2014 Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 11): 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 11:

Scott Myers: Last question here for you all. I was trying to leave with something that’s a takeaway for readers. If you could to go back in time to when you were on the outside looking in, is there one thing that you would have done that would have expedited things or helped you move forward?

Or maybe, contrarily, something that you were doing you wish you hadn’t done, and that might have sped things up or made your life a smoother transition into Hollywood?

Justin: I’ve done mostly sci‑fi stuff and pretty big budgets, and what that means is that the poker game you’re playing is always high‑stakes. If I could go back, I probably would have tried to come in with something that you could make for 20 million, instead of everything having to be 80 or more.

That’s probably a simpler, easier way to get stuff made and get stuff moving, because people won’t always have sticker shock with everything that you’re trying to do.

Scott Myers: That 20 million and under does seem to be pretty significant…

Justin: If you have a budget that’s let’s say 75 or 85 million dollars, and even the studio is happy about it, they’re going to make a list of five or six actors that they feel comfortable leveraging themselves for. Now your entire project, getting the movie made or not, depends upon if they get the actor that they feel safe with, because of how much money they’re spending.

Whereas if you get down to lower budgets, the list of people that they’re comfortable hanging the franchise on gets a lot bigger. I wish I’d done more of that, and I probably should start to try and do some of that now.

Scott Myers: That’s a good takeaway — putting on your producer’s hat on a little bit and thinking in terms of budget.

Chris McCoy: I think the thing that younger screenwriters need to think about as well is that one way or another, like all businesses, Hollywood is a social business. Sometimes on Twitter I see screenwriters going deep into different structural rules and so forth, what should happen on page 15 or page 30, the sort of structural stuff that we were talking about before.

But you’ve got to know people. Otherwise, writing a script can be like building a plane but not knowing where the runway is. It helps to be in Los Angeles, and you can’t just cloister yourself all of the time, because one way or another the people out there in the world are the ones who help make decisions.

I think a lot of times writers are unprepared to go in and pitch and be social and do those kinds of things that all of us, in our heads, say, “No, dammit, I’m going to go to an island or a cabin somewhere and I’m going to write some great thing and everyone’s going to love it.” One way or another, this is a business, and it involves other people, and you need to get used to interacting with them.

Scott Myers: The idea of developing your social or networking capabilities is something that is of importance to an aspiring writer.

Chris McCoy: It’s two different skill sets. Writing is one, pitching to a studio room in front of eight people is a totally different thing. But for our career, we have to resolve the two. You just sort of have to get used to it and hopefully have fun with it, because unless you can talk about what you’re doing, you’re not going to be allowed to do it.

Scott Frazier: I think it’s a mistake to kind of put the two together. I think that being good in a room and networking are not necessarily the same thing. I definitely know a lot of people that think that networking is the key to success. Going to gatherings and that sort of thing. I think that’s… I guess it’s helpful.

But really what’s more helpful, what Chris is talking about, is being comfortable sitting in a room with eight other people and talking to them. Because at the end of the day, regardless of what movie you’re pitching, they’re handing you the keys to the car at that point.

They want to be comfortable doing that, and so to be good in a room and to be comfortable and be able to joke around with people, and talk to people and have a conversation about something other than movies for more than 15 minutes, I think is important. I don’t necessarily know that the networking is, but what Chris is saying is totally true.

Chris McCoy: I just feel like I’ve been at enough parties where I’ve seen people saying, “Hey, we would should do something together.” And you realize that cuts out fifty-five steps of the process of getting a movie made.

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.

Part 10, 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 12 and the conclusion of this exclusive screenwriter’s roundtable.