GITS Q&A: Screenwriter F. Scott Frazier (“The Numbers Station,” “Line of Sight,” “Autobahn”) — Part 2
Since 2010, screenwriter F. Scott Frazier has sold four spec scripts. I asked Scott to do an interview and he kindly agreed. Here is a brief bio Scott sent to provide some idea of his background:
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and have spent my entire life here. Right out of high school, I got a job working at a video game company, where I spent nine years climbing the corporate ladder. I’d always wanted to be a writer, it was a dream since as far back as I could remember, but only ever considered it a hobby at best. I got engaged in 2009, and realized I was running out of time to make my dream a reality. So in March, just as the economy was taking a nose dive, I up and quit my day job, to take on writing full time. I didn’t really have a parachute, or a plan of what to do if screenwriting didn’t work out. In January 2010 I was introduced to my manager, and he signed me based off the two scripts I had written the previous year. He in turn introduced me to my agent, and the ball was pretty much rolling at that point. In April 2010 we sold NUMBERS STATION, in August 2010 we sold an as-yet-unannounced spec script, and in February of 2011 we sold LINE OF SIGHT to Warner Bros.
In Part 2 of our interview, we focus on Line of Sight, the mysterious unannounced third project, and some craft questions.
Moving on you say “in August 2010 we [you and your reps H2F and WME] sold an as-yet-unannounced spec script.” Is there anything you can tell us about this project? Genre? Setting? How about just one word from the story’s logline?
The one word I can give you is “the.”
The genre is right in my wheelhouse. Spy-thriller-action movie. We recently got an amazing director attached and we’ll be going out to cast very soon. Hopefully we’ll be able to announce it very shortly.
From a career standpoint, how important was it for you to get that second project set up?
In my view, success breeds success, and once you sell a spec, you find out that actually getting one made is even harder. So the more possibilities you have, the more irons you have in the fire, the better it is for your career.
When may we expect to hear some particulars about this project?
Maybe at the beginning of the new year? I know the producer is very excited about making a big announcement once a cast is in place.
Wait, there’s more. On February 25, 2011, you sell LINE OF SIGHT to Warner Bros. Here’s the plot summary from the trades:
Plot details are being kept out of sight, but it is described as a high-concept action film set around a large-scale threat on American soil. (But no aliens are involved.) Also key script is that the story is told via a POV.
Where did this idea originate? What was the time frame for developing and writing this script?
My manager, Chris Fenton, has always said that every general meeting you take is a lottery ticket. I had met Alex Heineman at Joel Silver’s company off of one of these general meetings. And in November 2010, he came to me with an idea that I got excited about almost immediately. We developed it together and I wrote the script over Christmas vacation. We did some minor rewrites in January and sold it in February.
Could you give us a bit more about the story being told “via a POV”?
Warner Brothers is actually keeping a lot of that under wraps right now and while I wish I could tell you…
THE NUMBERS STATION is, I believe, budgeted at around $15M. However by the sound of it, LINE OF SIGHT appears to be a significantly bigger budget movie. Did taking on a story much larger in scope affect the way you approached writing the script? Did it add any pressure to your process knowing the studios would perhaps take a more critical view of the content in order to justify spending a lot more money?
I’ve actually always been more comfortable with bigger movies. I grew up in the era of the summer blockbuster and that kind of larger-than-life storytelling has always appealed to me.
I would actually say that NUMBERS STATION is more the anomaly and that it’s a smaller more intimate story with a handful of characters. My orignal intention when writing NUMBERS STATION was to make it myself for $40,000 in somebody’s basement.
The size and scale of LINE OF SIGHT is definitely more my speed in terms of going forward in my career.
What’s the status of that script?
LINE OF SIGHT is currently in development at Warner Brothers with Ben Affleck attached to star, produce, and direct.
Given the fact you have written and sold three spec scripts, where does that put you in terms of open writing assignments and pitches? Have you been pursuing either or both? What’s that experience been like?
