“This whole experience rewarded the level of personal connection I put into my script, and got me thinking about how I brand myself as a writer.”
Alessandra Jara Del Castillo
As we approach the early bird deadline, I am very excited to bring you this interview with our Killer Shorts Season 2 Grand Prize Winner, Alessandra Jara Del Castillo. We are honored to share Alessandra’s story with the Killer Shorts contest, and hope her story will inspire you to submit to the contest and continue with your writing aspirations. Hailing from Peru and Texas, Alessandra was inspired to write This Hunger, combining her grandmother’s Peruvian folktales with cooking, a vital part of her culture. Having learned of Killer Shorts through Twitter, and the discount code for female-identifying, Women of Color, non-binary, & LGBTQ+, Alessandra was inspired to take a draft of an old script, This Hunger, and build on the story and its characters. This clearly worked out for this Grand Prize winner.
In this interview, Alessandra gives great advice to aspiring writers looking to submit to screenwriting contests. Winning the Killer Shorts Contest has helped her find her voice as a horror writer, and return to the feeling of her win anytime she needs motivation. The prize package, and meetings with literary managers, has been beneficial to Alessandra’s writing career, so much so, she is now working with producers. Congratulations to Alessandra for her win and the success we know she will have! Check out my interview with Alessandra below.
View Alessandra Jara Del Castillo’s Screenwriter Profile on Coverfly to request THIS HUNGER.
Conversations with Alessandra
Where did you grow up and has that influenced your writing? Was THIS HUNGER influenced by your surroundings in any way?
Growing up, I split my time between my hometown, Huancayo, Peru, and Sugar Land, Texas. My love for genre was greatly influenced by my grandmother’s folktales of the central highlands of Peru. The stories she’d tell me about her childhood and our ancestors always had an element of fantasy woven in. Sirens and witches and evil spirits weren’t just a thing of tales, but part of our culture. When writing This Hunger, I knew I wanted to combine that familiar sense of magical realism with a vital part of Peruvian culture – cooking. (But with a darker, gorier spin.)
What inspired you to write THIS HUNGER?
I wanted to write a story about eating. The whole process of dismantling and cooking and consuming has always felt innately gory to me. Maybe we don’t realize it because we do it so often, and that’s fascinating to me, so the jump from there to zombie horror wasn’t hard. I also wanted to tackle an insecurity about my experience growing up in the U.S. – how I hadn’t learned to cook Peruvian cuisine. In my hometown, if a woman doesn’t know how to make traditional dishes it’s a cause for concern. With This Hunger, I wanted to upend that expectation and twist what it means to be a devoted wife.
What was your writing process like for THIS HUNGER? Did you already have this script ready, or did the contest prompt you to write it?
Before Killer Shorts, I’d written a rough version of This Hunger as a short story for a class, under a different title. At that point, the genre was muddy and I wasn’t sure what the core was. The contest prompted me to pull horror from the characters and the themes, and to capitalize on the visual moments. Killer Shorts gave me exactly the push I needed to write This Hunger as a horror script.
What was your experience like submitting to the Killer Shorts Contest 2021? Was there something about the contest that helped you decide to submit?
Killer Shorts has been amazing from the moment I submitted to when I got the news that I’d won. Alison, the contest director, has been so helpful and encouraging throughout, and it’s incredibly obvious how hard she works to get our stuff out there and in the right hands. I first found the contest through Twitter, where Alison had posted a discount code for female-identifying, non-binary, WOC, & LGBTQ writers. Before then, I’d never even considered writing a horror short script. Now I can’t imagine a reality where I didn’t.
How did it feel to be named the winner of the Killer Shorts Contest 2021? How would you say this experience has impacted your career or how you move forward as a writer?
I was ecstatic. I jumped up and down, quite literally, and got nothing done for the rest of the day. It felt great to have my work pay off in an industry that gives out so many ‘no’s. Now I look back to that feeling whenever I’m stumped or need motivation. This whole experience rewarded the level of personal connection I put into my script, and got me thinking about how I brand myself as a writer. Going forward, I’m more confident about tapping into fears and experiences that are uniquely my own, without the hesitation that others might not connect – because now I have proof they will. This win also resulted in many read requests from literary managers, some of whom found me through Coverfly. Without a doubt, I am further in my career now than before I submitted to Killer Shorts.
