Go Into The Story Interview: Justin Marks
My in-depth interview with the screenwriter of The Jungle Book and creator/co-executive producer of the hit Starz TV series “Counterpart”.
Screenwriter Justin Marks has been described as the “most gainfully employed professional fanboy on the planet right now.” Understandably so given the fact Justin has written such projects The Raven, Super Max, Suicide Squad, Shadow of the Colossus, Hack/Slash and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo.
The Hollywood Reporter featured this guest column Justin wrote called “My Life as a Screenwriter You’ve Never Heard Of.”
Justin has written over 20 movie projects. This interview in 6-parts offers an informed perspective of the craft from Hollywood’s front lines.
Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview:
Part 1: “Survival in this business is all about holding onto the branch until you finally find your place. That’s what everyone’s doing. When you do that, you start to form these communities with the other people who are holding on next to you.”
Part 2: “You’re not doing it for the money, you’re not doing it for the name in lights. You’re doing it to keep working.”
Part 3: “It’s like architecture. You can design a building, but once you open the doors, people are going to make it their own. That contradiction, of spontaneity and planning, has to be present when you’re doing world building and sci‑fi. There has to be a sense of a future that has unintentional scuff on it.”
Part 4: “So the scene you’re writing, the one that’s going to be shot that day, it has to be worth the trip. It has to be worth bringing 200 people out of bed, and into the Canadian winter to create something.”
Part 5: “If you can’t cut a trailer in your own head for how your spec script would look, then it’s probably not a good spec script to be writing right now.”
Part 6: “…so much of the time, succeeding in this business is pure, dumb luck. The only way you can overcome dumb luck is with persistence, is with continuing to show up at that table.”
Justin is repped by CAA and Madhouse Entertainment.
Twitter: @Justin_Marks_
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