21st-Century "Heroine" By Gina Carbone, gcarbone@seacoastonline.com The Portsmouth Herald, Sunday Edition, February 25, 2001 Jolie Luntz is a tortured soul, a brilliant New York artist enslaved in a body riddled with drug addictions, loneliness and AIDS. She's also local writer Melanie Robertson's heroine. Robertson's first fictional screenplay, "Heroine" was accepted to the New York International Independent Film Festival's Screenplay Competition, running the first week of April. The 24-year-old Somersworth writer has been busy both as a waitress at the Portsmouth Applebee's and as an aggressive marketer seeking support for her filmmaking dreams. "I love movies and writing. They've always been my two passions." A graduate of Dover High School, Robertson's inspiration for "Heroine" came during her time in Dallas, Texas, as a volunteer at the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Community Center/HIV/AIDS Resource Center. "The story of Jolie Luntz is very near to my heart in that her experiences mirrored the kids and adults that I worked with at the center." Robertson says "Heroine" may have an edgy theme, but "it focuses on how you can live with HIV." After landing a "semi-job" in New York writing essays and features for the online magazine "Visibilities" (which provided her free room and board in Greenwich Village), Robertson entrenched herself in the local art scene, meeting a student director at the School of Visual Arts who schooled her in the rigors of filmmaking. "She taught me things about formatting ... I didn't realize how technical it was." Moving back to the Seacoast area in 1999, Robertson kept a close eye on the independent film scene. Intrigued by the idea of a screenplay competition as part of a major film festival, Robertson made her move. "I heard about (the festival) through a newsletter I get and the Writers Guild (of America) East. I sent out a query letter and this woman, Elizabeth, from the film festival called me back the same day. She made me give a pitch over the phone. I wasn't prepared," she recalls. "They extended the deadline for me. They were all very welcoming and sweet. They called me two weeks later to tell me I was accepted." Robertson says this festival is more a promotional event for filmmakers to make contacts rather than an award-based production. She's already met director Kimberly Peirce ("Boys Don't Cry") twice and says Quentin Tarantino and Susan Sarandon are among the stars expected this year. "I'm hoping to get at least an agent out of it," she says. "If I can just get some kind of nest egg." She has three other scripts she's working on, including "The Hunted" and "Telling Time," both set in New Hampshire, with "Telling Time" set in Portsmouth and telling the story of her grandparents life. "My grandparents got married at that great big church in the middle of town. It's always been very sentimental to me." In addition to her script writing, Robertson has recently become a published poet in "A Generation Defining Itself — In Our Own Words." "The poetry thing just kind of happened," she says. "I've been writing forever." Robertson submitted 10 poems and an essay, which she says should be available at the end of February in Borders and possibly local stores like Barnes & Noble and Stroudwater Books of Dover. Although definitely interested in the local poetry and arts scene, Robertson admits she hasn't had a chance to attend Beat Night, the Just Brew It poetry hoot, or join any local filmmaking organizations. "I don't like to be out of the loop," she says with regret. "I was automatically involved in things in New York and Dallas." A fan of edgy, independent film, Robertson hopes that if "Heroine" and her other scripts are picked up she will be able to make her directorial debut in the Granite State. "I would love to film here. Nothing is filmed in New Hampshire. My family grew up in Portsmouth. I'm surprised, but no one (in the film industry) knows it." For now, Robertson is focused with an almost religious fervor on sending her press pack to the various agencies, filmmakers and media outlets who could help her dreams come true. "I've been sending my stuff out since I was about 15," says the tenacious writer. "With the next script, I'll do the same thing." Spoken like a true heroine for any aspiring artist. |
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