Have you always wanted to write horror or were you inspired by submitting to the contest? What would you say is your go to genre or style of writing?
I’ve always been drawn by dark and twisted genre stories, and I’d written a horror pilot that did well in another contest, but it wasn’t until re-crafting This Hunger for Killer Shorts that I found my personal flavor of horror. I love finding horror in situations that should otherwise be normal, and flipping the script on monsters and victims. I find that people can be scarier than something unnatural.
As described by our readers, THIS HUNGER is
“…beautifully evocative, terribly human, and wildly compelling.”
Do you have any advice for writers skeptical about submitting to a screenwriting contest?
It could change your life, open up new roads, even teach you things about yourself. It’s always a risk when you put yourself out there, but don’t be discouraged by the ‘no’s. Readers are subjective, so even if you don’t place, screenwriting contests are still a great way to keep to deadlines and many, like Killer Shorts, have great communities.
As part of your winning package, Killer Shorts set up phone meetings between you and literary managers. Was this helpful to you? What was that experience like?
The experience was incredibly helpful. I was able to get their industry insight on what stood out about my script, what they were looking for in samples, and what tipped the scales for them when deciding to work with someone – not only in terms of writing, but about career ambitions, process, and scope of projects.
You had a career consultation meeting with Tom Dever, Coverfly’s Head of Development. Was this helpful to taking your next steps as a writer post win? Do you feel more prepared moving forward in your career? How did this call differ, for you, from the calls with literary managers?
Tom has been an invaluable resource since my win. A lot of conversations in this industry can feel guarded and indirect, and reading between those lines is a skill that comes with experience – experience I don’t have yet. Tom peels back the veil. Unlike the calls with literary managers, which were more about craft and the market, Tom’s guidance is specific to the writer’s journey in navigating reps and other options.
We’ve had several calls since the win, he’s checked up on my progress, and has made the process of connecting with managers feel so much more accessible.
What would be your dream writing job?
I would kill to be in the room for a dark genre drama, and eventually run one of my own. I want to be part of a story that lingers in the viewers’ minds long after the credits, which for me are shows like The Haunting of Hill House and The Boys.
What message, or inspiration, do you hope your writing leaves behind?
Most of my writing puts strong women of color at the forefront. I want to show how we belong in every genre, not just in stories that are culturally specific.
What advice would you give upcoming writers who might be submitting to contests for their first time?
It’s your story, your baby, and you know what’s best for it. If you place or win, then enjoy it, but keep going. Don’t let that momentum slow down. And if you don’t place, then brush it off, because the worst they can say is ‘no’ and that’s something you better get used to hearing if you want to get to that ‘yes’.
What are the next steps, if any, for THIS HUNGER? Only sharing what you are comfortable with, do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
I’m working with two amazing producers who loved the script (one who I already knew, and one who found me through my Killer Shorts win). We’re still in early stages but hopefully we’ll all be able to see This Hunger onscreen sometime soon!
We hope Alessandra’s story, of being our Season 2 Grand Prize Winner, will inspire all of you to submit to the Killer Shorts Contest. We are proud to have Alessandra join our roster of Killer Shorts alum. Submitting to this contest inspired her to rework This Hunger and find her voice as a horror writer. That is what we hope for with this contest, that writers will find their place in the genre and motivation to continue writing. We are excited about Alessandra’s hard work and the success she has gotten for herself so far. Make sure to follow Alessandra Jara Del Castillo’s career and check out This Hunger.
Submit to Coverfly, FilmFreeway, or NetworkISA for just $20 by the Sept. 3 Early Bird Deadline!
Killer Shorts actively promotes diverse voices. If you are female-identifying, a Person of Color, non-binary, or LGBTQ+ please email us at [email protected], or DM us on Twitter, for a discount code to submit your scripts.
Alessandra Jara Del Castillo on Twitter.
Alessandra Jara Del Castillo on Instagram.
Alessandra Jara Del Castillo on Coverfly.
Featured image designed by Ieva Berzina.
