Social Studies teacher John Schweig does have contacts in Hollywood – and they happen to be his former students. So, when he finished writing his screenplay in early August, he knew who he was going to send it to.
The screenplay itself explores religious tensions between the Jewish and Muslim residents of Jerusalem. This is a topic Schweig says he has a good deal of knowledge on.
“For the last 10 years, when I read nonfiction, it’s mostly about Mecca or Jerusalem, about Muslim history. And so, when I got the writing bug, I decided to write what I know,” Schweig said.
The two former students Schweig sent the screenplay to, Vincent Dale, a freelance producer, and Juan Sebastian Baron, a cinematographer, had known each other for quite a while. They had both graduated in the Class of 2009.
“[Juan] and I were best friends in freshman year of high school, and we made our first short film 20 years ago. Now, we’re still working together,” Dale said.
They both have fond memories of Schweig.
“After 16 years, you only remember a handful of teachers who made a big impression on you, and Schweig is at the top of that list,” Dale said, “He’s great dude. I really miss Schweig.”
Baron also recalled how Schweig had been a major force for positive change, especially on modernizing the Torch; Baron had been on the staff for four years.
“He really wanted to turn [the Torch] into something that was beyond what anyone, I think, at the time, thought was possible,” Baron said.
Since they received it, both of them have finished reading the screenplay. Dale said that, although he was a bit skeptical at first, he quickly came to realize that Schweig’s script was high-quality.
“In my mind, I was like, ‘Well, you know, everybody calls themselves a screenwriter’. There’s ten thousand screenplays written each year,” Dale said. “And, actually, it was really well written … I was really impressed with the writing. It reads like he’s an experienced screenwriter.”
Baron said he appreciated the script’s nuance and storytelling when establishing the main characters – who include extremists on both sides of the religious divide.
“In society, a lot of times we just see them as, just a terrorist, just a bad person and an evil person. I think what this script does is it kind of peels back the character a little bit to see what motivates somebody to make these choices,” Baron said, “How would they be influenced by their world, their faith, their culture?”
Despite the current political tensions surrounding the topic, Schweig remains hopeful that his screenplay is something that could be produced.
“I’m hoping that the ending, and the way that people are portrayed throughout it, is more down the middle, and that may be partly my journalist training,” Schweig said. “One thing journalism teaches you is that there are very few black and white things … there’s a lot of truth on all the sides, and you have to sift through it.”
Baron said that this multi-sidedness comes from how the screenplay tells a story through the eyes of several different characters.
“I think the fact that it is a multi-perspective movie that takes place in a very polarized place, it gives a chance for people to see things through other people’s lives,” he said.
Dale said that, overall, this script subtly educates the reader. He summed this effect up with an Aristotle quote:
“‘The greatest of all pleasures is the pleasure of learning without being taught,'” Dale said, “I think that’s what Schweig is trying to do through the power of entertainment, through the power of the action genre.”
Along with this educational aspect, Schweig said he’s also trying to say something with the script.
“My message is that through compromise, things are solvable that might seem intractable otherwise, and that there are good people on both sides, who, if they come to the fore, can lead us to solutions rather than conflict,” Schweig said.