From Mount Joy to The Riverwards: Local Writer Captures the Spirit of His Setting
There is an endless list of things that can influence a writer, but somewhere near the top is a simple one: location. Where a writer lives, works and plays can have a strong effect on what they produce.
M. Angelo Mena is a Philadelphia schoolteacher and writer who currently resides in Fishtown. Mena moved here about four years ago, but he is originally from Lancaster County, Pa. It was his home in Lancaster that influenced Mena’s first screenplay, Mount Joy.
Mount Joy is a film revolving around the members of a band called The Living Daylights. By day, they are trash carriers, riding around the idyllic roads of Lancaster County collecting refuse. By night they are an indie-rock band on the verge of breaking big.
“When we shot in Lancaster we really wanted to focus on showing Lancaster,” Mena said. “We made our main characters garbage men so we could have these great shots of the farms and everything. We wanted them to be blue collar, but we also wanted to show off.”
In Mount Joy, we find The Living Daylights on the eve of their first tour. The lead singer’s girlfriend—who is also the band’s manager—disappears. Unable to tour without her, the rest of the band wallows in waiting while slowly discovering a secret that could mean the end of everything they’ve worked for.
“I had started writing it a long time ago,” Mena said.
It wasn’t until reconnecting with Jack Lewars, a childhood friend and the films director, that things really took off.
“When we got serious about it, it was maybe four years ago,” Mena continued. “I’d say it took close to a year to really get a script. We shot over the summer for five weeks about two years ago, then it was about a year of post-production.”
Mount Joy premiered at the 2014 Santa Barbara International Film Festival followed by a limited theatrical run.
Mena is currently finishing his first novel, seeking an illustrator for his already written children’s book and working on a new screenplay. The idea for his next screenplay isn’t set in stone, but he said it will probably be influenced by Philadelphia and his own experience in the River Wards.
“With what I’m working on now, I want to show off Philly but in a way that isn’t like M. Night Shyamalan or Rocky,” Mena said. “I want to show life, the weird lots and the graffiti. I want to make it with kids, because I work with kids a lot”
If the work he displayed in Mount Joy is on par with what he creates next, we should have an interesting and beautiful rendition of our city on its way. Until then we can support our local artists by watching and sharing their work.
