Interview (Part 6): Melissa Iqbal (2014 Nicholl Winner)

U.K.-based writers Melissa Iqbal wrote the original screenplay “The Death Engine” which won the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Recently Melissa and I had a transatlantic phone call in which we covered a lot of territory in an excellent conversation.

Today in Part 6, Melissa provides advice to aspiring screenwriters:

Scott: So you finish the first draft, and now you’re faced with the inevitable rewriting process. How do you go about doing rewrites?

Melissa: I usually get some feedback. I have my agent, Tracey Hyde, a producer I often work with, Helen Gladders, and a couple of writer friends, Jen Majka and Stef Kaday. They’re usually my first port of call. Helen loves sci-fi, so she’s invaluable while Jen and Stef are great because they write very different stuff, so I know if it’s working for them I’m not hiding anything beneath the spectacle of the genre.

I think it’s important to get feedback from more than one person. I don’t always agree with everything my circle of trust say, but I know if they’re all flagging the same thing I probably have to change it.

Scott: What’s your actual writing process like?

Melissa: I’m still figuring a lot of it out I think, but I’m starting to find a way of doing it. I know when I start a script I have to isolate myself from all human interaction like a hermit [laughs]. I try to do 10 pages a day, but if I do five that’s OK. I do that for one or two weeks until I finish a first draft and then I emerge vulnerable at the end of it looking for someone to give me a hug.

Scott: What’s your single best excuse not to write?

Melissa: Tidying or cleaning. If I need to do laundry or if there’s something that can be organized I’ll do that instead.

Scott: Ah! Lily’s got a moment like that where she notices some dust on top of a…

[laughter]

Melissa: Oh, good. You noticed.

Scott: Is that you?

Melissa: Yeah, it probably is a little bit. Putting things at right angles makes me happy. I guess I also have that desire for everything to be perfect. It’s like, “I’m supposed to be writing, but for some reason I’m cleaning the sink. And why is that thing crooked?!” [laughter]

Scott: Conversely, what do you love most about writing?

Melissa: I love writing something and then re‑reading it and experiencing the thing that I was attempting to do to the reader. So if I laugh at a bit I tried to make funny or feel sorry for a character I’m putting through the mill, that’s pretty great.

Scott: I always zero in on that too. It’s like what’s the point of emotional contact here? What’s the point of emotional resonance? It seems like, as I get older, when I go to a movie that becomes more and more important to me. I want to feel something.

Melissa: Yeah, because, the lengths to which you do feel for characters and you do get affected by a story or have questions at the end of a film, that’s what makes you want to take the experience away with you. I think it’s what makes you want to watch the film again and talk to your friends about it. It becomes a bigger experience than simply having watched it. When you’ve had a bad experience, you resent the money it cost you, you complain about it and then you usually forget it. Great films stay with you. I really hope to write films that people take away with them and they love and they buy the DVD to put on their shelf at home.

Scott: That raises the next question. Which is where do you see yourself in five or 10 years? In an ideal world, what are you doing?

Melissa: Oh, I’d hope I’m writing sci‑fi and fantasy. If I can do that for a significant period of my life, I’d be happy. I’d feel like a success. [chuckles]

Scott: Finally, what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into Hollywood?

Melissa: I think everyone’s different. For me, I knew I needed to go to film school and learn more about the craft of writing, but that’s not for everyone. I think the important thing is to keep writing and improving even when it’s painful or hard. At the end of the day, it’s all about telling heart-felt, intelligent stories. Everything else you can figure out.

For Part 1, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Melissa is repped by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.

Twitter: @Azureix.