Leonard Ramirez Jr.

Personal Details

Name: Leonard Ramirez Jr.

Last visit: Nov 19, 2009

Interests

Filmmaking and the process of writing for it. Travelling and exploring new places, occasionally discovering a new favorite.

Books

Leonard started reading classics like Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick, and The Life and Times of Thomas Alva Edison when he was only 6 years old. Over time, he frequents authors who are strong on character development and can make you think as well as feel. Leonard is a big fan of thrillers and short stories, many by unknown authors. The last book read was The Alchemist which has just been optioned to be made into a major motion picture after 67 million copies have been sold worldwide. A great personal read.

Movies

Leonard prefers movies with substance and storytelling. Characters that come to life are the most appealing. Jaws, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, When Harry Met Sally, and most recently The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are among some of his favorites. He enjoys classic suspense such as North by Northwest and The Birds. Films that affect people on a deeper level.

Directors Tony Scott, Rob Reiner, Ron Howard, and Steven Spielberg are master storytellers.

Television

Then it comes to television, Leonard looks for pure escapism. He enjoys Lost for it's mystery, X-Files and Fringe for their mythology, and Desperate Housewives and Rescue Me for their smug wit and fast storylines.

About Me

Leonard purchased his first movie camera when he was in 3rd grade with his own money. He started making films and by 6th grade, his stop-motion animation films won a tie for second place at the Palo Alto Film Festival. By his second year of college, his crew won an honorable mention at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Leonard's fascination with film grew in 6th grade when he started writing for film and theatre. A couple of Leonard's stories were turned into amateur film shorts in high school. In college, he began churning out screenplays. Leonard's writing craft has polished itself within his technology career.

With so many fresh and new ideas Leonard has written down over the years, he decided it was time to return to writing screenplays again and to return to the world of film.

Leonard is currently writing an original and timely suspense thriller and co-writing a cross cultural (Indian/American) murder drama for a studio in Bollywood. He expects to finish both by mid-2009.

Leonard optioned a short script in 2009, "Heartbroken", that is being produced by RTK III Productions (www.richardthomaskeel.com) into a short film entitled "Falling Apart", Directed by Richard Thomas Keel, and will be released in 2009.

Goal

To write original and fresh stories with substance that will entertain audiences. I believe it is possible to deliver important material in a subtle fashion and send the audience home thinking and talking about what they've just seen.

I would like to option a script domestically and another internationally and then take that momentum and direct a film of my own.