The killing of a teenage basketball prodigy in New York presents a life-threatening challenge for a beautiful Latina detective and her partner.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Erika: Elizabeth Rose Morris
Maria: Hannah Ehman

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?
White Chocolate is about a female detective who, along with her male partner, has to solve the killing of a high school basketball prodigy in Yonkers, New York (near New York City). Detective Erika Gonzalez is a single mom and the daughter of a cop killed in the line of duty. Her son's father, who proved unfaithful during their relationship, has been recently released from prison. The story focuses on Erika's resilience in the face of personal and professional challenges, as well as the unwanted attention that comes to an attractive woman who simply wants to do her job.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
Drama, Crime, Sports.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
Erika is a character who faces so many challenges in a male-dominated profession and is constantly being tested, which makes her someone worth rooting for. Also, the basketball prodigy represents the hopes and dreams of many in a city not noted for producing famous people. Many in the community live vicariously through him, making his killing difficult for them to process. Fingers are pointed in many different directions. There's a whodunit element to the story. Those who may be able to identify the killer before the detectives may be intrigued by the lengths to which the killer tries to avoid accountability.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Kick-ass feminist.

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
Spike Lee's classic Do The Right Thing. It was filmed in my old neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. Spike got Bed-Stuy ("Do or die") just right, particularly how gentrification changed the neighborhood in the late 1980s and how businesses owned by White people served the community on the one hand but failed to reinvest in the neighborhood because they did not live there. The riot scene at the end, which included Spike's character hurling a garbage can through the window of Sal's Famous Pizzeria, was inevitable but no less dramatic.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
Off and on for two years. Real life kept getting in the way. But largely because of how I saw Erika as a resilient, kick-ass feminist, I had to make the time to finish this screenplay and share it with as many people as possible.

7. How many stories have you written?
Two screenplays. The other is Iceman, which is about a Black hockey trailblazer in the 1995-96 National Hockey League season.
I'm also the author of four books: Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey (Insomniac Press, Toronto), the first book that told the unique stories of Black players in hockey; Call the Yankees My Daddy: Reflections on Baseball, Race, and Family; Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur to the Williams Sisters; and Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. My books reside at the intersection of sports and sociology. I used to cover the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes for The News & Observer in Raleigh and the New York Rangers for Newsday in New York. The lead character in Iceman is based on Black NHL players I wrote about in Breaking the Ice.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
"Up, Up, and Away" by The Fifth Dimension. The song is so hopeful, which I need in these times. There are so many occasions when I would love to get into a beautiful balloon and escape all the madness, particularly with Donald Trump back in the White House. (Sigh.)

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
A bad breakup with someone who thought I was turning her daughter against her. I wasn't. (If this is TMI, then feel free to take it out.) I lost my motivation to write for a while. There's no roadmap on how to overcome heartbreak. Believe me, I checked. But since my lead character in White Chocolate draws upon inner strength and resilience to get things done, how could I quit?

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Sports, watching and participating. I completed the New York City Marathon in 2013, but tore a ligament in my ankle. I run shorter races now. Movies (features and documentaries). I recently enjoyed Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door, Babygirl (but I consider the ending a cop out), Nickel Boys, and Conclave. I'm a documentary fan because I've appeared in five of them: Black Ice (hockey); Soul on Ice (hockey); Beyond Their Years (hockey, baseball); Althea & Arthur (tennis); and A Perfect Match (tennis). I'm also an avid reader. I loved James by Percival Elliott.

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your experiences working with the submission platform site?
I found the process of entering this screenplay easy to navigate. I don't enter too many contests, but this one focuses on women-centered scripts. We certainly need more of those to better chronicle the human experience. The more submission platforms like this one the better.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I love that there is a festival devoted to telling the stories of women. Especially women-identified women, not caricatures. I'm very happy with the initial feedback. I look forward to working with Wildsound to help me promote White Chocolate.