A few years ago, I sent in my screenplay for Conquist as part of my application to Ron Howard’s Imagine Impact, which is described as “a first of its kind content accelerator program in film and television development”. It was going to be an intensive in-person program, the first outside the US, before COVID put the kibosh on it. My application was ultimately unsuccessful, but the questions that were asked in the application forced me to apply a laser-like lens to every aspect of my plot, character arc, and motivations, which ultimately resulted in the novel that has recently been published and a reworking of my screenplay. I think it’s well worth answering these questions when writing a novel even though they were intended for screenplays. Let me share some of the questions that were asked and some of my responses for Conquist.
Ron Howard in the studio of "Here's Looking at Yul, Kid" Philip Romano This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. What is your project's 1-sentence logline?
While pursuing an Incan emperor, a driven conquistador and his men find themselves trapped between the warring forces of demonic natives and angelic beings in a world whose morality proves to be less black and white than it initially appears.
Tell us about your lead character(s) and what their arc(s) may be.
Cristóbal de Varga is a conquistador frustrated by a lifetime of watching others gain wealth and glory as he himself merely grows older. He is a man torn by his obsessions, and he knows he is running out of time. When he finds himself in a strange new world that forces him to challenge every belief he has ever had, he makes a decision that results in the blood of thousands on his hands and the loss of his command. In his search for redemption, Cristóbal has to face and conquer the obsessions that have defined his life.
What is unique about your character and why do you think audiences will emotionally invest in their journey?
The fantasy world that Cristóbal finds himself in intensifies all his physical and spiritual conflicts, forcing him to brutally face his own demons and make decisions without the beliefs and certainties that had once driven his actions. Audiences will live through his journey from blind conqueror to inspired leader.
While pursuing an Incan emperor, a driven conquistador and his men find themselves trapped between the warring forces of demonic natives and angelic beings in a world whose morality proves to be less black and white than it initially appears.
Tell us about your lead character(s) and what their arc(s) may be.
Cristóbal de Varga is a conquistador frustrated by a lifetime of watching others gain wealth and glory as he himself merely grows older. He is a man torn by his obsessions, and he knows he is running out of time. When he finds himself in a strange new world that forces him to challenge every belief he has ever had, he makes a decision that results in the blood of thousands on his hands and the loss of his command. In his search for redemption, Cristóbal has to face and conquer the obsessions that have defined his life.
What is unique about your character and why do you think audiences will emotionally invest in their journey?
The fantasy world that Cristóbal finds himself in intensifies all his physical and spiritual conflicts, forcing him to brutally face his own demons and make decisions without the beliefs and certainties that had once driven his actions. Audiences will live through his journey from blind conqueror to inspired leader.
Describe the audience of your project in more detail. Who are the people who are going to watch your show or movie and why will they watch it?
The audience is broader than Game of Thrones but not quite as broad as The Lord of the Rings. There is a higher percentage of males than female (75% – 25% split). Fantasy, particularly epic fantasy, creates a sense of wonder and awe in an audience that attracts a wide demographic. Conquist will also attract audiences of action/adventure movies even if they are not particular fans of fantasy.
What question or problem does your show or movie pose to the audience? How or why will your audience relate to that question and the theme it relates to?
How do you stop grit of determination from becoming the destructiveness of obsession? The conquistadors’ lust for gold, glory and domination mirrors the modern world’s craving for fortune, fame and power.
What answer or solution does your film present to that question or problem?
No goal is worth achieving at the expense of personal relationships.
The audience is broader than Game of Thrones but not quite as broad as The Lord of the Rings. There is a higher percentage of males than female (75% – 25% split). Fantasy, particularly epic fantasy, creates a sense of wonder and awe in an audience that attracts a wide demographic. Conquist will also attract audiences of action/adventure movies even if they are not particular fans of fantasy.
What question or problem does your show or movie pose to the audience? How or why will your audience relate to that question and the theme it relates to?
How do you stop grit of determination from becoming the destructiveness of obsession? The conquistadors’ lust for gold, glory and domination mirrors the modern world’s craving for fortune, fame and power.
