creativity? At least that was the thought that
crossed Pat Carey's mind as he considered his
latest writing effort. "It started as my imagi-
nary world when I was, like, two," exclaims
Carey's son, Wyatt, referring to the fictional
land of Monster World, where their script is
set. "Then when my dad started writing, I
told everybody about it."
nal assignment. While most kids
wrote about their day's activities,
Wyatt used the assignment as a cre-
ative outlet, drawing sketches of a
whole host of creepy characters
taken from his imagination. "Every
entry was a drawing of different
characters from Monster World
and what happened there," Pat
Carey says. "He's got a whole book
full of them."
it goes back generations. "People
in my family are good storytellers.
A lot of my standup was basically
monologues and stories about my
family growing up." Carey even
put a collection of the stories in
his own book, "Growing Up Irish Catholic
and I Survived My Mom's Eleven Sisters,"
in which Carey chronicles his childhood in
a "low-budget family" living in the Boston
area. Though his experiences are a perfect
springboard for standup comedy, Carey was
working as an education director for the
Boys and Girls clubs in the San Francisco
area, as well as a social worker in the foster
care program.
that gave Monster World its bite as well as
its depth. The result is a tale of an orphaned
boy who struggles to transcend the death
of his parents before embracing his new
world. "It plays with the notion of kids
with real severe and amazing imagina-
tions," Carey explains. "That can be ex-
tremely positive and, at times, people see it
as a negative because they're so completely
involved in their own ideas that they tune
out the world a little bit."
been more actively involved than people
would assume," Carey states. "As I was writ-
ing the pages, I would read them to him at
night when he was going to sleep. Basically,
it was bedtime reading." Yet at times it was
more like a regular story conference you'd
find at any studio or production company in
Hollywood. "He told me, `There should be
less talking and more action.` That's the most
common note I got from the 6-year-old de-
velopment exec at my house."
that's Lion Boy is named Wyatt," Wyatt ex-
plains, "and the kid that's Werewolf Boy is
brother." Wyatt and his brother even dressed
as their namesakes for Halloween last year
with the help of a very creative seamstress
called Grandma. Carey has to admit the
characters are thinly veiled versions of his
kids, but it's all a tribute to the imagination
of his son. "I just wanted to show him that
his fantasy world could be a real book or a
real movie," Carey says. "Kids see books and
moved from that. I just wanted to
show him that something he
came up with in his mind could
become that."
attention. Having moved his
family to Los Angeles to pursue
screenwriting, Carey was study-
ing screenwriting at UCLA and
decided to enter the script in a
screenplay competition, where it
scored an honorable mention.
Feeling encouraged, Carey
rewrote the script and entered it
in a few more competitions, in-
cluding the 2010 Screenwriting
Expo contest.
news to his son. "I said, `Hey Wyatt. Our
script, Monster World, just won $2,500!"
Wyatt was jazzed. "I thought kids would re-
ally like it," Wyatt says, "but I never knew it
was going to get such a big award!"
and Tell. But, most of all, Wyatt really loves
to encourage other kids to write. "He's re-
ally into the idea of trying to inspire other
kids to tell their own stories," Carey says.
"He tells other kids in school that if they
have imaginary worlds or fantasies, they
should try to develop them into stories,
books or movies."