A Son’s Gratitude: How Screenwriting Sparked a Family Dream

Student Success Story: Kimberly Veasey

I recently received a beautiful, unsolicited letter that encapsulates the spirit and drive I see in many of my students. This recommendation comes not from the student herself, Kimberly Veasey, but from her son, Dominic, and I’m honored to share it.

“To Don Vasicek,

I am writing this to thank Don for teaching my mother, Kimberly Veasey, the techniques of screenwriting. His instruction has truly helped her elevate her work.

My mother possesses a beautiful and strong mindset, fueled by knowledge, courage, and wisdom. She is making a real difference through her writing, approaching her screenplay with a powerful and brilliant perspective.

Seeing the impact of this work is inspiring. She is an amazing person who is currently focused on helping me succeed, including ensuring I can attend college in Bloomington, Indiana, next year. Her dream is to ultimately live and work in Malibu, California.

I believe in the quality of the screenwriting guidance Don provides, and I can attest to the difference it has made in my mother’s creative life and confidence. I hope her powerful story continues to inspire others as much as she inspires me.”


— Dominic, son of Screenwriting Student Kimberly Veasey


Kimberly Veasey is a phenomenal example of dedication and vision.

Synopsis Length

“Synopsis Length”

by

Donald L. Vasicek

Keep in mind at all times that publishers/editors have stacks of synopses, manuscripts, query letters, and the like on their desks. The more brief your synopsis is, the more rapid attention it will get. Think in terms of someone reading your synopsis so fast they finish their coffee after they have read it. In your synopsis, just touch on the plot points with focus on your main character and let the rest of it go.

Update: “The Sand Creek Massacre”

My award-winning documentary film, “The Sand Creek Massacre”, a story told by the Cheyenne and Arapaho people about 750 troops shooting, murdering, mutilating, burning, and raping their ancestors at Sand Creek. According to Captain Silas Soule’s handwritten notes, assigned to count the dead the next day as a punishment by Colonel John M. Chivington, for refusing to unlimber his 12 lb. canon during the massacre, Captain Soule counted 163 dead.

The film has been placed in over 500 libraries throughout the United States of America. It has been archived in the Smithsonian Libraries. It has over 47,000 views on YouTube.com (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylmM2KL5D7w&t=1s). It is being distributed by the largest educational video company in the world, Films Media Group https://www.films.com). 

You can purchase a copy of the film https://www.films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=13926&r=SR which was made for informational and educational purposes and to expand our awareness of racism in the United States of America. No people in the history of the world should have been and are being treated like the indigenous people of the United States of America. We took their land, their resources, their culture, and placed them in out of the way locations where they continue today to suffer through poverty, illness, and death today. Hate, violence, ignorance, and murder continues to stalk and haunt them today. An epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls plagues them today https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/addressing-epidemic-missing-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls  It has to stop! We are the only ones who can stop it.

Inform your friends, relatives, neighbors, and business associates today about helping create awareness for the indigenous people in America today by passing this email on to everyone! Let’s work together to help the indigenous people in the United States of America rise above hate, violence, and racism so that they can live better lives.

Best Regards,

Donald L. Vasicek

Olympus Films+, LLC

http://www.sandcreekmassacre.net

dvasicek@earthlink.net

303-903-2103