Interview: Barbara Stepansky (2013 Nicholl Winner, 2013 Black List)

Barbara Stepansky’s original screenplay “Sugar in My Veins” not only won the filmmaker a 2013 Nicholl fellowship, it also landed on the 2013 Black List.

Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “I actually worked as an ice cream girl at the cinema there first. Because in Germany at the time you had these girls that come in, and they sell you ice cream in the break between the commercials and the movie. Then, I made the switch to projectionist, which I had to beg my boss for because no girl had ever done that before.”

Part 2: “I really had never asked anyone for an autograph before and never again after. She signed my crappy student postcard with the words, ‘To Barbara. You can do it, too. Karen Moncrieff’”.

Part 3: “The kernel of the idea I’ve had for a long time. There’s actually a 2002 draft lying around, that I just didn’t touch for nine years.”

Part 4: “It’s my job to make sure that everything tracks emotionally from each [character’s] perspective.”

Part 5: “The most time I devote to is character. I think that plots develop out of character needs and wants. I think the most fun comes from watching people do something and spend time with them.”

Part 6: “There is really no good excuse not to write unless you actually don’t want to be a writer. There is no excuse.”

Please stop by comments to thank Barbara for taking the time for the interview and post any follow-up questions you may have.

Barbara is repped by ICM Partners and Hertzberg Media.

Twitter: @bstepansky