Interview: Ashleigh Powell (2012 Black List) — Part 5
Ashleigh Powell hit it big in 2012 when she sold her dystopian thriller “Somacell” to Warner Bros, officially marking her entry into the ranks of professional screenwriter.
Today in Part 5, Ashleigh sheds some light on her approach to the craft of screenwriting.
Scott: How about some craft questions?
Ashleigh: OK.
Scott: How do you come up with story ideas?
Ashleigh: I don’t know. It’s different all the time. Sometimes it will start with a character that comes to mind that I think could be interesting, or a basic premise that might be fun to explore. Also, I was an English major, and I was a total bookworm growing up. So I’ve read a lot of stories over the years and I’m fascinated by this trend of taking classic mythologies or classic stories and finding new ways to reimagine them or reinterpret them. I think there’s something very cool about that.
Scott: Like genre bending something, right?
Ashleigh: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s really fun.
Scott: You’ve been a script reader so you’ve experienced that side of the desk. And you’re a writer, so you’ve been on that side of the desk. How important do you think the story concept is to the overall marketability or strength of a screenplay?
Ashleigh: I think it’s probably the most important thing, apart from execution. If you’re starting with a premise that inherently isn’t marketable then you’re fighting an uphill battle from the very beginning. A lot of those early scripts I wrote, they were incredibly esoteric and they were very interesting for me personally but I just don’t know that they would ever actually find an audience. So I think that’s a big concern.
Scott: How much time do you spend on prep writing, brainstorming, character development, plotting, research, outlining and so on?
Ashleigh: It’s different with every project. Usually I’ll start with a one page synopsis, just the basic beats of the story. Then I go to note cards, and then I go to a full outline. What I’ve discovered recently, now that I’m able to collaborate with people on projects and I’m not just writing in a bubble, is that the outlining process can be very, very, extensive. It can take months and it can involve a 10 to 20 page beat sheet where every single moment is right there on the page. Whereas if I’m writing a spec and working it out on my own, then I might stop after a 4–5 page basic outline of the story and then just dive in and start writing and make discoveries in the draft as I’m going through.
Scott: It sounds like you’ve developed the ability to approach writing screenplays in two different ways. One is working within the system, where they want to see pretty much the story before they commit to it. Then the other, when you’re doing it on spec you have a little more opportunity to dive in and discover the story along the way.
Ashleigh: Yeah. It’s straddling those two different approaches.
Scott: How do you go about developing your characters?
Ashleigh: For me, how my characters speak informs a lot about who they are and how they see the world. Really nailing down that voice helps me shape their character traits from there.
Scott: That leads to dialogue. Do you think that’s a talent writers are born with or is it something that can be developed?
Ashleigh: It can be developed to an extent, but I think it’s something that some people just have a natural ear for, so that makes them ahead of the curve. I’ve read so many scripts where that’s not the case that I think it’s probably, in large part, something that can only be cultivated so far.
Scott: What do you think about themes and how do you work with them when you’re writing?
Ashleigh: Theme is something that has always felt very elusive and intimidating to me. Maybe it comes from reading a lot of literature, having to dissect and analyze and write serious essays on the importance of “THEME” in a story. But I recently read a piece of advice… this comes from Tawnya Bhattacharya from the Script Anatomy blog… that has really struck with me: “Theme is the opposite of your main character’s flaw.” You start the story with the main character’s flaw, you show how that character is transforming over the course of their journey, and by the end of it they’ve completed an arc and realized the theme. I think there is something beautifully simplified about that approach.
In Part 6, Ashleigh talks more about the craft of screenwriting.
For Part 1 of the series, go here
For Part 2, go here.
For Part 3, go here.
For Part 4, go here.
Please stop by comments to thank Ashleigh and ask any questions you may have.
Ashleigh is repped by the Gersh Agency and BenderSpink.
You may follow Ashleigh on Twitter: @SecretEnemyAsh.