Belmont High School grad enters screenplay contest

By ADAM DRAPCHO, LACONIA DAILY SUN

WHITEFIELD — Joe Osborne was still a student at Belmont High School when he was bitten by the writing bug. After graduating from high school in 2008, he moved to the White Mountains, where he could work in the hospitality industry and bury himself in his writing.

His plan was to hone his screenplays, then form a shoe-string-budget film crew in the hopes that his ideas could catch the attention of the right person, who could help get his script into wider distribution. But, then he heard about a contest, offered by Dizzy Emu Publishing, that could let him skip a few steps.

"A new publishing company is starting to shake up the film contest world," said Osborne. "It's something very different that any other screenplay contest I've entered."

Starting Oct. 1, and through at least Dec. 31, two of Osborne's scripts will be available through Amazon, as both a paperback book or an e-book for Kindle. If one of his scripts takes off, he could win a publishing package and jump-start his writing career.

When the contest came around, Osborne was ready with two scripts that he had been working on for years, each of which was inspired by the world he observed around him: "Bullied" and "80mg: The Story of an Addict."

Osborne began the script that became "Bullied" as a high school class project.

"I looked around my high school and saw the typical bullying around," said Osborne. The characters in his screenplay respond to their abuse by concocting a plot for revenge.

"80mg" is a story about a college student who begins to follow someone addicted to painkillers, and was similarly informed by things Osborne personally witnessed.

"That was back when I was still living in Belmont, the pill craze was happening," he said. "I saw a lot of friends go that way, I was them tear themselves apart. I thought I would write it to help someone someday."

Osborne said he likes to write about topics that are relevant and provocative.

"Honestly, I just want to show the audience something that matters, entertainment with a thought process... These are problems going on right now in our homes." He wants to help address those problems, too, by donating a portion of the proceeds from the Amazon sales to the Claddagh Fund, a Boston-based nonprofit that assists children, veterans and people struggling with addiction.

Though Osborne has done some camera work, he considers himself a writer first and foremost. He hopes to be able to quit his jobs at a North Country hotel and ski resort, and make his living solely as a writer. And, he can't wait to see his writing, which he started as a high schooler, for sale through Amazon.

"This is something I never thought would happen when I wrote these," he said.

Joe Osborne, who graduated from Belmont High School in 2008, has submitted two of his screenplays to a contest that will put them up for sale through amazon.com. (Courtesy photo/Joe Osborne)