Interview (Part 1): Isaac Adamson

The top rated screenplay on the 2015 Black List is “Bubbles” and it was written by Isaac Adamson. It’s a terrific story, one of the most, if not the most unique ways to approach writing a biopic I have ever seen: The story is a snapshot of Michael Jackson’s life told from the perspective of his pet chimpanzee Bubbles. I would have been interested in interviewing Isaac simply based on the creative inspiration of that idea — I mean, who thinks like that — but when it hit #1 on the Black List charts last year, it was a no-brainer. I reached out to Isaac’s manager Lee Stobby and we finally arranged a time in Isaac’s busy schedule to spend an hour together over the phone, talking with Isaac from his home in Portland, Oregon.

Today in Part 1, Isaac and I venture into the wide variety of story platforms in which he has written over the years:

Scott Myers: You’re originally from Colorado, is that right?

Isaac Adamson: Yeah, that’s true. I was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, and grew up there. I went to college in Boulder. Shortly after college, I moved to Chicago. I lived there for about 15 years before moving here to Portland, Oregon.

Scott: What were you doing in Chicago?

Isaac: Various writing‑related jobs. I went there after college because I had friends who lived there that actually found work, unlike my friends that were in San Francisco or LA, and ended up moving home pretty quickly. I went out there on a whim, and I worked in coffee shops initially, and then advertising jobs, and fundraising stuff, all kinds of different things.

Scott: Evidently, the writing thing has been a part of your life for quite some time?

Isaac: Yeah, for quite a while, various kinds whether it’s writing blog posts or copy for fliers, all kinds of stuff.

Scott: You did film studies at Colorado?

Isaac: Yeah, that’s correct.

Scott: Then you either had a pre‑existing interest in movies coming into the university or discovered it there.

Isaac: I’ve always been interested in movies. I really went to the school with the goal of becoming a film maker. But the realities when I actually tried to make little 16‑millimeter productions were overwhelming for me.

It was a lot harder then because you had to use film. It cost a lot more. You had to book all kinds of time to edit using these big, clunky…Now it seemed really clunky compared to digitally editing devices. I was a terrible cinematographer. Everything I shot was either under exposed or over exposed.

I just discovered that through writing, you didn’t have to worry about any of that. You didn’t have to worry about budget. You could have the biggest explosion in world if it just happens on the page. I guess it’s why I ended up gravitating toward writing more.

Scott: You’re a novelist with, I believe, five novels published to this point?

Isaac: Yeah.

Scott: Let’s talk about those first four part of a series.

Isaac: Sure.

Scott: Set in Japan, the protagonist is a character named Billy Chaka, who’s a journalist and an amateur sleuth. What’s the backstory on those four novels?

Isaac: It’s funny, when I started what eventually became “Tokyo Suckerpunch,” the first novel, I didn’t really intent to write a novel. I was writing, just little sketches and short story things. Then I wrote about this guy in Japan who’s suddenly attacked by these Yakuza in this strange bar and it just went from there.

I was really influenced at that point by stuff like John Woo and Quentin Tarantino, but also Raymond Chandler, and a lot of the ’40s noir guys. I just learned to somehow combine those elements.

Scott: One of them got adapted into a movie?

Isaac: It never actually made it to the movie stage. It was in development forever. Tobey Maguire’s production company optioned it. Then Sony got involved. At one point, Gary Ross was set to direct. Then the writer’s strike happened and shortly after that, things fell apart.

Scott: Development hell.

Isaac: Yes.

Scott: Your latest novel, “Complication,” was set in Prague and was nominated for the 2013 Edgar Award. How did that come about?

Isaac: I got the idea when I visited Prague for my honeymoon. I just loved the city and wanted to find at a way to write about it. It had just such an amazing, interesting, multi‑layered history that there were so many different stories you could tell.

It took me a really long time to figure out which ones I was going to tell. I was in some stage of writing that book for about six years. It took forever. The manuscript that came out of that was almost twice as long as the actual version that got published. I really went down the rabbit hole.

Scott: You’ve also written some short stories.

Isaac: Yeah, that’s true. I haven’t lately, but it was something that I liked to do whenever I finish a novel. Just that the idea of getting something done in a week or two was really attracted after slogging away for a year on something.

Scott: Is there a webcomic called “StakeOut” that you’re involved with?

Isaac: [laughs] Yeah. It’s not really available anymore. I’m surprised you were able to uncover that. It was something I did for fun. Maybe I’ll revive it at some point. Again, it was just something I liked because it was a daily exercise and trying to come up with something every single day.

Scott: Novels, short stories, webcomics. How did you wind your way into screenwriting?

Isaac: Because I was interested in film, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in. For whatever reason, I found the process mystifying. It got a little bit demystified for me seeing the various screenplays that came out of “Tokyo Sucker Punch” while it was in development for so long.

It was the kind of thing where I read them and I thought, “This isn’t rocket science. I know how to write a little bit. I could probably do something like this.” Then I just got more interested in reading all kinds of scripts, anything I could get my hands on after that, whether it was scripts on the Black List, or something that was in the theaters that I really liked.

I just started gravitating toward that more. The one thing I really like about it is — especially after going down the rabbit hole for years on “Complication” — screenwriting is a kind of format where you spend six weeks or eight weeks or however long you spend, and you can have something that’s actually done. Something complete. It’s not perfect. It’ll need more drafts. But it’s ready to show to people. With novels ‑‑ I find it’s more of a marathon. You might not be ready to share anything for years.

Scott: Is it fair to say the primary way you’ve gone about learning the ins and outs of screenwriting is through reading scripts?

Isaac: Yeah. Yeah, I never took any classes or anything like that. Even in college I had never been any writers’ groups or that sort of thing. It really was just reading scripts and watching movies.

Scott: I coined this mantra years ago on the blog ‑‑ “Watch movies, read scripts, write pages.”

Isaac: Yeah, definitely. That’s the magic formula.

Tomorrow in Part 2, Isaac answers the inevitable question: How did he come up with the idea to write “Bubbles”.

Isaac is repped by CAA and Lee Stobby.

Twitter: @isaacadamson.