Interview: Alan Roth (2013 Nicholl Winner)

Alan Roth’s original screenplay “Jersey City Story” won him one of five 2013 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I caught up with Alan recently for an interview. Our conversation turned out to be both insightful and inspirational.

Here are links to all five installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “I found that writing was a way to put my feelings down on paper. To this day, if there’s something on my mind, I really can’t put it to rest until I write it out, even if it’s a note to myself.”

Part 2: “In the first 40 or so pages, as isolated and as tough an exterior as he seems to have, there is the suggestion of vulnerability. It was a delicate balance.”

Part 3: “My godson was the inspiration in parts for both Danny and Paulie, the boy living in Poe’s old bedroom in the projects. My godson lived in Jersey City projects. His father, my friend, passed away, and I became a fixture in his life.”

Part 4: “One of the most courageous acts that a man can undertake is to look in the mirror and embrace the truth. It’s a lonely moment and possibly a very painful one.”

Part 5: “You have to be completely focused on it and ready to put everything else to the side. If you’re not willing to do that, you’ll be competing against other writers who are willing to do that.”

Alan is repped by Nate Miller and Dan Halsted at Manage-ment.