William Parsons

Screenwriter

Oakland, California

Member Since:
January 2019

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

Invites sent:
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About William

"Do not fear death; fear the unlived life." Ever since I read that advice given by Pa Tuck in Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting, I have thought of that as my rallying call. I do not want to come to the end of my days (at 49 years old, still—so I hope—a ways off) and look back and realize to my horror, "Wow, what a waste!" A product of a bad childhood, I have stumbled through my adulthood, always though managing to keep on the path of my own happiness. The one constant through all of it has been my writing, which has lived in symbiosis with my meandering that path. My writing has served as my journal of that journey, and my journey has provided me the well of emotions and experiences to embue my writing and give it meaning—to me at least. For that I have always loved my writing, whom I consider my friend (at low points in my life, my only one—but, at those lowest points, I have never been alone, and that has made all the difference). Though my short stories and novellas have served those dual roles well, it has been these screenplays which have truly fed my soul. I'm not even sure why, but the screenplays channel my emotions more than any other form of writing, and, when I combine that quality of them for which I am so grateful with the intellectual and creative challenge of my being able to tell an entire story, in all its layered complexity, only via the two mechanisms of what can be seen and what can be heard, I'm glad I came upon this medium of storytelling, which I have come to adore. My screenplays make me feel something, and I'm proud to say they, at times, have made me feel the ecstatic agony which signals that I am truly alive and living the moment. I hope my screenplays will make others feel the same. After all, we read stories, we tell stories, we watch stories, we hear stories, all so that we may feel something. As I constantly remind myself: "Heart first; head, second."

Unique traits: I love, read, and teach the Latin Language.

Gender:
Male

Height:
5' 9"

Weight:
242

Body type:
Average

Hair:
Medium

Hair color:
Brown

Eyes:
Blue

Ethnicity:
Caucasian

Photos

Loglines

Dancing Under a Buzzing Streetlamp Budget: $100K - $1M | Drama A young man risks a life of obscurity unless he can overcome the walls his family has put in front of him that force him to stay in the closet and not pursue his passion to dance.
Dirty Windows Budget: $100K - $1M | Drama When a gay teenager is almost lynched in South Carolina, a closeted boy goes on the run after discovering that his own abusive father was the one behind the attempt.
High Tide Line Budget: $100K - $1M | Drama When he pulls one reckless stunt too many, a cocky teenager with a mysterious ability to heal clashes with his loving but overwhelmed father, who sees his once thoughtful and kind son teetering on...evil.
Encounters Budget: $0 - $100K | Drama A seemingly-happy college grad faces reconciling the repeated loss he’s running from when he encounters a terminally-ill hitchhiker who refuses to give up on the joy of life.
Darkest Before the Dawn Budget: $100K - $1M | Drama A cocky, hard-living young war photojournalist, struggling with traumas both long ago and recent, finds healing in the unlikeliest of allies: an old, abused draft horse.
Finding the Path Budget: $100K - $1M | Drama After a childless older couple rescues him off the Detroit streets, a horrifically-abused teenager grows into an emotionally-hardened man who struggles to accept he’s worth loving.

View all 6 loglines

Awards

Finalist, Coverfly 2022 Pitch Week, Dancing Under a Buzzing Streetlamp
(2022)
Quarter-Finalist, BlueCat Screenplay Competition, The Juggler's Act
(2019)
Semi-Finalist, Screencraft Launch Million Dollar Student Screenplay Competition, Dirty Windows
(2018)
Quarter-Finalist, Screencraft Short Screenplay Contest, Ya Gotta Break a Few Eggs...
(2017)
Third Place, First Half 2014 Contest sponsored by The Writers Place, Close Encounter
(2014)
Finalist, Contest of Contest Winners, Activity Bus #61
(2012)
Semi-Finalist, Gimme Credit International Screenplay Competition, Activity Bus #61
(2012)
Semi-Finalist, Gimme Credit International Screenplay Competition, Dirty Windows
(2008)