Interview: Liz W. Garcia — Part 5

Liz W. Garcia is an American television producer and writer. As a writer, her credits include “Dawson’s Creek,” “Wonderfalls” and “Cold Case”. With her husband, actor Josh Harto, she created and produced the TNT series “Memphis Beat”. Most recently Liz wrote and directed the independent feature film The Lifeguard starring Kristen Bell which will be released in 2013.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak at length with Liz.

Today in Part 5, Liz shares some thoughts about her approach to the writing craft:

Scott: You’re a parent now, right?

Liz: Yeah.

Scott: Boy or a girl?

Liz: I have a little boy, he’s a year and a half.

Scott: A little boy, all right. I’m just curious what advice you would give to a young woman, or a person of color, who wants to break into the business as a screenwriter or a director. Just knowing those challenges, embrace these new things like Twitter, or write YA novels, or do what Lena Dunham done, went out and made a small independent film that was…what advice would you have?

Liz: I think the best advice that I got when I moved to Hollywood still holds. My old boss told me, “If you’re a writer, you have to write. If you are actively writing, and constantly coming up with new samples, and rewriting them, and making sure that you’re great, you are immediately setting yourself ahead of 99 percent of the pack. Because most of the people that say they want to be writers in Hollywood, are not actually writing, and they’re not really pushing themselves.” And I found that to be true. You have to be willing to be the person who is writing at night, after your day job, writing on the weekends when your friends are having fun. The fact is, if you love to write, it’s not that much of a sacrifice, but it does require that type of elbow grease. It really, really does, and that will give you a huge advantage.

Then the other thing I would say, and this is still something that I struggle with in my career, is give a long, hard think as to whether you want to be someone whose career is defined as a career unique to what you have to offer. In other words, are you telling the stories of being a woman of your age from the particular town that you happen to be from with your particular worldview?

If so, write that material that’s really personal, that any sensible agent or manager would tell you not to write because no one’s done it before so there’s no proof that you’re actually going to sell it and it’s going to make a lot of money, but write the pure art that only you have to offer.

Or if you’re someone who wants to participate in the Hollywood mainstream, if you want to be the screenwriter who is getting paid a huge amount to rewrite the Warner Brothers movie that’s currently in production, then study those films and believe that you can do it.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like. If you identify the particular genre that you want to write in and that you want to succeed in, just write the script that’s great that’s like that, and be sort of clinical about what’s required, and know your structure. Know the kind of characteristics that your main character needs to have in order to attract the great actor that guarantees the financing. Then be canny about it and do it.

Scott: That’s a natural segue into some craft questions, if you don’t mind. How do you come up with story ideas?

Liz: When my husband and I are working together, because my husband and I write TV together and so we’re coming up with 10 new TV ideas a year that then get whittled down to the 2 that we’re then going to go out and pitch, we are just constantly having this discussion. Some ideas don’t get fully cracked and they get carried over into the next year, but they’re based on articles that we read or discussions we have. You just pull from your life. I’ve learned to recognize that if there is an idea that has stuck with me for a few years that it is definitely an idea that I will wind up writing. Because writing is so hard. It takes so much time to get to the point where you’re willing to say, put aside your paying job and work on that thing on spec just because you love it, that in order to do that you have to so love the idea that it won’t leave you. It lingers.

It’s been seven years now and you keep thinking about that article you read, and it moves you, and you can’t get it out of your head. That’s the one. That means that that is something. That’s a fiery coal and you shouldn’t ignore it. You should go toward it. It has some power over you.

Scott: For people who are writing spec scripts, how important do you think the story concept is to the overall commercial viability of a script?

Liz: I think there are two kinds of spec scripts. If you’re actually writing a spec script that you want to sell, then the story is everything. I think if you’re writing a spec script that you want to be a sample of your voice, then it’s about your character, and it’s about your dialogue. In an ideal world it’s both. You have a great idea and you render a fantastic character. You flush that with fantastic characters who actors will want to play. But, I think you need to know what your goal is. For instance, the future script that I wrote previous to “The Lifeguard,” really done the most for my career.

“One Percent More Humid,” it was a very clear example of my voice. I wrote it because I was compelled to write it and I thought I would never show anyone. Because it felt personal and it felt edgy and I thought I might be embarrassed by it. Because it was all of those things, it’s been the best calling card for me.

It’s not commercial. It’s a small movie about two young women and their relationship over one summer. If I had written that thinking I was going to sell it, I would be a fool. If I had come up with a million dollar idea, that would be something that I could sell, and were I able to put great characters on top of it, that would be great. The thing that really makes your spec show out there on the marketplace is the commercial idea.

Scott: How much time do you spend in prep writing and which aspects of prep do you tend to devote the most time to? Is it a brain storming, character development, plotting, that sort of thing?

Liz: Plotting. I spend, say if my husband and I are working on a pilot idea or a feature idea that we’re going to write together and the intention is to sell it, we spend a lot of time breaking the story and working on the outline. I think that is tremendously valuable. We leave some of the character work to be discovered in the writing. You have to save some mystery, that’s like the dessert. Outlining is really tough work and it’s the necessary work that I loathe. It’s necessary so you don’t get lost while you’re writing the script.

But, you have to have something left to discover during the writing process or you won’t be inspired. There won’t be any magic that happens. We tend to let this particular voice of the characters wait until we’re writing.

When I’m writing something, like when I wrote “One Percent More Humid,” or when I was writing “The Lifeguard,” my process is really different than that. I will for instance, sit down, and if there’s a scene that I’m really drawn to, I’ll just write it, not knowing where it’s going to end up in the script, or maybe have some sense of this is something that doesn’t come until the end of act two.

I’ll write it so that I’ll start to get a sense of the characters and of the tone. Then I’ll write down, say I have vague ideas about the central plot points and I’ll put them in order. There’ll just be a few phrases that constitute the exciting incident, like end of act one, something else that happens, the conflict deepens.

But it’s not from an outline. They’re basically slug lines. Then I will keep that back and forth thing going for a while, where I’m writing down the things that I know are going to happen that really entice me, and then writing down the slug lines that I also know are going to happen. Until, eventually, all the slug lines are turned into real scenes that becomes the full script.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Liz continues her thoughts on the craft of screenwriting.

For Part 1, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

Please stop by comments to thank Liz and ask any questions you may have.

Liz is repped by CAA and Madhouse Entertainment.

Twitter: @lizwgarcia.