Lockdown

Galia and Tom haven’t connected with one another in a while. While on COVID lockdown, Galia decides to confront Tom about their lack of intimacy and discovers a disturbing truth he’s been hiding about his relationship with his queer best friend, Danny, who might have raped Tom. Danny sees the encounter as mutual and consensual. When Galia, who is a therapist, secretly agrees to treat Danny, things get very complicated very fast as she tries to get to the core of what happened.
As Galia unearths Danny's demons, Tom comes to terms with the assault. The three converge in a climax that sees all of them test positive for COVID and find they are stuck with one another for the foreseeable future.
An alternate universe epilogue has the trio plotting a genocidal government takeover.

  • Frank J. Avella
    Writer
    Consent, Lured, Fig Jam, Screw The Cow, Vatican Falls
  • Project Type:
    Stage Play
  • Number of Pages:
    78
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Writer Biography - Frank J. Avella

Frank J. Avella is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright and the recipient of a 2019 International Writers Retreat Residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle (Assisi, Italy), a 2018 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, a 2016 Helene Wurlitzer Residency Grant, the 2016 Chesley/Bumbalo Playwright Award and a 2015 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship Award.

Frank just completed the short screenplay, HAPPY BOY.

Frank’s screenplays have received 28 major awards at Film Festivals throughout the world (16 countries) and have been selected/winners/finalists in over 180 Fests/Comps to date.

He recently wrote and directed his first short film, FIG JAM, which won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the 2021 Paris Independent Film Festival and won the Best Narrative Short Award at the 2021 New York Neorealism Film Festival. The film was a Finalist for the 2021 International Shorts Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia, the 2021 Peachtree Village International Film Festival, the 2021 Portland Comedy Film Festival, the 2021 Oregon Short Film Festival and the 2021 Big Apple Film Festival as well as a semi-finalist for the 2022 Madrid Arthouse Film Festival. FIG JAM was an Official Selection for the 2021 New York Shorts International Film Festival (big screen world premiere), the 2021 Austria International Film Festival, the 2021 Rome Independent Prisma Awards, the 2021 Unitaly International Film Festival and had its virtual World Premiere at the 2021 Lonely Wolf: London International Film Festival where it was nominated for 7 Awards including Best Picture, Best Film (Medium Length), Outstanding Directorial Debut, Best Original Screenplay, Best Comedy or Musical, Best Pandemic Film and Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design as well as being a finalist for Best Romantic Drama.

In 2022, FIG JAM was officially selected for the Georgia Shorts Film Festival where it received 3 nominations including Best Comedy Film. Fig Jam was also selected for the Love Wins Film Festival, the Madrid Arthouse Film Festival (semi-finalist), the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival, the FLICKFAIR Film Festival and the Hang on to Your Shorts Festival in Asbury Park, where it won the Best Actress Award. The film was a finalist in the Austin After Dark Film Festival, the Austin Comedy Film Festival and the Houston Comedy Film Festival.

VATICAN FALLS, his play about the Catholic sex abuse scandal, was a 2021 semifinalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference.

LURED, a play about the Russia persecution of gays had its world premiere at Theater for the New City in November of 2018. The play was featured in the OnStage! American Theater Festival in Rome, Italy in 2019 and selected for the 2021 Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival.

Frank’s play, CONSENT was a 2019 O’Neill semifinalist.

Produced work includes CATAMITUS (2019 Best Play, Five & Dime Drama Collective) THE DEAD BOY, GREENER, THE BUBBLE, IRIS, LEXY, MICHAEL’S #1 FAN, 3 CAINS, UNHINGING and GODFORSAKEN. Other plays: ORVILLE STATION, FOR MAMMA, NEMESIS, MAD, LESS THAN 2 DEGREES.

The CONSENT screenplay won the Best Screenplay at the 2021 Madrid Arts Film Festival, the Best Feature Screenplay at the 2021 Oz Indie Film Festival (Australia), the Best Screenplay Award at the 2020 Austria International Film Festival, the Best LGBT Screenplay Award at the 2020 New Renaissance Film Festival (Amsterdam) and the Best Drama Screenplay Award at the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival, the Best Narrative at the 2021 San Francisco Film Festival, the Best Narrative Screenplay at the 2021 ReelHeART Film Festival, the Platinum Scriptwriting Award winner at the 2021 Depth of Field International Film Festival and has, to date, been a Finalist or Selected for 54 Festivals/Contests, in 14 different countries.

The LURED screen adaptation (adapted in 2020) is a winner, finalist or has been selected for 36 separate Festivals/Awards in nine countries. SCREW THE COW is a winner/finalist in 17 different Festivals/Competitions. The FIG JAM screenplay is a winner/finalist for 30 awards/festivals. MULTITASKING and FIG DUDE are also winners/finalists for Festivals.

Frank is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

https://filmfreeway.com/FrankAvella

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Writer Statement

Written during lockdown and with a surrealistic take.