What answer or solution does your film present to that question or problem?
No goal is worth achieving at the expense of personal relationships.
Portrait of Francisco Pizarro - Amable-Paul Coutan Tell us something you see in this project that might not be obvious to the reviewer.
Conquist has been thoroughly researched and based on historical events. Cristóbal’s story mirrors Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Incan Empire. The Pizarro brothers were searching for Manco Incas’ hidden city of Vilcabamba in the Amazon at the same time that Cristóbal is searching for it in the Andes. Lieutenant Héctor Valiente is loosely based on the black conquistador Juan Valiente, a slave who convinced his owner to allow him to become a conquistador for four years as long as he kept a record of his earnings and returned them to his master.
Why do you want to tell this story? Why are you the right person or even the only person who can tell it?
The story of conquistadors invading a fantasy world has been with me for a long time. I understand fantasy. My fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories have been translated into several languages and I’ve co-edited Aurealis, Australia’s best-selling fantasy and science fiction magazine, for over 30 years. I understand conquistadors. I’ve studied their strategies, their battles, and their diaries over many years. I know what drives them. I know their flaws. I also understand that at the heart of a good story are the decisions that the characters make, and at the heart of those decisions is how the characters make good the bad ones that they’ve made.
What drives you to write? Why do you want to do this as a career and not just as a hobby?
I write to be heard. I’ve been writing and selling stories from the time I could put pen to paper. It’s always been more than a hobby for me. I wrote a Superman story when I was eight years old, made several copies (with illustrations) by hand, and then enlisted my friends to help me go door-to-door in the neighborhood and sell them for 2 cents each. We made enough money to share a large bag of candy. I have made a living out of various forms of writing over the years, but five years ago I asked myself honestly what I would like most to achieve, and the answer was to write a novel that works as a movie and a matching screenplay.
Conquist has been thoroughly researched and based on historical events. Cristóbal’s story mirrors Francisco Pizarro’s conquest of the Incan Empire. The Pizarro brothers were searching for Manco Incas’ hidden city of Vilcabamba in the Amazon at the same time that Cristóbal is searching for it in the Andes. Lieutenant Héctor Valiente is loosely based on the black conquistador Juan Valiente, a slave who convinced his owner to allow him to become a conquistador for four years as long as he kept a record of his earnings and returned them to his master.
Why do you want to tell this story? Why are you the right person or even the only person who can tell it?
The story of conquistadors invading a fantasy world has been with me for a long time. I understand fantasy. My fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories have been translated into several languages and I’ve co-edited Aurealis, Australia’s best-selling fantasy and science fiction magazine, for over 30 years. I understand conquistadors. I’ve studied their strategies, their battles, and their diaries over many years. I know what drives them. I know their flaws. I also understand that at the heart of a good story are the decisions that the characters make, and at the heart of those decisions is how the characters make good the bad ones that they’ve made.
What drives you to write? Why do you want to do this as a career and not just as a hobby?
I write to be heard. I’ve been writing and selling stories from the time I could put pen to paper. It’s always been more than a hobby for me. I wrote a Superman story when I was eight years old, made several copies (with illustrations) by hand, and then enlisted my friends to help me go door-to-door in the neighborhood and sell them for 2 cents each. We made enough money to share a large bag of candy. I have made a living out of various forms of writing over the years, but five years ago I asked myself honestly what I would like most to achieve, and the answer was to write a novel that works as a movie and a matching screenplay.
If you could have written any television show or movie in history, which would you choose and why?
I would have chosen Groundhog Day because at its core it’s a fantasy story about redemption. It does what good fantasy stories should do. It asks the question “what if” and then deals with the human consequences in a heightened way. I love the fact that the fantasy element remained unexplained, although I know in an earlier draft it wasn’t.
I would have chosen Groundhog Day because at its core it’s a fantasy story about redemption. It does what good fantasy stories should do. It asks the question “what if” and then deals with the human consequences in a heightened way. I love the fact that the fantasy element remained unexplained, although I know in an earlier draft it wasn’t.
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