Interview: Lindsay Devlin (“Devil’s Due”) — Part 5
January has turned out to be a reliable month for Hollywood with regard to one genre in particular: Horror. This year was no different when Twentieth Century Fox released Devil’s Due, a movie that thus far has brought in over four times its production budget in box office revenues.
The movie’s success is one reason I was excited to interview its screenwriter Lindsay Devlin. Another reason is her extensive background working in Hollywood on the story development side of things.
Lindsay and I had a terrific conversation, and I’m pleased to share her many insights into the craft of screenwriting and the movie business, along with her creative process with the film Devil’s Due.
Today in Part 5, Lindsay reveals some of her trade secrets in terms of the craft of screenwriting:
Scott: How about some craft questions?
Lindsay: Sure.
Scott: I can’t think of a better person to ask this question than you, given your experience at CAA with that creative group, but how do you come up with story ideas?
Lindsay: Probably because of that experience at CAA, it’s kind of a mixed bag.
I look at articles, whether it’s true stories, or scientific‑based things, to kind of find those kernels. I look at old films, to see if there are premises that could be reinvigorated or modernized. I love books, so I’m always looking, whether it’s Amazon or on my own bookshelves, or to classics, just trying to find that next diamond in the rough, something that’s been looked over or can be reinvented.
I wrote an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty a few years ago…we’ve seen a lot of these reinvented fairy tales, but I like to reinvent, whether it’s classic novels or fairy tales, so honestly, it’s kind of a big wide open mixed bag. Looking back at the scripts I’ve written, there have been… Let me think, three originals, two adaptations, and a couple of these reinventions of things.
I like doing all of it. The new thing I’m working on is a historical‑based true story. That’s something new for me, and I’m very excited about that.
Scott: Again, I think you’re the perfect person to ask this question. I tell my students, and people on my blog constantly about the importance of the story idea. I oftentimes will quote Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner, who had nothing to do with screenwriting, but he did have this comment I think is entirely appropriate. He said, “The best way to come up with a good idea is to come up with a lot of ideas.”
Do you agree with that?
Lindsay: Absolutely. Because sometimes the good idea doesn’t come until you really start generating a lot. I’m constantly doing that, whether it’s in a notebook or just in front of my computer. I will just start to brainstorm ideas, themes, worlds.
I think you can’t be precious to just try to come up with “The One.” The few times that I did that and sat on it, or took forever to write it up, honestly, those are the ones that I read about in the trades that people beat me to, and then you’re like, “Great, now what do I have?”
That one thing is already used up, so I would definitely agree with that sentiment, it’s a great quote.
Scott: This idea of kernel, I talk with my students, again I say, “You’re not just looking for story concept, you’re looking for the story conceit like, ‘What is that exact, precise, little thing that’s going to hook a person’s attention?’” Devil’s Due, it’s paranormal pregnancy, right?
Lindsay: Mm‑hmm.
Scott: So how important do you think that kernel is, that story conceit, that tiny little thing that can hook people? How important do you think that is to the overall strength and commercial viability of a spec script?
Lindsay: I think it’s kind of everything. There certainly have been specs that are just beautifully written, indie kind of scripts that are very execution driven like…something like Lars and the Real Girl. But I don’t think you could necessarily pitch that. I think that’s the reason that Devil’s Due sold so quickly, is that it was just something you could just wrap your head around so easily.
You could see the poster, but also thematically you could understand that it would be universally appealing.
I think being able to summarize your idea in the really concise log line kind of way, where people just get it, they get it on the visceral level, they get it on a commercial marketing level. It’s the hardest thing to do, and yet when you get it, it’s just pure gold, pure magic.
Scott: How about prep writing? Brainstorming, character development, plotting, research, outlining. Which aspects of prep do you tend to devote the most time and focus to?
Lindsay: I think it depends on what it is. Because like the thing I’m doing now, which is based on a historical figure, I’ve done a ton of research of what actually happened and the details of the world, and so that’s taking a lot of time.
Then culling through that, you need to find the cinematic core. Because it’s based on a true story, but of course you don’t want to just do a boring biopic. Now really honing in on the character arc is going to be my next big challenge.
With an adaptation, it’s totally different because you have a book with a world and characters already set up for you, and you’ve got to weed through it and have a very discerning eye on where the movie is, and what to excise, and then reinvent.
Like with Reboot, and Beta…they’re both wonderful books for what they are, but I had to reinvent many of the rules of the world, and come up with the movie version of what these books were.
Scott: How do you go about developing your characters? Are there specific tools you use or techniques, or do you just sort of feel your way into them?
Lindsay: I think, the latter. I spend a lot of time identifying the arc; where this character starts, where the character ends, and why the hell we give a shit. What are we rooting for, and specifically, why does this character, with these set of problems, need to go on this specific journey?
Like, “Why does the story and the character match?” Which is what I was saying about Devil’s Due, and I felt like that was the right character choice for somebody who was going to be thrown into this world.
For me, that’s the most important thing: to find that perfect match of the hero’s journey. Even if it’s an anti‑hero, why are we going to follow this person in this world?
And even if it leads to a dark ending, what do we want to feel? That can take a long time, honestly. Sometimes, I don’t want to break any story or any plot point, until I have that figured out.
Scott: What about dialogue? How do you go about finding your characters’ voices?
Lindsay: I acted in productions growing up through college, and I feel like I have an internal sense of dialogue from my acting days. But mostly, from reading a lot of good and bad scripts as an executive, and paying attention to dialogue I love in movies.
I try to feel my characters as I’m writing them, and it just comes out of that, naturally. Then, what I like to do ‑‑ and my husband and I usually do this together ‑‑ we usually read through our scripts and listen to them, and hear what’s sounding natural, what’s sounding forced. But it’s a skill that’s still evolving, and every script and character has its own challenge in that regard.
Scott: How about theme? How important is it to you? Are you one of those writers that starts with some idea of key themes in a story? Or do they tend to arise out of the development and writing of the story?
Lindsay: Ideally, I like to start with theme. It’s hard to know where to take that character or really how to shape a story, if you don’t know what you’re saying, if you don’t know what the theme is.
I’ve written drafts and come up with stories that I was stumbling through the theme, or figured it would come out eventually. But those are never my strongest scripts. I definitely find as I keep progressing and learning my craft, that the absolute best thing to do is to start with a really strong point of view, that you want to say something.
I think the best movies are ones where you can really feel it. Not that they’re shoving it down your throat, but you come away with that movie feeling like it was saying something, and it did have a point of view.
I feel like the weakest movies are ones where you go, “I don’t really even know what that was about, or what it was trying to say. It was just two hours of fun, or something.” Whatever the genre is, I think it’s really important to have a strong theme.
Tomorrow in Part 6, Lindsay gives some advice to aspiring screenwriters about how to approach breaking into Hollywood.
For Part 1 of the interview, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Part 4, here.
Special treat: The Bitter Script Reader conducted an interview with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, co-director of Devil’s Due. You may read that interview here:
Interesting to compare the perspectives of both writer and director.
Lindsay Devlin is repped by UTA and Mosaic.
Twitter: @DevlinLindsay.
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