format, etc.)