Feral State is the story of a misfit gang of runaways and orphans who are taken in by a dark and charismatic father figure and together wreak havoc throughout swamps and trailer parks in central Florida. Writer-Director Jon Carlo talks to Write On about how the film came about: “Location was the starting point for everything. This movie came about in such an untraditional kind of way where the money was there first before there even was a script, and part of the stipulations was to shoot in a specific area in Florida, so I went down to meet the producers and kind of scope out the scene, and the story kind of grew organically out of what I was seeing in the community.”

 

Jon talks about his background as an actor, applying to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and how hard work is the key to a successful career. “I think the one thing that I’ve learned that I think is the most important lesson is you have to do the work. There is no easy way around: you can’t just scribble something down and hope that it’s good. You have to write and rewrite religiously until it’s there.”