The Writing Team Of De Palma And Mackey Nominated Three Times At City Of Angels Women's Film Festival

The emerging screenwriting team of Renée De Palma and Mary Mackey have accomplished an unusual feat. They have been nominated three times in three separate writing categories at the City Of Angels Women's Film Festival.

"When City Of Angels Women's Film Festival wrote and told us we had been nominated, I was so excited, but I wrote and asked them, which screenplay was it?. A letter came back with 'Ms. De Palma all three of your works have been nominated in all three categories'," says De Palma. "I had a moment then. A few tears. I suddenly realized the quality of our work was being recognized professionally. And it was one of the most poignant moments of my life."

Renée De Palma grew up in Los Angeles and has been a working entertainment professional for most of her adult life. But her dream since she was a child was to be a Screenwriter. When the covid 19 pandemic hit, De Palma and her writing partner Mary Mackey took the opportunity that forced them to stay home. They wrote together, every week, resulting in the completion of a body of work of Screenplays.

De Palma and Mackey met over the phone and on Zoom every single Tuesday over the entire pandemic, cranking out ideas that turned into treatments that turned into screenplays. Mary Mackey is a professional writer who also writes novels, and teaming up with De Palma was a good match for both writers.

"Renée has an uncanny sense for what's going to work on the screen in terms of story structure, and I'm a novelist who loves story structure, and we both write good dialogue together, and we laugh a lot," says Mackey.

Dr. Mary Mackey, PhD, is a comedy and historical fiction novelist, as well as an accomplished poet. She is a direct descendent of author Mark Twain, and has sometimes written under the pen name, Kate Clemens, in homage to her relative, Twain. Her novel, THE STAND IN, is a comedy that Renée and Mary have adapted into a Screenplay, which is another aspect of their work. They write both original works, often conceived by Renée, and adapted works, often based on novels that Mary Mackey has written.

Their Feature Film Screenplay LADY DANGER, their Short Film Screenplay TIME PIECE, and Renée's Synopsis CASSIOPEIA, were all nominated in three categories at the CITY OF ANGELS WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL.

Mary and Renée will find out if they win any awards at the CITY OF ANGELS WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL Awards Gala on Sunday September 4th at Bella Blanca Event Center, Los Angeles.

The Film Festival, which showcases films and written works created by women and about women runs over Labor Day Weekend, September 2nd-4th at the WhiteFire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. This is the third year the film festival has been running, and it is spreading like wildfire as one of the most prestigious film festivals, creating opportunities for women content creators and filmmakers. "It's like when Sundance started," says Renée, "an intimate film festival that is about to explode into the big thing."

Tickets for the film festival, film screenings, panel discussions, and the Red Carpet Awards Gala can be purchased at http://www.cityofangelswomensfilmfest.com. Questions and inquiries for Renée and Mary can be sent to [email protected].