I'm an Australian first-time screenwriter with first spec script – The Real Thing, a Romantic Comedy/Sci-Fi feature with themes pertaining to the now and near future that will be hotly debated.

In a past life I studied Philosophy (my M.A. thesis - The Ontological Status of Space - is listed by the National Library of Australia), and I'm currently undertaking a practice-led Ph.D. in Film (whose creative component is - yep, you guessed it - my screenplay...)

A former Time Out critic in his competition feedback had this to say:

"The Real Thing is a classic screwball comedy. Like Bringing Up Baby, a nerdy protagonist is brought under the spell of an assertive love interest. Its whip-smart dialogue crackles like Hepburn and Grant. But there’s a modern twist updating this classic form."

and, in his opinion...

"The writer has kept it small enough in scope that it could find financing at the lower end of the budget scale. These kinds of stories are too rarely made nowadays. But in the hands of the right producer, it could do well on the indie circuit."

If this sounds like an unabashed advertisement for my screenplay, it's because it is...

Oh, and I used to write short stories as a teenager that, according to experts who knew about this stuff, "nailed the psychological horror genre and will make money". But lest you think I'm getting nostalgic, so will the screenplay... producers, take note.