Interview: Ben Jacoby

Here is an interview I did with Ben Jacoby. This has a particularly unique hook in that I have an email thread with Ben dating back to July 30, 2013. Every several months, Ben would contact me with the latest development in his writing life, so in effect the emails are a living history of his emerging screenwriting career. The fact he has been a longtime GITS follower makes his story especially satisfying.

Ben is writing the prequel The First Omen.

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

Part 1: “I never read any of the screenwriting guru books because I just don’t think you can approach art that way. But, to listen to advice from people who had been there, who are actively doing it, advice about the craft and the life, the struggle… that’s what’s helpful.”

Part 2: “You have to perform well, and you have to write well, and you have to be dedicated and driven. But you absolutely have to cultivate relationships. If you meet someone, connect with them, and end up working for them, and they like what you’ve done, you’ve just opened another 20 potential doors.”

Part 3: “Just find a way to write. I would bring my laptop on the bus in New York and write for 20 minutes on my way to work every morning. Then again on the way home. And at lunch too.”

Part 4: “My entire adult life I’ve been living in this state of existential crisis of, ‘I don’t think I have what it takes to devote myself to something other than the arts.’ So basically, either I’ll make it or I’ll be damned.”

Part 5: “If there’s a character at the center of a story that I connect with, that’s all I need to get me going.”

Part 6: “Learning the craft, I would say read all the great resources that are out there now, all the blogs that we’ve talked about, including yours, take advantage of them. They’re really a form of mentorship, a type of film school.”

Ben is repped by Verve and Madhouse Entertainment.