Dedham writer earning notice as screenwriter

Late last year, Daphne Charette had an epiphany. She decided she had nothing to lose by pursuing her dream.

“I’ve been writing since age 6, and I’ve written two books,” the Dedham woman explained. “But it’s only recently that I thought about trying to make a living at it. When I got out of college, I pursued theoretically sensible career options. I was lacking the courage or the sense to sink my teeth into something I love doing. Finally, I said to myself, ‘I’m dirt poor. I might as well be dirt poor doing something I love.’ ”

In October of last year, Charette settled on becoming a screenwriter, a way to combine her love of theater and her passion for writing. She’s now writing her fifth screenplay. The relative novice must be doing something right, as she recently earned third place in the screenplay competition of the respected Nashville Independent Film Festival.

Her well-received entry is the historical drama “Grania,” kind of a distaff “Braveheart.” Her muse lived nearly 500 years ago in Ireland, Charette explained. The daughter of a chieftain, Grania O’Malley rose to unite three of the warring clans of Connaught during a time when England was stepping up its colonization of Ireland. A thorn in the English side for nearly 60 years, Grania eventually sailed to London to submit demands to Elizabeth Tudor, the “Virgin Queen” of England.

Charette first became acquainted with Grania when she portrayed the Irishwoman in the musical “Grannia,” staged at the University of Southern Maine more than a decade ago.

“I loved the character and the story,” she recalled. “I waited 10 years to see the movie come out, but no one grabbed the story to take it to the screen, so I decided to.”

Charette started out by writing the drama “Junkyard Dog,” mainly to get a handle on the screenplay form before she tackled “Grania.” Still that work earned quarterfinal status in the one film competition to which she submitted it.

She finished the first draft of “Grania” in two months. She submitted it to several competitions, including Nashville. She found out two days before the festival in early June that her screenplay had come in third.

Going to Nashville was an educational experience for Charette.

“The chance to talk with other screenwriters was incredible,” she said. “Film festivals are wonderful opportunities to get out there, and see what young filmmakers are doing. These are the people that will be working in Hollywood in 10 years, and it’s great to meet them when they’re just starting out.”

Writing screenplays has been an adjustment for Charette.

“It’s incredibly compact,” she said. “You focus visually on what’s happening, describe it quickly in few words, make your point and move on. There’s not a lot of room for subtlety in movies. At most, you have 120 pages to do everything in. It’s a lot of fun, but there’s a real challenge.”

Charette works full time at a convenience store, then writes another 40 hours a week. With a limited number of screenwriters in Maine, Charette has been getting much of her feedback from screenwriting Web sites, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope.com and screenwriters.net.

“I’m getting to workshop with really, really good people, and it’s amazing,” she said.

Charette has written a drama, a historical epoch, a comedy and a teen romantic comedy, and is now turning one of her books into a psychological thriller.

“With each one, I keep learning different things,” she said. “I attack one area on each screenplay.”