Founder and Director Emeritus
Helene Wagner, former co-owner of Virginia Film Tours LLC, had six screenplays optioned by major Hollywood production companies with one cast for CBS. She was a Writers Guild Literary Agent for a number of years but retired and turned her attention to writing, teaching and mentoring. Helene successfully marketed screenplays to major production companies and studios in LA and NY while representing screenwriters from across the country. As her schedule permitted, she taught a screenwriting course at the University of Richmond.
She was the Founder of the Virginia Screenwriters’ Forum, directing it from 1988 until 2014 when she became Director Emeritus. Sadly, Helene passed away in 2021, but the forum continues on in her memory.
Her screenplays have won, or been top finalists, in the Creative World Awards, The Christopher Columbus Screenplay Awards in Beverly Hills, Sundance and the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.
In 2013, her play, BELIEVE was one of the winners of the Hollywood Screenwriting and Playwriting Competition.
If you are interested in any of Helene’s work, please contact info@Virginiascreenwritersforum.com and we will provide information.
These loglines are the individual property of the writer and are from registered or copyrighted scripts. If you are interested, please contact us for more detailed information.
Lady Justice
Suspense/Thriller
Detective Mary Megan Sullivan struggles to balance the hatred she carries for the serial killers she hunts since her youngest sister was murdered by one. Knowing those who fight monsters can easily become one, she realizes she’s turning into one as she takes the law into her own hands to tip the scales of justice in her favor.
Gray Matter
Suspense/Thriller
A smart- fast- paced -thriller that pits man against mind. Two Secret Service Agents link the deaths of high-ranking government officials to a deadly assassin, created by CIA Para Psychological experiments gone wrong in the cold war and must find him before he kills them and the President of the United States.
If A Monster Comes
Drama
Set in a time of heroes and courage, during World War II, a small Texas border town is poised on the brink of receiving an invasion of 8,000 German Prisoners of War to be housed in the Army’s Enemy Interment Camp and tells the story of 10 year-old T.C. Phillips’ stormy relationship with his father, Roy, who tries to teach his son courage does not come from pulling the trigger of a gun.
The French Apartment
Romantic Comedy
Emma Jackson, a Texas beauty and barrel racing champion, learns her fiancé has possibly cheated on her six days before her wedding. On the same day, she also finds out she’s inherited a French apartment – even though nobody in her family is French – that she knows about. In Paris, Emma meets a handsome French appraiser and learns of her French Grandmothers love stories which intertwine with her own love story to help her decide which man to choose.
The Marriage Tale
Romantic Comedy
Think of this romantic comedy as a fable about the restoration of a heart, a marriage and a 1968 Camaro. The notion of an ideal romance in the form of a James Dean-type of blue collar over–the-hill-hot-rodder sweeping a woman off her feet is both absurd and hilarious. The lighter side of infidelity and aged – craziness that spurs it is used metaphorically in The Marriage Tale the same way as it was in Moonstruck. With a small town setting, the ambiance of classic car rallies and games of chicken by over the hill rebels, it follows the trials of Lorraine Evens and her stud-gone-to-seed husband, Tom, and an equally fallible, albeit- dashing Hollywood stuntman, all vying for the big prize – true love. Will Lorraine’s heart ever sing again after 30 years of marriage? Or, will the handsome Hollywood stuntman (with a death wish) visiting in town to film a Hollywood movie steal her heart away? But most importantly, can these characters and “us” their baby boomer/senior counterparts ever really find true love again – even if it bites us on the ass? This story is great fun, filled with universal truths of love and would appeal to everyone on the planet who has ever seen Grease.
Devil Catchers
Comedy
This satire takes place in a magical borough of New York City called Brooklyn, where many such battles of good and evil often occur. Our battle revolves around Laura Cannelli, a young -Catholic – inexperienced – Brooklyn-lawyer, who’s chosen by legal aid to defend a 19 year-old boy accused of attempted murder. She soon comes to realize her defendant is possessed – because the Devil keeps popping up showing himself to her and referring to her as “Little – Miss – Goodie – Two – Shoes.” To win her case, she must prove to a jury the Devil exists in order to save her client’s soul, along with her own soul – which the Devil happily intends to take since he knows first-hand the chance of her winning really is as extinct as a snow ball in hell- or is it? After all, this is a Brooklyn story, so anything can happen – and it does. So, Little – Miss – Goodie – Two Shoes Laura is trumped by her inner ” Little- Miss -Street-Wise” Laura who starts to wonder. HEY! Why is this boy possessed? Why was I chosen to take this case? Why the hell (pun intended) is this trial so damn important to the Devil? And the fun begins…