We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rudy Harlan Salas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rudy Harlan, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
My purpose has been storytelling. From cave wall paintings to film frames, storytelling has been around since the dawn of time.
The origin of my storytelling purpose was taped on the walls of Mrs. Putegnat’s sixth-grade English class. It was October 2003 in Brownsville, Texas, and Mrs. Putegnat had assigned my class a special Halloween assignment. Write a one-page scary story for the season and they’ll be taped around the classroom walls. While my fellow classmates groaned and complained, my mind was ablaze with a variety of ideas. So much so that I ended up writing ten one-page scary stories. I couldn’t decide which one to submit. I asked Mrs. Putegnat for advice in regard to my predicament.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Putegnat stated as she took the ten loose-leaf papers from my hand. “Rudy gets his own wall,” she professed to my classmates as she began to tape all of my stories to the wall.
What impacted me wasn’t the glamour of having my own wall, it was that feeling of how storytelling came very naturally to me. It was fun. A lot of fun.
In the twenty years since then, I have matured as a storyteller due to my life experiences. Those one-page stories about ghosts, slasher villains, and aliens have evolved into stories about tolerance, loss, heartache, justice, and animal conservation.
It has been twenty years since I discovered my purpose, I have held onto it with an iron grip with no intention of letting go. Thank you, Mrs. Putegnat!
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a screenwriter and storyteller. Over the years I realized, storytelling has truly bridged people as its own art form. True artists always channeled their emotions, notions, and themes through their storytelling. Ultimately, every artist will become a sum of their influences. I am no exception but that’s what makes screenwriting special.
My artistic influences and life experiences mesh into the screenplays I create. My screenplays have usually spawned from an intense emotion I have towards an issue, person, or loss. I have always taken that initial sensation and funneled them through my eclectic taste in film genres.
A recent example would be my screenplay, Of Wolf & Man. My intense respect and love for animals fueled the theme of that script, animal conservation. That was cross-pollinated with my love of classic monster films like The Wolfman (1941), Island of Lost Souls (1932), and The Fly (1958). As the story unraveled, I completed a one-hundred-ten-page horror screenplay with the following logline: A young man with a mission for animal conservation is fused with a wolf after his affections blossom for the mad scientist’s daughter; now he must battle to retain his animalistic empathy and sense of humanity.
Currently, I am working on an animated short, Bark & Boo. This short screenplay revolves around a dog that longs for his recently deceased owner, who is bound to their old home as a specter. Once again, this screenplay dawned from an intense emotion.
In 2006, my uncle passed away and it was an excruciating experience for the entire family. I realized that we weren’t the only ones mourning. Lucas, my uncle’s alley-mutt dog, slept every night in his doghouse beside my uncle’s 1994 Ford Thunderbird. One night, I drove my uncle’s car around the block to avoid automotive mechanical failures. As I parked the maroon machine, Lucas darted out of his dog house with his tail wagging and mouth agape. As I stepped out of the car, Lucas’ doe eyes fell upon me. His tail stopped wagging. His mouth closed. Lucas slinked back into his dog house. That moment stuck with me. It stuck with me for so long that it inspired Bark & Boo sixteen years later.
As aforementioned, storytelling has truly bridged people because Bark & Boo advanced to the finals of Cinequest’s Screenwriting Competition (2023). I have a feeling readers have related to the screenplay’s premise. I am ecstatic to attend Cinequest’s Film Festival in August, have the opportunity to network, and bring Bark & Boo to life via animation.
I am a screenwriter and storyteller. I always will be as long as I’m alive.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Humility, Confidence, and Resiliency.
My advice for those early in their journey is that life is in the details, perseverance is key, and know the difference between confidence and arrogance.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
Be confident in your strengths but hold onto humility. Smug arrogance has usually tainted relationships of every kind. Stepping out of your comfort zone and well rounding your skills has always been a plus. The more information you gain about a certain area, the more respect you will have for it and those who master it. That builds empathetic collaboration which can be worth more than gold.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.phantomboom.com/
- Instagram: @rudyharlans
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rs.jd.5
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudy-h-salas/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RudyHarlanPhantomBoom
- Other: https://writers.coverfly.com/profile/writer-af1b2c810-72509
Image Credits
Rudy Salas Lars Struck Patricia Chavez CoverFly
