Interview: Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way:

Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest.

I reached out to friend of the blog Chris Sparling, whose screenwriting credits include Buried, ATM, The Sea of Trees, and The Atticus Institute which he also directed. Chris is adding the role of producer to his credits with “Bed Rest”. He got me in touch with Lori and we ended up having a great one-hour conversation.

Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “When I met my husband on our first date we both realized that Jaws was our favorite movie. When we got married we ended up actually playing the Jaws theme as I went down the aisle.”

Part 2: “I am a proud graduate of Video Store University! When I was in college I worked at a local video store, and having access to all kinds of movies, anytime I wanted, really helped cement my foundation in film and TV.”

Part 3: “A lot of producers and studios like to throw in scares for the sake of it, but it was very important to me that all the scares be firmly anchored in the truth of the story, the characters, or the mythology.”

Part 4: “My manager called and said, ‘Hey, we have a bite. MGM just made an offer.’ So it happened very quickly, and it was really exciting.”

Part 5: “Whenever I start to write, I think about, ‘Would I go see this? Does it pass my babysitter test?’ If not, I’m not going to write the movie.”

Part 6: “Writers really should support each other. And I find the more that you help other people, the more opportunities present themselves to you, as well.”

Lori is repped by ICM Partners and Kaplan/Perrone.