Throughout all of 2011 I’ve been going on non-stop pitches and assignment work. It’s draining but it’s also the business side of being a screenwriter. And I feel like I’ve found a balance between chasing jobs and still having time to write my own spec scripts.
I think it’s necessary for new screenwriters to be getting out there and meeting creative executives, studio executives, and doing this part of the dance. But I firmly believe that the currency of the screenwriter is a finished script. Not an outline, not a take, not a beat sheet, not a rough draft. A finished script. You just have to be careful you don’t fall into the trap where you stop writing and spend three years chasing jobs.
If I may assume your second project is an action story, that would make three specs in the same genre. Is this a reflection of your specific area of interest as a writer or is it more of a business decision, choosing to work in one genre to establish you in Hollywood as an action writer?
No, it’s more due to my interest than anything else. I love watching all kinds of movies from action movies to romantic comedies, but the types of stories that end up speaking to me the most are movies with a definitive heartbeat of action and adventure. I am somewhat varied when it comes to tone, but otherwise I’m an action writer through and through.
Okay, time for some craft questions. How do you come up with story ideas? How important do you think the story concept is to the overall marketability of a screenplay?
Mostly my story ideas come from the world around me. Like that NPR story for example. I’m a voracious reader. And I also like to question things that I see or hear about.
I think it’s very important. People want to see new, fresh ideas. And while I know it’s trendy to do remakes and sequels and prequels right now, the original story is always going to trump the repeated story. Even if it’s something like Avatar which is the same but different. People always seem to respond more to creativity than to brands or previously seen characters.
Which of the aspects of prep (i.e., brainstorming, character development, plotting, research, outlining) do you tend to devote the most time and focus to?
Probably structure and plotting. The first notecards I’ll ever put up on the wall are the end of act one and the end of act two. I like to know basically where I’m headed before I start writing the script, but my outlines are usually pretty light when I get into a rough draft. I’ll have a vague sense of what kinds of characters I need for the story — who the protagonist is, who the antagonist is — but I usually don’t plan anything beyond that.
I also like to plan my set pieces pretty well in advance. So for something like LINE OF SIGHT, I brainstormed 100 different beats that I thought would be cool from a POV perspective.
During the brainstorming phase (which I usually don’t spend more than a week on) I’ll also have random bits of dialogue, random scene descriptions, random character moments, random action beats written down on note cards or on a white board to use as kind of like a road map through the rough draft.
Is there a specific approach you use to dig into your characters and develop them? If so, what are some of those techniques?
Like I said, on my rough draft, I try not to think about the characters outside of their purpose for moving the story along. Though I’ll typically find some character moments within the rough draft, I tend not to focus on it until the rewrites, where I’ll spend an entire rewrite pass working on a single character’s scenes and dialogue and moments.
When I do this, I typically like to read back the script in one sitting and make notes along the way. By the end of it, I’ll usually have a pretty good understanding of where the characters went wrong and where they can be strengthened.
Do you have some key screenwriting principles you keep in mind at all times while developing and writing a script?
To me, the best stories are always about conflict and change. If I don’t have either one of those things in every scene, I stop myself and reevaluate.
Name three movies for which you wish you could have written the screenplay.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
GALAXY QUEST
RONIN
Finally what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about the craft?
Worship at the altar of done. Finish your rough draft. Then rewrite it. There comes a time when you have to realize that not every scene can be perfect the first time you write it. And there comes a time when you realize that the truly great scenes can’t actually be constructed until you’ve seen the script as a whole entity.
Again some terrific takeaway and insight into how to think like a professional screenwriter. And incredibly in the time I sent Scott my initial set of questions, he sold Autobahn [which you can read about here].
So guess what? Scott has agreed to answer questions about that project, too, putting himself in for some seriously good karma. Look for that tomorrow.
In the meantime, please head into comments and let Scott know you appreciate him taking the time to share his observations with us.
For Part 1 of the interview, go here.
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