2014 Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 10): Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo

A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2014 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, Brian Duffield, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, and Greg Russo. How good are they? Between them, they have sold more than a dozen spec scripts and have multiple original screenplays on the Black List.

This is the fourth GITS screenwriters roundtable with this group of writers, the first three of which you can read here, here and here. This has become something of an annual event as it’s a great way to take the pulse of what’s happening in the screenwriting universe, track the careers of these talented writers, and benefit from the many insights into the craft they share.

Here is Part 10:

Scott Frazier: Just one last thing on the screenwriter gurus. I think it might have been the end of 2013. I have this full shelf of these screenwriting books. Most of them, I’ve never gotten any more than 15 pages into, or something like that.

I decided that, for one of my scripts, I was going to take one of the books, follow it explicitly in writing my scripts, and use their advice and their system to write the script.

I did it for about a week. I had nothing to show for it. I was so confused and lost. There were things that he was talking about in the book, that I was just like, “What the fuck does this even mean?” I was completely lost. This is a very famous guy, and a very famous screenwriting book. I was just like, “It’s unworkable.” It wasn’t designed to help me write a script, which I just thought was crazy.

Chris Borrelli: Many of those guys haven’t sold scripts. I actually ended up at a seminar. My old boss had bought the seminar years ago, before I was a writer. I went. It was so funny. It was so calculating the way this guru spoke. He pretended to remember little things from his time in Hollywood. I looked up his credits on IMDB. It was that one credit he talked about.

He had done one thing on a TV series once. He puts on a good seminar, but to your readers and stuff, you probably don’t need to spend the money on these seminars. I think the books are fine. That thing: those who can’t do it, teach. Sometimes, that’s fine. But I wouldn’t recommend following their advice too closely.

Chris McCoy: Everyone should just read Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman.

Scott Myers: Absolutely. I wanted to ask a fun question for you all, as we round this thing out. If there’s one big movie franchise you could write, anything, a dream project, what would it be?

Brian: I realized this year, I don’t want to do that. A franchise I loved reached out to me a while ago and I basically had a panic attack for a month. I know I could write the script I’ve been thinking of writing since I was nine years old, and it would be I could do a really great job. But I had nightmares of the movie coming out, and being a piece terrible for thousands of choices made after I wrote my draft.

And then, you’re forever the guy that screwed up that thing that you loved. I think it was the moment I grew up as a writer, where I could say, “Oh, I don’t want to do that with my life.” That’s the whole reason I got into screenwriting, originally, was writing sequels to movies when I was a kid. So I would pass on the dream franchise!

Scott Myers: Even in a fantasy version of like a happy… [laughs]

Scott Frazier: There is no fantasy version of Brian Duffield’s life.

[laughter]

Brian: A really interesting thing this year is that a lot of these movies coming out, especially in 2015 are basically, sequels to movies that people saw when they were kids, whether it’s Jurassic World or Star Wars.

I think it’s going to really have some positive results, and some negative results, like anything. This was like the year, I was like, “I would be happier watching those movies, and stressing out, just as a fan, as opposed to being a part of that.”

For me, I would love to be a part of whatever that new thing is. If it’s what some 12 year old is going to see now, and then I can be angry when that kid completely ruins it thirty years later. That’s my dream. [laughs]

Scott Myers: Anybody else who has, perhaps a more positive slant on that?

Brian: I think, it’s really positive. It was a really good moment when I realized what I wanted to do with my life, which is nice.

Scott Frazier: I would still do James Bond at some point.

Scott Myers: James Bond.

Brian: Oh, you’d be so good at it.

Chris Borrelli: Make him American, dude! Make him American.

Scott Frazier: [laughs] You know, I have been thinking the British thing is a little too fussy for me.

Chris Borrelli: I don’t think they’ll mind.

Scott Myers: So, James Bond. Anybody else have something they want to, a dream franchise project?

Chris McCoy: I feel like Indiana Jones is pretty sweet. I’m just going to throw that out there.

Greg: I would love to find a fun way to bring back Die Hard. In a way that’s less old…

[laughter]

Greg: Try and bring back the fun of the original. It’s my favorite film, and I’ve just been so disillusioned by where it’s gone. I would love to see the series re-done…

Brian: Do it from the villain’s perspective, man. Reverse it.

Greg: I’ll do it as a young Hans Gruber, set in Germany. [laughs] Quick, somebody call Fassbender.

FScott Frazier: It’s a prequel to Die Hard.

Chris McCoy: Discover a cool way that that guy got that way.

Brian: Like how he met his wife.

[laughter]

For Part 1 of the Roundtable conversation, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Part 6, here.

Part 7, here.

Part 8, here.

Part 9, here.

On Twitter:

Brian Duffield: @BrianDuffield

F. Scott Frazier: @ScreenWritten

Chris McCoy: @thatthere

Justin Rhodes: @twopointfour

Many thanks to Wendy Cohen for logistical help with the roundtable.

Tomorrow: Part 11 of this exclusive screenwriter’s roundtable.