‘Elvis Conspiracy’ screenplay by Woodstock’s Rikki Lee Travolta wins awards

WOODSTOCK – McHenry County-based writer Rikki Lee Travolta has been named the winner of the Best Screenplay Award in both the Multi Dimension Independent Film Festival and the MoviePlay International Film Festival for his dramatic thriller “The Elvis Conspiracy,” a news release announced.

The script also was named a finalist in the Bright International Film Festival and an Official Selection of the Oaxaca Film Festival.

The screenplay poses the question: What if there were more to the legend of Elvis than we know? What if his manager Col. Parker made the whole thing up?

Intertwining facts and conspiracy theories, the alternate-history thriller follows Col. Tom Parker as he transforms from small-time carnival barker to star maker, when he creates the icon Elvis Presley; meanwhile, a relentless investigative reporter tries to uncover the truth behind what might be the greatest swindle in entertainment history.

Travolta, of Woodstock, is a produced television writer, an optioned screenwriter, a produced playwright, and a published author and journalist. Thanks to some creative guerrilla marketing efforts, one of his books was an Amazon Top Ten Recommendation. He currently serves as creator and producer of a series on PBS.

In addition to the two recent screenplay contest wins, “The Elvis Conspiracy” also has been a finalist in such competitions as the Chicago Screenplay Awards, Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, and the Emerging Screenwriters Suspense Screenplay Competition. It was an Official Selection of the Marina Del Rey Film Festival.

Travolta’s other screenplays have been finalists in competitions including Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, New York International Screenplay Awards, Southern California Screenplay Competition, Scriptapalooza International Screenplay Competition, Boston Screenplay Awards, Miami Screenplay Awards, Portland Screenplay Awards, and Las Vegas International Film & Screenwriting Festival.