Interview: Alan Roth (2013 Nicholl Winner) — Part 4

Alan Roth’s original screenplay “Jersey City Story” won him one of five 2013 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I caught up with Alan recently for an interview. Our conversation turned out to be both insightful and inspirational

Today in Part 4, Alan delves into some key themes and dynamics in “Jersey City Story” and what it has been like to win the Nicholl Fellowship:

Scott: I’d like to talk about some of the themes and dynamics in the story. For example, let’s talk about the use of quotes. If I’m not mistaken, all the quotes mentioned in the story come from historical literary figures, except for one: “What is the measure of a man’s greatness? By where he stands at the end of life’s race, or by how far he has come from whence he began?”

In the story, that’s attributed to Shenkel from his Pulitzer‑Prize‑winning book. I’m curious. What’s the derivation of that quote?

Alan: That one is mine. I spent a lot of time polishing it. I knew there was no margin for error there. It’s a piece of a longer VO. It was supposedly coming from his PulitzerPrizewinning book.

Scott: There’s another quote in the story. “Man’s courage is never so tested as when he’s pitched in battle with himself.” I’m going back to the beginning of our conversation, where I asked you some of the favorite movies.

And you said, The Natural, Local Hero. You’re drawn to conflicted male characters who have come to grips with things in their own life.

This quote would seem to fit very comfortably there. It applies to Poe. It applies to Shenkel. It applies to Danny. It even applies to Kelly. I’m assuming this was a pretty central theme for you, that you were consciously embracing, when you were writing the script.

Alan: Yes, very much so. One of the most courageous acts that a man can undertake is to look in the mirror and embrace the truth. It’s a lonely moment and possibly a very painful one. There’s a great piece of writing by Oliver Stone in the original Wall Street: “Man looks in the abyss, there’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.”

There’s a moment in the script where Poe has to make that decision. There’s a moment in Shenkel’s life that he has to make that decision, too. The greatest act of courage is facing yourself.

Scott: In a typical Hollywood movie, there’s a protagonist and an antagonist, easy to understand why because that creates a central conflict for the story. Yet in your script, there’s a lot of conflict, yet there’s not an official living, breathing nemesis.

So is it fair to see about “Jersey City Story,” the antagonist function is more internally driven, that these characters have to resolve things that existing in their inner psyche?

Alan: Yes, it is. The characters need to overcome their own inability to move on. It is one of the most difficult things to do.

Scott: Two more questions about the script. Here is something I found really interesting. You know how people involved in Hollywood sports movies will always say, “Well, this isn’t really a sports movie.”

Your script is literally not a sports movie. Other than a shoot-around scene on a basketball court, there are no other sports scenes. Why did you make that choice?

Alan: Any basketball action would have been incidental to the messages in the movie. I only needed basketball action merely to establish that Poe could play basketball, and even that scene was not critical to the narrative.

Scott: Final question about your script. In the end, it turns out Shenkel’s broken through his writer’s block. In the scene previous to that, he notes the key to how he did it. He said, “I forgot the secret of great writing. Tears in the writer. Tears in the reader.” Do you believe that to be true about your own writing and writing in general?

Alan: Yes, I do. For a story to resonate with an audience, a writer must draw on personal experience. Hemingway said, “There’s nothing to writing. You just sit down at a typewriter, open a vein, and bleed.”

Scott: Let’s move to some happy talk, winning the Nicholl Fellowship. What has that experience been like for you?

Alan: Appropriately I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike when the call came in, and I heard the five words so many screenwriters dream of hearing. “Hi, this is Greg Beal.”

Getting the phone call is really a moment of a lifetime. The first call is to let you know that you have placed in the top 10, which of course means you now go out to Hollywood and the Academy, and you’re going to be trotted out to the industry. That was good enough. I was very excited about that.

Then, when I received the call that I’d won the fellowship, I was again on the New Jersey Turnpike. This time, I was told there were a number of luminaries seated around an oval table in a conference room at the Academy.

I pulled over and listened as I was told that I’d won the fellowship.

Scott: Tell us about the Lexus award that you received.

Alan: For the first time, the Academy worked with a partner, Lexus, to give one of the fellowship winners an opportunity to have a shortened version of their Nicholl script produced. The writer would also be given an opportunity to direct. It was the chance of a lifetime. When I received the call, it was like winning the Nicholl a second time. Now began the very arduous task of taking a 116‑page script and bringing it down to around 30 pages. That reverse‑engineering was a very valuable experience in learning how to stick to the core of your story.

I worked very closely with a really wonderful producer that Lexus and it’s advertising agency assigned to the project, Chris Salvaterra, who’s been instrumental in some pretty big films. In equal measures he was a taskmaster in terms of making sure I brought the script in at the proper length, and vigilant that my original vision was kept intact. Everybody seemed to be very happy with the work, and we went into production. Right now we’re in post, and should have a rough cut shortly.

Tomorrow in Part 5, Alan answers some questions about the craft of screenwriting

For Part 1, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Please stop by comments to thank Alan for taking the time for the interview and post any follow-up questions you may have.

Alan is repped by Nate Miller and Dan Halsted at Manage-ment.