About the Author
Lawrence Anthony Jaggard is a Screenwriter, Photographer, and Website Designer. He has written 27 screenplays, 5 features ranging from 101 to 130 pages each, and 22 shorts of 2 to 45 pages in length. About 8 of those screenplays, 2 features and 6 shorts have reached as far as the finals in National and International Screenplay competitions.
Larry lived in Atlantic City, New Jersey as a young child in an apartment building just thirty feet from the Atlantic City Boardwalk and Atlantic Ocean during a major hurricane. This was the inspiration and setting for the short screenplay Rat’s Bite. This was the first script he wrote as an adult.
Rat’s Bite made a showing in a national short screenplay contest called American Gem shorts at only 13 pages, it went to the quarter finals and got a special mention. After some rewrites, it was a semi-finalist in Anything But Hollywood screenplay competition. After more rewrites and a title change it made it to the finals in the Writer’s Place Short Script Contest. He started compiling and publishing his screenplays in books which can be found on Amazon.com
Larry Jaggard has taken thousands of photographs, mostly of natural landscapes and wildlife. His photos can be seen on some of his websites and on the inside and cover of his books. His 240 + video slide-shows of these photos and live videos can be viewed on his YouTube channel. He has also created 40+ personal websites; All of those were designed by him and are listed on his sites.
After moving from Atlantic city, as a child, Larry attended Mill Road Elementary School in Northfield, New Jersey - Jr High and graduated there and than went on to high school at Mainland Regional High, Linwood, New Jersey, but dropped out of school after completing his freshmen year.
In his second year in the fence business, Larry attended Atlantic Community College, Mayslanding, New Jersey for the battery of high school equivalency tests which he passed and received a GED Diploma.
After completing a course from ICCS Home Study School, Indiana and passed a Real Estate Appraisal Course, averaging in the high 90's, he decided to attend the Northfield School of Business in Northfield, New Jersey, a 75 hour Real Estate License Prep Class and after passing the course in the high 80's. Larry took the New Jersey State Real Estate License Exam in Mayslanding, New Jersey and passed the exam.
Since then he completed and passed a course from ICCS Home Study School, Indiana for small engine repair. And Foley Belsaw Home Study Course for small engine and motor cycle repair.
It was while employed at Greenbriar Healthcare Center as the Medical Supply manager that Larry Jaggard started writing screenplays. A few years later he started creating websites to showcase his screenplays.
Larry was a volunteer at the Superior Court in Mays Landing, NJ for a little over a year, than was employed at the Hammonton, NJ Walmart. It was at this time he started publishing his books.
About the New Release
Journey through the Storm is a collection of five dramatic screenplays. These are the stories that made the rounds in national and international screenplay competitions as far as the finals. Saber-Toothed Cat was one of them that made it to the finals. Of these five screenplays, Rat's Bite was the first one written.
How to read a Screenplay
FADE IN:
This is where the story (screenplay) opens. In the movies it is usually a black screen opening into the first scene of the movie.
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
INT means inside, like a house or an enclosure. EXT means outside, as in a field or yard.
HOUSE means the location, as in where the scene is located, like a house, street, concert, ect. NIGHT means the time of day, daylight, or is the scene in artificial light, such as a light bulb.
Danny may be slow, but he is a tough little survivor.
CASE WORKER is the character who is speaking.
Right under and centered is what that character is speaking.
BOARDWALK
The tubular pipe railing of a water soaked wooden boardwalk, stretching out north and south beyond sight.
BOARDWALK is a close up of the scene.
Right under BOARDWALK is the action or the narrative of the scene, this is what is happening in a particular scene.
(O.S.) & (V.O.)
The first is Off Screen, the character speaking is heard but not seen, possibly in another room out of view. The other is Voice Over, the voice is heard, but is not in the scene at all, like on the other end of a phone line or doing a narrative in the story.
FADE TO:
This is a transition from one dramatic scene to another, it can be also, FADE TO BLACK: or DISSOLVE TO: ect.
FADE OUT: THE END.
This closes the story (screenplay)
What is a Screenplay
It is a movie in words specially formatted on paper.
A screenplay or script is a blueprint for producing a motion picture. It is more specifically targeted at the visual, narrative arts, such as film and television. The major components are action and dialogue. The "action" is written in the present tense. The "dialogue" are the lines the characters speak.
Screenplays usually include not only the dialogue spoken by the characters but also a shot-by-shot outline of the film's action. The format is then structured in a way that one page usually equates to one minute of screen time.
Read one of Larry's short screenplays A Flicker of Hope (not included in the book, Journey through the Storm)
