As you may have noticed, I have been doing a lot of interviews with screenwriters and people involved in the movie business. Just this year, GITS has featured interviews with:
* Screenwriter Marc Maurino who sold the spec script “Inside the Machine”
* Screenwriter Stan Chervin nominated for an Academy Award for Moneyball
* Screenwriter Chris McCoy with three scripts on the Black List
* Head of Pixar’s story department Mary Coleman
* A roundtable discussion with screenwriters Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Jeremiah Friedman, Nick Palmer, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam
Here’s the deal: There are a lot more interviews coming your way because I believe learning how industry insiders think about and approach their craft is enormously important for anyone aspiring to write for film or TV. Besides I know how popular these Q&A’s are from site traffic, tweets and emails.
So yesterday as I was looking at the list of screenwriters and TV writers who we [Franklin and I] are in contact with about potential interviews, I had this thought: Why not reach out to the GITS community about what questions you would ask a professional writer?
Indeed are there some core questions that should be addressed in all interviews? I’m not talking about probing into the writer’s background or analysis of their movies or TV projects, I can handle that, rather specific questions about the craft of writing, both theory and practice, the business of writing for film and TV, and so on.
Therefore I’m soliciting your suggested questions in the hopes of coming up with an essential set of subject areas that the online screenwriting community would find important and helpful.
And don’t be afraid to think whimsically. One of the best questions I ever heard asked of a group of screenwriters [this was at a WGA event a few years back] was, “Is there a movie that came out this year where you thought to yourself, ‘I wish I had written that’”? It was a surprising question and the responses were great.
Please take a few moments to think this over as I really want to make the best use of these upcoming opportunities to get information and insight that you want and need from these professional writers.
Thanks for your suggestions!
I did not think GITS could get any better. How wrong I was.
My questions:
* What do you do when you get writers block?
* Are you scared of sharing a movie idea to someone in fear they would steal it?
* Do you have some kind of ritual before you start writing? Watch some specific movies or read some specific books? Go for a walk? Workout? Voodoo magic? etc.
* If you would say one line of inspiration to a hungry soul that wants to make it in Hollywood, what would it be?
* How important is it to go to filmfestivals/partys/events if you are a writer? Share you experiance.
* Have you ever seen a movie and afterwards thinking “I could never have written something this good”?
* What blogs/sites are you following to keep youself updated with the industry? Name 3!
* Shortly describe what a day in your working life look like.
Sincerely
Filip Benko.
PS. Scott you are the best!
What!…is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Ok, ok… for real, because I have my own: What was the moment when you realized this is what you wanted to do and, conversely, what was the moment you felt you actually took a leap of faith?
Essentially, if their life were a screenplay – what was their inciting incident and when they stared into the abyss (or whatever screenplay theory vocabulary is appropriate). These writers all took their own unique journeys after all.
1) What is your process for testing whether a concept is strong enough to be developed into a screenplay, beyond applying the obvious criteria such as a leading role for a bankable actor/actress, etc? What are some of the hidden pitfalls?
2) What alcoholic beverages do you favor when you hit a wall?
How did your perspective change after making the leap to being a professional writer?
Did working with other professionals change your process, and how did it tangibly affect your craft?
Are there any writers for whom you now have a greater appreciation, or now understand better, as a result of the change in perspective?
How do you deal with “brilliant” ideas that pop up for other screenplays than the one you are working on? Assuming it’s not a commissioned job, how do you know if you should jump ship or stay aboard the current story?
Were there any memorable scripts that you read when you were starting out that clicked on a lightbulb? And maybe made you almost try to mimic the style/voice?
It’s been said that a Manager looks for a writer’s ‘voice’ when reading a spec screenplay. In the light of that, how would you describe your voice, when do you think you found it, and could you describe the voice of a screenwriter you admire?
Thanks Scott, you inspire us.
Thanks, Scott! This just keeps getting better and better
My questions:
* How do I go about writing and pitching a TV “mini-series” – e.g. if I have a three-part mini-series in mind (three episodes, one hour each), do I just write the first part and pitch? Or do I need the entire mini-series written before I go out with it?
* Is there anything specific that readers look for in TV pilot drafts, e.g. a pilot for a TV drama? I imagine there would be a lot of focus on characters that engage (assuming character development arcs are generally more long drawn in TV series).
* What, in your opinion, are the key differences in writing for film and TV? Things that should be avoided when writing for TV (series, mini-series)?
Conventional wisdom dictates that what ends up on screen often suffers by comparison with earlier screenplay drafts, such is the development process and the nature of the Hollywood beast. If you were given the opportunity to mitigate this problem, how would you go about it and what safeguards would you implement?
How much of anything is actually just or barely enough?
How would you describe the process of fleshing the characters out ? The Cartesian approach, like a characterization list, videogame-writing-wise, much like items; a more intuitive drive, like putting the story down on the page and finding things out along the way; a bit of both; huge backstory, Tarantino-wise; not much backstory, Sorkin-wise; etc ?