Interview: Destin Daniel Cretton — Part 6

One of my favorite movies of 2013 is Short Term 12, so I was understandably excited when its talented writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton agreed to an interview. Our hour-long conversation did not disappoint.

Destin’s script “Short Term 12″ won a 2010 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship. He used that to write the script for the 2012 movie I Am Not A Hipster which Destin also directed.

Today in Part 6, Destin talks about his approach to the craft of screenwriting:

Scott: A few craft questions for you, okay?

Destin: Yeah, sure.

Scott: How do you come up with story ideas?

Destin: Stories often pop into my head when I least expect it. It’s rarely a forced thing for me, and doesn’t usually happen the same way twice. They come from things that I hear or see or feel in my day to day experiences.

Scott: How much time do you spend in prep-writing (i.e., brainstorming, character development, plotting, research, outlining)? Which of the aspects of prep do you tend to devote the most time and focus to?

Destin: I spend a lot of time in my head before I sit down to write. I like to have a good idea of the structure of the story before I put fingers to the keys and see what else spills out. If I start writing too early, I find it hard to stay focused and can venture off on tangents.

Scott: What about dialogue? How do you go about finding your characters’ voices? How can a writer develop their ability writing dialogue?

Destin: I’m always wanting to get better with dialogue, and looking for ways to that. I love listening to people talk on buses and coffee shops. I also like modeling characters after people I know, or have met at some point. That usually helps me to see them as a multifaceted person and not just a caricature.

Scott: How would you define theme? How important is it? Do you start with themes or do they arise in the context of developing and writing the story?

Destin: For me, the themes grow from the questions that my characters are grappling with. I start with a character and find the theme from their point of view.

Scott: What do you think about when writing a scene? What are your goals?

Destin: Before, during, and after writing a scene, I ask myself if it’s interesting. If it’s not, I re-write it.

Scott: What is your single best excuse not to write?

Destin: I’m pretty good at finding any excuse not to write. A pretty common one is: I don’t feel like it.

Scott: What do you love most about writing?

Destin: I love that moment in a story’s development when the characters begin to feel like real people who I can’t wait to spend time with. At that point, it doesn’t really feel like writing anymore, just hanging out with friends.

Scott: Obviously the character work Short Term 2012 is great. How do you go about developing your characters?

Destin: It’s different for every character. Grace, the character really interested me on a number of levels. The first inspiration came from one of my supervisors, who was a young mid twenty year‑old individual and I was just impressed with how well she ran the floor. She had so much strength even though I don’t think that was her typical personality. It seemed a little bit more shy and more reserved, but when she came onto the floor she really took control and was one of the best supervisors I worked with.

Most of the characters in this movie are based on people that I know. That’s always the easiest way to talk about it. The Nathan character was created out of necessity, out of wondering what type of person Grace would allow into her life. Because she’s so guarded and because of the things she’s dealing with, she is probably fine being alone. She has a lot of reservations about being in a relationship with a male.

The person she would choose has to be extremely non‑threatening and also somebody who is extremely patient and empathetic to whatever she’s dealing with because she is a person who requires a lot of patience. Those are things that the Nathan character came from.

Scott: You mentioned a coffee shop earlier, so I’m curious what’s your actual writing process like?

Destin: I do a lot of writing in my head for a while and then I start outlining and just throwing ideas down on the notes in my iPhone or notes in my little book or whatever I have at the time. Everything that I do I stitch them to the world that I’m thinking of. I’ll just toss in stories that I hear or things that I see and try to work them into somewhat of an outline.

If I’m on a deadline, I’ll work everyday, at a coffee shop with bad phone reception and sporadic internet connection. I write, take walks, write more, take more walks, stretch, drink some tea, try to write again.

When I start writing I just have to keep reminding myself to make every scene interesting. That’s basically all I try to do.

Scott: Put that up on the wall. “Make every scene interesting.” Finally, what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters or filmmakers about learning the craft of working in the business as a filmmaker?

Destin: My motivation has never been to break into the business. Maybe that has allowed me to ignore a lot of the things. There’re a lot of people who like to tell you specific things that you need to do in order to make it in this industry. I was at the stage where I was trying a lot of those things and it was debilitating artistically because my natural personality didn’t really go along with that go get them mentality.

For me, personally, when I started to take the pressure off and was like if I can find a job that I can pay my rent with and I can make movies on the side for a hobby for the rest of my life I’ll be extremely happy. Once I told myself that I started writing things and chasing stories that I would tell, whether or not I would get paid for it, it was, for me, one of the best things I could have done.

I don’t know about for other people who want to break into Hollywood or whatever, maybe that wouldn’t be the best way to go, but for me personally it was the best thing for me. It took a lot of pressure off and it allowed me to create more honest art.

For Part 1, go here.

Part 2, go here.

Part 3, go here.

Part 4, go here.

Part 5, go here.

The official movie site is here.

Destin is repped by WME.

UPDATE: Could it be Destin Daniel Cretton directing Jennifer Lawrence in The Glass Castle? That’s what Variety is reporting. Can’t think of a better combination!