Interview: James DiLapo (2012 Nicholl Winner, 2012 Black List) — Part 1

James DiLapo’s original screenplay “Devils at Play” not only won the young screenwriter a 2012 Nicholl fellowship, it also landed on the 2012 Black List, garnering 28 votes, the 9th highest total of any script on the list this year. In January, Warner Bros. hired DiLapo to write the futuristic re-telling of Homer’s The Odyssey.

In addition for those of you who happen to be in Marfa, Texas this weekend, there is this:

Ballroom Marfa’s distinguished Filmmakers’ Selection Committee has chosen Academy Nicholl winner James DiLapo’s script “Devils At Play” to be presented as the 2013 production of The Reading on Saturday, May 18 at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, Texas. Film director Julia Dyer (The Playroom and Late Bloomers) has been brought on board to direct the staged performance of “Devils At Play” for The Reading. Veteran film producer Carolyn Pfeiffer and Ballroom Marfa board member Nancy Sanders return as producers. As part of Ballroom Marfa’s continuing film program, “Devils At Play” will be performed by actors with scripts in hand, full stage direction, state-of-the-art lighting and sound for this year’s presentation of The Reading.

James was kind enough to agree to an interview and recently we had a wide-ranging hour-long conversation in which we covered a lot of territory related to screenwriting. I will be posting the whole interview over the course of this week, definitely a Q&A you will want to read in its entirety as James offers some terrific insight into the craft.

Today in Part 1, we cover how James got into screenwriting:

Scott: How and when did you become interested in movies?

James: It’s something that’s been a part of my life since I was a little kid. Some of my earliest memories are watching films with my family. When I was growing up, my dad really gave me a film school education. He was a big fan of the old Al Pacino Robert De Niro films. He loves movies from the late ’60s and ’70s. So I remember from a young age watching Dog Day Afternoon with him. Serpico, Apocalypse Now, Bonnie and Clyde. I think that’s where the joy of this came into my life.

Scott: When did you become aware of the fact that people actually wrote movies? What about that aspect of the craft that interested you enough to pursue it?

James: I don’t know necessarily when I figured out there’s people who actually write them, but I was sort of just doing that in my own head as a little kid. I would come up with the ideas for movies, and work them over and over in my imagination. I would live with them, and I still do with some of those stories.

Scott: I understand you moved like dozen times before you went to college.

James: I moved around a lot. The longest was in Portland, Oregon. Then after that, I went to Columbus, Ohio and then New York City for college, then Minneapolis. So the longest part of my growing up was Portland.

Scott: You went NYU and studied screenwriting and history. Is that correct?

James: Yes. I had a major in screenwriting and a minor in history.

Scott: Why that combination? What was the interest in history?

James: They both have always just been huge passions for me. I didn’t take history classes for stories, I think it’s just important to try to branch out and find as many different things that fascinate you as possible.

Scott: You were a recipient of the Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in screenwriting, from the Writer’s Guild of America East. As part of that fellowship, you were mentored by some professional screenwriters while working on your script, “Devils At Play”. Who were those writers and what was that experience like?

James: My mentor on the project was Richard LaGravenese. He was great. He taught me some really important lessons. The one that sticks with me the most is that when it comes to story telling you have to strive for a sense of emotional authenticity at all costs. Emotional authenticity, even with a period piece, is more important than historical authenticity. If you can get the audience to feel as if they are there with the characters in that setting, experiencing the world that they are in- that’s the closest we can come to being there. We can’t recreate a world, but we can recreate the emotions of it.

Scott: How did the chain of events play out, with regards to “Devils At Play” and the Nicholl Fellowship?

James: I got the idea for “Devils At Play” during college, and I was fortunate enough to receive a fellowship from the Writer’s Guild East after I graduated to write it. So there was about a year after graduation when I was just reading very big red books on the Soviet Union, working crappy part time jobs in New York City, and writing “Devils At Play.” When I finished it I wasn’t entirely sure what the next step would be. I submitted it to Nicholl and waited. When I won it completely changed my life.

Scott: What happened then to you professionally?

James: The Nicholl Fellowship has crated opportunities for me that I would have never had before. I think that’s the real gift of the fellowship. It gives you the chance to reach out to this industry and find people who want to work with you. I was an outsider before this happened, and it’s completely changed everything. I’m very, very grateful for that.

Scott: You’re represented by Verve and Kaplan/Perrone. How did that come about?

James: I first met my manager first, Alex Lerner from Kaplan/Perrone, while I was in Los Angeles for the Nicholl ceremony. We clicked really well. Your manager is kind of like your partner-in-crime. You got to pick someone you trust, someone who will have your back. Alex is that guy.

Getting my agents at Verve is kind of a funny story. I went back to Minneapolis in December to visit my folks, and the guys at Verve called me up out of the blue one day and said they wanted to work with me. I told them I appreciated that, but wasn’t going to make a decision on picking an agent until I moved to Los Angeles in a few months.

“Okay,” they said. “We respect that.” They hung up.

A few days later they called me up again and told me that, respectfully, I didn’t have time to wait on picking an agent because the Mayan Apocalypse was coming. They told me that the world was about to end in a fiery explosion, so we had to act fast and sell a script before we all died. I told them that I appreciated that, but again I was going to wait.

“Okay,” they said. “We respect that.” They hung up.

A few days later they called again. This time they assured me that I had to sign with them because they were very handsome, far more handsome than any other agents I was going to meet. They just kept going at it. To be honest, I was really impressed with how much they were willing to hustle. They got a great sense of humor, but they’re also true professionals. It’s been amazing working with them and Alex. It feels like I’ve found the right people.

Tomorrow in Part 2, we dig into what attracted James to the script project “Devils at Play” and his approach to writing it.

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

James is repped by Verve and Kaplan/Perrone.

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