Interview [Part 4]: Frank DeJohn and David Hedges [2013 Nicholl Winners]

Frank DeJohn and David Hedges are one of five recipients of the 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for their historical drama screenplay “Legion”. It’s a terrific story set in the latter days of the Roman Empire and garnered a lot of attention for the duo including being hired by A&E to write “The One”, described as a “coming-of-age story of exploring Jesus’ early life and formative years as he comes to learn he is the Son of God and is destined for greatness.”

Frank and David have had an unusual path to Hollywood success, so I was pleased to be able to interview them at length about their respective backgrounds, their script “Legion,” and their approach to the craft of screenwriting.

Today in Part 4, Frank and David share their respective experiences when they discovered they had won the Nicholl:

Scott: A lot of fight scenes. How much of a challenge was it for you to write those? Did you read any action scripts or watch action movies to inspire you?

Frank: A few scripts and many historical novels. The armor, the weaponry for the period is out there when you dig a little. The fights sequences are challenging but fun. You break down the action, choreograph the moves, plan the shots and hope your imagery translates to something exciting.

Scott: Similarly, you faced a challenge because you’ve got that “rally the troops” speech on page 77. Obviously, there’s a long history of those types of speeches, going back to Shakespeare, and movies like Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Lord of the Rings, to name a few.

Knowing you have to do this, how did you go about writing that “rally the troops” speech that Caelius gives?

David: The rousing speech bar was set by Shakespeare in Henry V, for sure. We talked about maybe not doing it. Then we realized, “There’s no way we cannot do it.” The challenge was how do you do it so that it doesn’t feel like everyone’s heard the exact same thing before?

We spent a lot of time trying figure that out. It was more of the setup, like bringing the wounded out of the medical tent, that helped that moment.

Scott: I’m always looking for themes. One thing I saw in the script, certainly one of the themes that was running through it, is a single word that’s repeated several times: Steadfast. What’s the derivation of that? How does that, in your opinion, tie into the thematic dynamics of the story?

Frank: It’s a way to say you can always count on me no matter what happens. Fighting back-to-back, that sort of thing with a hint of honor underlying in it.

Scott: I think it’s so wonderful that it’s this one word. It’s like “freedom” in Braveheart.

Frank: Exactly.

Scott: Let’s talk about winning the Nicholl. How did you find out? Don’t spare us the juicy details.

Frank: We knew we were in the finals. We were very excited about that. We didn’t know what that would mean, really. We had no idea. I was driving going home when I got the call. On the phone was Gale Anne Hurd, saying “I’m here with the Academy Nicholl Fellowship Committee we have some great news… you are a Nicholl Fellowship winner.” Then committee applauds in the background. I had to pull over.

Dave has his own story.

David: Confession time: I knew very little about the Nicholl competition because the way our gig worked was Frank was the enterer of contests. We would win some money in a contest, and Frank would say, “Let’s roll this over into more contest entries.”

I would say, “OK.” Honestly, I knew very little about the Nicholl contest. Was it in September that we got the call, Frank?

Frank: Yes.

David: I was actually scooping dog poop in my backyard. My wife handed me the phone, and said, “It’s some guy named Greg.” I’m thinking, “God, what’s he selling?” It was Greg Beal, from the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, and he said, “Congratulations, you’re a finalist.”

I said, “Great, thanks.” I really had no idea. He said, “Most people don’t remember anything after I tell them congratulations.” I said, “You can tell me. I’ll remember. What’s the big deal?”

Greg said, “I’ll email you details so we can make travel arrangements for you.” Then he hung up. I called Frank, and Frank was flipping his lid, and that’s when I began to get an inkling of what this was going to mean. It was a great ambush for me, because I had no idea what was coming.

Frank: Greg Beal from the Nicholl Fellowship said, “I’m going to call you guys on Friday, and give you the details on what the Awards Week is going to be like. You’re a finalist and whether you’ve won or not, you’re still invited to that week.

He called us on the Friday, which is the day they release the names of the finalists. He gave us the details then he said, “It’s almost 11:00 o’clock, have fun guys” and hung up.

Literally five minutes later my computer blows up. We started getting emails from producers, managers, and agencies, wanting to contact us. It’s the most remarkable thing. After, literally years of sending out hundreds of query letters, entering contests, and going to pitch fests, and getting nowhere, all of a sudden, people were contacting us for representation. It was unbelievable. It’s hard to even describe it.

Scott: Have you signed with a manager and/or agent?

David: Yes. The names were released on Friday morning at 11:00. We got all these requests for the script. We were sending them out as quickly as we could. Friday night, I was at a wedding. Frank called and said, “Jake Wagner and Daniel Vang are calling from Benderspink. They’re reading the script right now.”

I said, “OK.” I’m moving away from these people boogeying on the dance floor and trying to cover my ear to hear what he’s saying. He calls back, and he says, “They’re halfway done. They’re really excited and they want to meet us this weekend.

Then a little while later, Frank tells me, “They finished the script. They called and said, ‘Where are you? We’re driving to wherever you are’.” The next morning, Jake and Daniel drove up to meet us in Santa Barbara. We had brunch, and signed with them right there. It was 24 hours after our names were released.

Frank: The next week, Jake arranged for us to meet with all the major talent agencies. We had interviews on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Finally, we made the decision to go with Jon Huddle and Emerson Davis at United Talent Agency. It’s been great.

Scott: Speaks to the power of a well-written script?

David: Yes, and a great contest, and the reputation of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Frank: It just opened doors like you can’t imagine. Every one of the agencies, all the people had read the script, and they were very excited about it. We didn’t know if we had won or not. We had already won, because we got representation.

As important, people who we respect in the industry read our script, and said it was good, and well crafted. If you’re a writer, that means everything, really.

David: The hardest thing for every screenwriter is the absolute and utter indifference you face on a daily basis. We all have those moments where we ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this?”

Not too long before the Nicholl announcement, I actually had that conversation with someone. I said, “I blew it. I shouldn’t have been spending all this time writing these scripts. Nobody is interested. I should have done something else with my life.”

A month before I got the phone call from Greg Beal, I was ready to throw in the towel. I was walking through the back lot of the police station and one of the SWAT guys sees me and asks, “How’s the writing going?” I said, “Fine.” He knew I was lying and stuck his finger in my chest and said, “Don’t you dare give up. You hear me?” This was Danny McGrew, a guy that had been at my side during some of the most dangerous, insane moments of my SWAT career, a guy that I trusted with my life, so I walked away thinking, “I am NOT going to let him down.” He was one of the guys who drove down to the awards ceremony.

And the Academy really was amazing. Those people were so good to us, and so gracious, and they’re all true believers.

They’ve all been in the business for a long time, but they still believe. They still have that spark. That was a really amazing experience. I don’t know that I’ve ever been treated as well as we were treated by the members of the Academy: Gale Anne Hurd, Eva Marie Saint, Buffy Schutt, all of them.

Frank: In every meeting we took the people wanted to know our story. Here are two guys that have been trying to get their work noticed for years, and now they’ve caught a huge break. We’ve met people that are very supportive and encouraging.

Scott: That’s the goal. Find those people and cling to them.

Tomorrow in Part 5, Frank and David share some tips on the craft of screenwriting.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

David and Frank are repped by UTA and BenderSpink.

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