Adding Another Screenplay to Amazon Studios: THE WIDOW SPRINGER

I have just added another screenplay to my account at Amazon Studios — Amazon’s film and TV project. And I’m hoping that people will download the pdf to read and possibly review.

It has been quite a while since I have added a screenplay of mine to Amazon Studios, and much of the interface seems to have changed. In fact, I cannot find a particular option that apparently no longer exists.

What is most interesting to me is that the button to download the screenplay pdf seems hard to find, although the review button is very prominent. This seems to be promoting a review without someone actually first reading the script.

And truthfully, if people are not used to reading screenplays, they may find these difficult to read. When I worked as the client services person at a product placement agency in Los Angeles and had to read hundreds of screenplays, it took me awhile to accustom myself to this medium.

In fact, while I could often tell from a screenplay which story would make a good film, I could be way off base. My biggest “error” was the screenplay for the film MY COUSIN VINNY.

When I read the script, I thought it would make a boring movie. Then I saw the film — one of my long-time favorites!

In my defense, the actors made that movie. What was flat on the page became incredibly alive with flesh-and-blood characters.

All of this is by way of saying that, if you do read the script of THE WIDOW SPRINGER by my husband and me, you may find it flat even though I believe it is a compelling story. In fact, the screenplay has been optioned before but not produced.

Mitch came up with the idea for the story:

What do a former East German Security thug, the widow of an East German Security clerk, and an American CIA officer have in common? The answer is a shared destiny precipitated by the sudden collapse of the Berlin Wall.

After a few rewrites I joined in as we had both worked in U.S. Army intelligence in Munich during the Cold War (he as an officer, me as a civilian). We felt strongly about the betrayals that came to light after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.

If Cold War history interests you, do consider downloading the pdf of the script and reading it. And if you like it, perhaps you would write a review. (My theory: Amazon Studios is influenced by the reviews that a screenplay gets.)

Click here to download the script now — and reviews are welcome!

P.S. I used an old alarm clock to represent the screenplay because the Berlin Wall coming down ”woke” people to the truth about what had been going on in East Germany since the end of World War II.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON and the romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY.