film & tv

writer
The Jane Austen
Syndrome
feature screenplay

¤ 3rd Place, The Big Apple Film Festival
Screenwriting Competition
¤ Honorable Mention , More Magazine
Women in Film Screenplay Competition
¤ Honorable Mention , Cinequest
Screenwriting Competition
¤ Second-Rounder , Austin Film Festival
Screenplay Competition

Single, stuck English professor Anne Eddington is blindsided by a career crisis--she must find out the truth about the spinster Jane Austen's love life before losing her professional reputation to an upstart. Driven to desperate measures, she enlists the unwitting help of shy physicist Norton Talbot to travel back to Austen's time; there she plans to detachedly observe the young novelist's relationship with poor, Irish law student Tom Lefroy. But amid balls, Norton's quirky, budding romance, and her own flirtation with a local gentleman, Anne's heart goes out to the lively, irrepressible, love-struck young Jane. Unwilling to accept the novelist's love-less destiny, Anne risks her life, Norton's future--and Austen's own literary legacy--to help Jane marry her one, true love.

Based in historic fact, full of Austen's own wit, it is a story that resonates with anyone who wonders what might have been.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

writer/director Maid of Honor still

The
Maid of Honor
short film

Official Selection
Sedona International Film Festival

Director of Photography Brian Fass
Music by John Turner
featuring Joe Starr as "The Handyman"
full credits
key crew & cast bios

imdb listing

Being asked to be a member of the wedding party is a cherished distinction... But when she's driven to the limits of her patience and wallet, what's a dutiful Maid of Honor to do?

narrative/comedy ¤ super 16mm ¤ running time 08:36

"It's supposed to
be hard.
If it wasn't hard,
everyone would do it.
Hard is what
makes it great."

--Coach Jimmy Dugan
to Dottie Hinson
A League of Their Own

selected crew credits

A Cold Dark Night With Brilliance
written & directed by
Kenny Hargrove
**Official Selection**
Avignon Int'l Film Festival

The Journal
written & directed by
Steve Burger
**Best Comedic Short Film**
Atlantic City Film Festival

related experience

Film & Television Directing
Certificate
NYU SCPS

The Actor's Institute
coursework &
private coaching

Robert McKee's STORY

The PIT-NY
improv coursework

Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences
sitcom writing program
(competitive entry)

visit the
ValeriePeterson
channel on YouTube

contact
valerie [at] valeriepetersonink.com