“Unveiling Secrets: Charmaine Colina Reveals the Truth Behind Her Unexpected Journey in Part 4 of Our Exclusive Interview”
Ever wondered what it feels like to step out of your comfort zone and into a vibrant world of creativity where your characters can literally take on a life of their own? That’s exactly what Charmaine Colina experienced when she crafted her award-winning screenplay “Gunslinger Bride,” which just earned her the coveted 2024 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. In my latest interview with Charmaine, we dove deep into her imaginative process, her journey in the screenwriting landscape, and how this monumental achievement has shaped her path moving forward. As part four of a riveting six-part series, today we explore the evolution of key characters that sprang from her mind—characters that, like actors in a play, found their voices and roles amidst the chaos of storytelling. Get ready to find out how fate and intentionality play a dance within the pages of a script as Charmaine unpacks the fascinating twists that make her narrative sing! If you’re intrigued and want to delve deeper into Charmaine’s insights and the art of screenwriting, you can LEARN MORE.
My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.
Charmaine Colina wrote the original screenplay “Gunslinger Bride” which won a 2024 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Charmaine about her creative background, her award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl has meant to her.
Today in Part 4 of a 6-part series to run each day through Saturday, Charmaine discusses some of the key characters in “Gunslinger Bride” and how they emerged into being.
Scott: How that happens is she dresses like a guy, primarily because I said she’s grown up with it. But then fate intervenes as stories will do. She ends up in this little town called Salvation. That was the name of your TV version of it, right?
Charmaine: Yes. Welcome to Salvation.
Scott: Of course, which seems pretty intentional, that choice of a name.
Charmaine: Yeah.
Scott: She’s in a hotel room and she finds a valise with the women’s clothing in it. And because there’s this pressure, and she’s seen this guy Thorne around, she dresses up as a woman. And that leads to a mistaken identity, a big twist in the story. Could you talk about that shift there.
Charmaine: Yeah, the yellow bonnet. She’s thinking she’s going to wear this outfit so no one will recognize her as Kiwa-ku, the wanted bandit. On her way to the farrier to get her horse, she bumps into none other than Thorne. And then here comes a farmer, “Oh, there you are in your yellow bonnet.”
It was one of those things where Lou just did what she had to do in the moment. She pretends to be Kate Reilly and then gets embroiled in this mail-order bride situation. Yeah, there is a lot of fate, or maybe a lot of chance there, but the older I get, the more I realize those things really do happen in life.
Scott: Absolutely. I have a question I always ask the very first time I work with students when they’re prepping a story, we work on the Protagonist. And the last question in this little treatment I have them work on is: Why does this story have to happen to this character at this time?
That gives you a little bit more…
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