Interview: Michael Werwie (2012 Nicholl Winner, 2012 Black List) — Part 4
Michael Werwie’s original screenplay “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile” not only won the young screenwriter a 2012 Nicholl fellowship, it also landed on the 2012 Black List, garnering 31 votes, the 7th highest total of any script on the list this year.
Michael was kind enough to agree to an interview and recently we had a wide-ranging hour-long conversation in which we covered a lot of territory related to screenwriting. I will be posting the whole interview over the course of this week, definitely a Q&A you will want to read in its entirety as Michael offers some terrific insight into the craft.
Today in Part 4, Michael shares his take on some key aspects of the screenwriting craft.
Scott: Let’s shift to some craft questions. How do you come up with story ideas?
Michael: I get asked that a lot, and I never know how to answer. I don’t know. I think the more observational you can be in the world, the more open you’ll be to ideas in whatever form. I often put ideas together in the shower, or driving, or random moments when I least expect it. I think when an idea has story potential, it’s something that sticks with you. I’ll often carry it in my head, sometimes for a few years before I actually get to breaking a full story.
Scott: How important do you think story concept is to the overall viability or marketability or success of a screenplay?
Michael: I think it’s hugely important but I don’t think it’s the only thing that’s important. The reason I say that is because the two scripts that have done the most for my career both began as character concepts. I didn’t really have a great sense of the plot. The one in particular that got me my manager, I must have done five or six page one rewrites before I had a working plot. I ended up doing about 10 drafts of that script, but I had written probably five hundred original pages before I knew exactly what it was and where it was going. It’s always better if you have a strong concept that invokes a very clear plot and character in the pitch alone, but it’s not the only thing that’s important.
Scott: That’s an interesting conjoining of words ‑ character concept. I’d never quite heard that, but as soon as you said it, I was like, “Yeah, that makes sense.” You have a strong character at the center of the story and the particulars of their narrative imply a story.
Michael: Yeah, I guess if you want an example you could look at Jason Bourne. He’s a spy with amnesia. If you start with just that concept, that character concept, you could craft any kind of story around it. Look at Dexter or Walter White. Forensic serial killer, meth cooking chemistry teacher with cancer. TV is rich with examples.
Scott: As long as we’re talking about characters, how do you go about developing them? Are there specific tips or tools that you find you use regularly in developing characters?
Michael: I wish I had a standardized process for developing characters, but I don’t. Every project is different. I think they just kind of show themselves. Sometimes it takes some time of just outlining the story before I get a better grasp on who they are and what they want. It’s always is a hard process to figure that out. I don’t have any tricks or tools to make that easier, unfortunately.
Scott: So is it safe to say that you have kind of an organic process in terms of how you approach developing a script, as opposed to a specific step‑by‑step thing that you develop over time?
Michael: I’ve been trying to develop a standardized approach, but every project is different. I’m a big fan of outlining even though I hate doing it. I say that even though I didn’t outline my Nicholl script at all, because in that case, there was already a chronology of events and I knew I was going to tell it linearly. I just had to figure out the act breaks. But normally I think outlines are key, at least a loose, general one. It doesn’t have to be 50 pages, but I think it’s helpful to know the signposts along the way. It’s very important once you get into the business of pitching, because if you expect the studio to pay you a lot of money to write a script for them, they’re going to want to see the architecture first.
Scott: So in terms of prep writing before you type FADE IN, all those different components that a writer can engage in — brainstorming, character development, plotting, research, outline. Which of aspects of prep do you tend to devote most time and focus to?
Michael: Probably plotting. That’s a tricky one, because it’s a function of character. You have to have a grasp on the characters because the characters will create the plot. I like to start with a log line, and I’ll work for a while to get it into the best shape possible, so it actually conveys a complete story. I’ll break that into three sentences which represent the first, second, and third acts, basically a log line for each act. Then I’ll break each act into a beginning, middle, and end, and just keep breaking it down until I get to the actual scenes. I keep breaking everything down into their smaller component parts, to the point where you can structure the beginning, middle, and end of the scenes themselves. That way you can see the dramatic rise and fall of the action on a micro level and a macro level.
Tomorrow in Part 5, Michael shares his take on other aspects of the screenwriting craft along with some advice for aspiring writers.
Please stop by comments to thank Michael for taking the time for the interview and post any follow-up questions you may have.
Michael is repped by UTA and Evolution Entertainment.
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