Interview (Part 6): 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 6, Isaac shares some thoughts about the craft and advice to aspiring writers:

Scott: That jumps us to some craft questions naturally. Let’s have a few of those. First of all, we’ve already articulated how you came up with the idea for “Bubbles” ‑‑ part of that listening to the news, and tracking things. Are there other ways that you come up with story ideas?

Isaac: It’s usually pretty organic. I don’t know a lot of times where stuff comes from. It can be the strangest thing. I’ll give you an example.

I had a friend who was going to be working at a website that was focused on vintage cars. He said, “We want to have a bunch of original content. If you have any short stories about vintage cars, send it to us and we’ll publish it.” I didn’t have any.

I have no interest in vintage cars whatsoever, but I thought, “If I had to write a story about a vintage car, what would it be?” I came up with this weird thing about this time traveling car where time changes, but not only inside the car. It’s something I never would’ve thought of without that prompt.

That’s one example where it came out of nowhere. But it’s just reading lots of things, paying attention to the news, living your life. Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Scott: It’s interesting when you were talking about those three parts ‑‑ the tri‑part type foundation for “Bubbles” ‑‑ that the thing that unlocked it for you was when you heard the character’s voice. How key is that for you when you’re sifting through story ideas?

Isaac: It’s really key, especially if you have a story where so much is centered on the protagonist like it is with Bubbles. It was the same way with the Billy Chaka books, because they were all written in first person.

I knew that the voice was the most important thing if you want to create a character that people enjoy reading about from their perspective for 300 pages. But it depends on the project. For something like Ice Twins, coming up with the voice wasn’t that important, because the author of novel, S.K. Tremayne, had already done all that hard work. In an adaptation, you’re really just trying to translate someone else’s voice for the screen.

Scott: Say for a screenwriter writing something on spec, how important do you think the story concept is to the overall strength and viability of that? For you, do you think in terms of what they used to call “high concept,” or “strong story concept?”

Isaac: It’s very important. Unfortunately, I don’t think that way very well. I’m not a big high concept guy. I’ll stumble into a good high concept once in a while, but I usually don’t get those ideas that instantly lend themselves to loglines. And it’s hugely important. If you want to sell a spec, concept is really important. Studios already have plenty of their own properties — you have to bring something unique.

That said, if the writing is not up to par, the concept doesn’t matter. They work hand in hand, I’d say. You can have a great concept, but if the writing’s no good, it doesn’t matter. You can also have the most beautifully written script, but if it’s not about anything, or if it lacks real reason to exist, it’s probably not going to get you too far.

Scott: That’s why I always advise writers, “You may come up with a great idea, but you got to have a passion for it. You’ve got to see it and connect with the material.”

Isaac: It’s funny because every writer’s different. Some people are great at coming up with the coolest concepts, but they have a hard time sitting in a chair for however many hours a day and getting it to the page.

Scott: Speaking of that process, how much time do you spend in prep writing? What do you focus on ‑‑ brainstorming, character development, plotting, research?

Isaac: A lot of my time is spent in research and plotting. That dictates sometimes what the characters become. I like to do a lot of research. If it’s a concept that requires lots of research, you can spend your time watching videos on YouTube of space landings, or whatever it might be. I find it’s also a good way to procrastinate, though hopefully it’s all helpful in the end.

Scott: How do you approach plotting? Are you one of those old style writers who busts out those notecards ‑‑ the 3 x 5 inch notecards ‑‑ and sticks them on the wall? How do you go about doing that?

Isaac: I do use the cards. I don’t have the wall. Early on, I had read that David Lynch, when he was writing Blue Velvet, somebody told him, “All you got to do is get a bunch of notecards. If you write 90 of these notecards with a scene on each card, you’ve got a movie.” That’s the way he went about it.

I thought, “That sounds pretty cool. Writing 90 notecards shouldn’t be that hard.” I did start using that method. I don’t do it on every project now, but I do find it’s helpful.

Scott: I’ve actually featured that quote on my blog, from David Lynch.

Isaac: Did you?

Scott: Yeah. There used to be a Bob’s Big Boy on La Cienega. It’s no longer there. He would go and order the really thick chocolate malted milkshake and pour a bunch of sugar in it ‑‑ like six sugars ‑‑ and then drink that. Then, he’d start grabbing the waitress’ napkins, and writing these things down, and transfer them on the cards. 70 or 90 cards, he’d figured he had a movie.

How do you go about developing your characters?

Isaac: One of the keys is to ask: How do they speak? Then, it’s a lot of figuring out their motivations ‑‑ what they want, their weaknesses, what their talents put that in action, achieving this whole…

Scott: What about dialogue? Where does that come from?

