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Everyone Said Not To Write The Screenplay – Mickey Finnegan

Film Courage: How did you get your first screenplay optioned?

Mickey Finnegan, Writer/Director: There was a screenplay that I wrote with a writing partner of mine. It was a story about Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation in case you know wrestling but I happened to be really into that world growing up, watching it as a kid and there was a particular event that occurred within the history of wrestling that is known as the Montreal Screwjob and I really loved this idea and I kind of thought Hey, this would make a really great screenplay. I sat down with my writing partner and I did what I don’t recommend anybody do which is we just decided we were going to write this thing that we had no rights to, we had no connection to WWE in any kind of way. It was just a story that we were really passionate about. We wrote this screenplay and my agent at the time I told him Hey, I’m working on this thing, I think it’s a really great idea and he was like Okay, well you don’t know any of these people, you don’t have the rights to that story. The only way that this is going to go is you’re going to have to write this thing and you’re going to have to send it to WWE and then they’re going to have to miraculously want to read it and then they’re going to have to actually like it and then they’re going to have to actually want to option it because you’re dealing with an IP that they own. Sure enough…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

 

BIO:

Mickey Finnegan is a writer/director best known for his music video and commercial work with artists and brands such as LMFAO, Cee Lo Green, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Lil Jon, Soulja Boy, Rebel Wilson, Tyga, Bella Thorne, The Offspring, Far East Movement, Dada Life, X-Factor, MTV, Dancing With the Stars, Playstation, Alienware, Intel, Dell, Dish, Pepsi, GSN, HGTV, FOX, ABC, Kia among many others. 

His success as a director has garnered attention from fans around the globe and his work has lead him to video nominations from The People’s Choice Awards, MTV VMA’s, NRJ Awards, American Music Awards and The Much Music awards in which his video for LMFAO’s “Sexy And I Know It” won International Video of the Year. His commercial spots for Scream Queen’s also won a Promax for Best Commercial Campaign and a Nickelodeon campaign won him an EMMY in 2018. 

His work has been featured on MTV, BET, VH1, FUSE and E! numerous times taking number one spots on countdowns and his collected works on youtube have amassed over 3 billion views. Mickey has also had many successes in the narrative world. His most recent short film called Mom Fight screened at numerous film festivals including Dances With Films, Filmquest, CAAMfest, Seattle International, and GENCON where it took home the award for “Best Comedy.” His short film called GODLIKE, an indie drama about eSports, was celebrated among the Asian American Film Festival circuit and was distributed by Riot Games on their community page. 

Mickey has had multiple screenplays optioned by production companies including a biopic about legendary wrestling promoter Vince McMahon. 

Mickey is a Video Game and Comic Book enthusiast. He is also a member of the Director’s Guild of America and currently resides in Los Angeles. 

 

CONNECT WITH MICKEY FINNEGAN

Mickeyfinnegan.com

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