The sci-fi romance feature screenplay The Verge of Seas has been selected as one of 13 screenplay semifinalists for the Philip K. Dick Film Festival, taking place April 4-7, 2024 at the Musuem of the Moving Image and The Producers Club Cinemas in New York City.
“We are looking at scripts that focus on the nuts and bolts of creating an entire sci-fi world,” said Daniel Abella, the founder and director of the event. Abella wants to show festival-goers the precision and accuracy necessary to the craft of screenwriting. “Rather than just prioritizing high concept premises, each of these screenplays deal with originality, characterization, and psychological dimensions on a more granular scale. It is important to note that when telling a good story, the smallest of details truly do matter.”
Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher whose published works mainly belong to the genre of science fiction. The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of alternate history and science fiction, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963.
In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, eleven popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, and The Adjustment Bureau. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in the Library of America Series.
The Verge of Seas, written by Albert M. Chan, is about a struggling alcoholic in a failing marriage who returns to his childhood home in Montana, where his husband and children inexplicably vanish. Realizing he’s in an alternate reality, he seeks help from his husband’s parallel – a straight man – and must choose between rewriting his troubled past or risking everything to reunite with his loved ones.
“THE SCRIPT BEAUTIFULLY COMBINES THE GENRES OF SCI-FI AND ROMANCE INTO AN INNOVATIVE NARRATIVE ABOUT THE POWER OF LOVE AND CHOSEN DESTINY… THERE IS A VERY PROFICIENT TALENT BEHIND THIS SCREENPLAY… ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING ELEMENTS… IS THE INTRICATE NUANCES CULTIVATED WITHIN THE DIALOGUE. THIS ALLOWS THE SCENES TO TEEM WITH SUBTLE EMOTION, MAKING FOR WILDLY ENTERTAINING EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS… IT’S PRETTY EASY TO ENVISION THIS BECOMING A HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER SCRIPT IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET… AN IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING STORY THAT DESERVES TO FIND SUCCESS IN A CINEMATIC MEDIUM!”
“WITH A BRILLIANT PREMISE, POIGNANT RELATIONSHIPS AND THEMES AT PLAY, AND STRONG WRITING THROUGHOUT, THIS SCRIPT DELIVERS A THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND ENGAGING READ… COMPELLING AND EXCITING FROM START TO FINISH… THE QUEER LOVE STORY AT THE CORE IS REFRESHING AND HEARTFELT.”