Isaac: A lot of that’s character. A lot of it’s situational. I like to try to give characters unique ways of speaking, which is easier to do when they come from different backgrounds. With something like “Bubbles”, obviously the chimpanzee had a really unique way of speaking. I tried to give Frank a unique voice that fit him, and Michael’s voice being really childlike and direct.

I honestly find dialogue to be one of the easier parts of the whole thing, and one of the more enjoyable, too. It’s always fun to write dialogue.

Scott: What about the theme? We talked about at least three themes in Bubbles ‑‑ the king hierarchical thing, and beasts, and cage. Are you one of those people that starts off with a theme, or do they tend to emerge over the course of your writing?

Isaac: Generally, they tend to emerge over the course of working on something. You often don’t know what the thing’s really about until you spent some time locking your horns with this idea. Then, it starts to emerge.

Once you figure that out, then it makes the whole thing so much easier. When you get stuck, you can write the theme. It really shapes how the characters are going to interact with each other. It shapes everything once you’ve figured that out.

I’ve written stuff where I never really figured it out. That stuff doesn’t work. [laughs]

Scott: What do you think about when you’re writing a scene? What are your goals?

Isaac: It’s different for different scenes. You have to be entertaining, first of all. There’s some scenes where you are trying to get across some key piece of information without being too clunky and sledgehammery about it. It really varies.

For me, it’s all depending about what does this scene need in relation to the scene in front of it, the scene that it came out of, and then in relation to the whole film.

Scott: What’s your actual writing process like? Are you one of those everyday writers or do you write in sporadic bursts? Do you work in private or you go out to coffee shops? Do you listen to music or do you need quiet? How do you write?

Isaac: Generally, I write from home. I take the kids to school and by the time I get back, it’s about 8:30. You’ll usually put in some hours in the morning ‑‑ a good three hours ‑‑ and then have lunch. I usually work in the afternoons for another couple hours until they come home.

After lunch, it’s usually going back and editing stuff I’ve already written. I find most of the hard stuff gets done in the morning. I’m moving around commas in the afternoon.

As long as it keeps your mind engaged with the project, it’s good though. It’s weird the way you’re always working on something in your subconscious once you’re really immersed in it. I find that I get a lot of really good ideas in the shower. I don’t write them down on the shower curtain or anything, but it’s odd how many come at times like that, when you’re not really working.

Once you’re engaged in this thing, your brain keeps working on it even if you’re not sitting there in front of the computer. But, you have to sit there in front of the computer, notepad, or typewriter for so many hours a day, or your brain will disengage.

Scott: Aaron Sorkin reportedly takes multiple showers per day precisely because that’s one of the best places he comes up with ideas.

Isaac: So he’s the one that’s responsible for the water shortage you’ve got?

Scott: Exactly. Send him up to Portland where there’s more rain.

Isaac: [laughs] Right.

Scott: Here’s a question I sometimes like to ask people. It’s a fun question. What is your single best excuse not to write?

Isaac: That’s a tough one. I don’t know. There’s so many to choose from. Usually, it’s because there’s a Champions League game on. Especially if Barcelona are playing.

Scott: Great! Another soccer fan!

Isaac: Yeah, I’m a big soccer fan.

Scott: We could talk soccer for ad nauseam. I think it’s the greatest sport. But let’s circle back to one final question, if I may. What advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into Hollywood?

Isaac: If you really do the former, then the latter will happen. You still have to make an effort, whether it be networking, or writing query letters, or polishing your script and posting it on the Black List. That said, you can work that side of the equation as hard as you want and none of it will matter if you don’t develop the writing part of it. That has to come first.

It’s a harder thing to tackle because there are no definite, concrete steps that you can take to make that happen. It’s not measurable in the same way that often the career side is, as far as, “I sent out 20 queries today,” or, “I entered this and this contest.” You can feel like you’re making progress by doing those things. And those things are important, but the focus really needs to be on the page.

After our interview, some news hit about “Bubbles”. So I emailed a follow-up question to Isaac:

So in the week or so after our interview, this happened with “Bubbles”. What can you say about the project and how excited are you to be able to work with Dan Harmon on the project?

I am super-excited about working with Dan and the rest of the crew over at Starburns. I loved Anomalisa and doing this project with their brand of stop-motion animation solves so many of the practical puzzles Bubbles presents — like how do we do the chimp, who plays Michael Jackson, how can we recreate Neverland for less than a bajillion dollars, etc. I think it’s a really interesting way to tell this story and can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get started.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Isaac is repped by CAA and Lee Stobby.

Twitter: @isaacadamson.