Interview (Part 1): Amy Tofte (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Amy Tofte wrote the original screenplay “Addis Abeka” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her background as a writer and her award-winning screenplay.

Today in Part 1, Amy talks about how she got into writing while growing up in the Midwest:

Scott Myers: I understand you grew up on a farm near Brookings, South Dakota. What was that like and how did you find your interest in writing?

Amy Tofte: It’s a combination of things. Being on the farm, I often only had my siblings to play with. I think not having access to other kids or things to do meant we played outside with a lot of inherent make believe and imagination. I remember all the different worlds that we would have around the farm. Or in the basement. In the barn.

My brother and I would also build forts and things. If we couldn’t ride the real horses, we would ride large tree branches. Those became horses or dragons, and we had these very elaborate story lines. My mom was a teacher, there wasn’t necessarily an emphasis on writing, but we read a lot as kids.

That’s one of my earliest memories is being read to by my mom. Then going to the library when I got old enough to read on my own. My mom gave me Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” the summer after sixth grade. Another book she gave me was, “The Count of Monte Cristo.” There’s something so epic and cinematic about those stories that triggered my imagination. I loved those books.

I was writing short stories and small plays, puppet shows with my brother. I didn’t realize that a screenplay was a thing until I got much older.

Scott: I think South Dakota’s got the highest literacy rate of any state in the United States and that Scandinavian stock, education’s a big deal. And of course, your mom being a teacher, it figures you would end up doing a lot of reading.

Amy: The other thing about teachers in South Dakota is their pay is always the lowest in the country. Or one of the lowest. They’re not necessarily doing it for the paycheck, they really love it. I had a lot of great teachers in public schools. That’s what I remember.

Scott: In your Nicholl acceptance speech, you talked about how you saved up your babysitting money and went to movies.

Amy: Yeah. [laughs]

Scott: What are some of the most important or memorable movies from your youth?

Amy: I actually remember Fatal Attraction in the theater. And seeing Cobra, the Sylvester Stallone movie, in the theater. I was way too young to be seeing those movies. My parents certainly didn’t know. I think we were even forging notes to get in because they were rated R. It was probably a high schooler at the ticket counter. [laughs]

But it’s limited in small towns. You don’t get art house movies or at least not always great movies. Fatal Attraction is a pretty awesome movie, Cobra not so much. I was so blown away by the adult world that movies gave me access to.

And I think I remember Cobra vividly because of the surrealness of it. It was so sexy and scary to me. And cool. So very NOT South Dakota. The movies were like an entire world outside this small place where I lived. It didn’t matter what it was.

I remember being really young when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out, and I had no idea what I was watching but I remember that opening sequence. It wasn’t until I got older and I was able to watch it and really understand it. I loved it.

Our public library also rented movies for free and that’s where I saw the classics. I loved Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe movies. My dad loved westerns and I saw all the Clint Eastwood movies. I saw All About Eve when I was fifteen. I will never forget it. That might be the first movie that really changed me.

Scott: So you’d been doing these little plays and puppet shows at home. There’s a certain amount of writing involved in that, then at some point you make this connection, “There are people who actually write these movies.” You’re living in South Dakota. Did you have any idea at all about how to become a screenwriter?

Amy: No. I think what a lot of kids do is what I did, because the movies felt so…they don’t feel accessible. My hometown, Brookings, is about 20,000 people and Hollywood just doesn’t feel possible, so I did a lot of theater. I did theater in high school. I was acting in a lot of plays. I read a lot of plays. But I loved the movies.

Theater felt like a version of storytelling that I could be involved in. I ended up at the University of Iowa for undergrad and did theater. They had special guests come in from all over the country. But I was still primarily thinking “Oh, I’m going to be an actor.” Because that’s what I knew and I had confidence in that. But I was still writing. I read my first screenplay in undergrad…Sex, Lies and Videotape. And then Do the Right Thing.

I never actually took a screenwriting class, but I started to learn what screenwriting was. This is something I’ve realized recently. It wasn’t until the University of Iowa that I was surrounded by women writers and it does make a difference.

Because, yes, I believed I could do anything and my parents raised me to believe I could do anything. But it’s so different when you see it being done by someone like you, it’s easier to believe you can do it, too. Winning the Nicholl has prompted a lot of self-reflection on my journey so far.

Iowa was also known for its writers. You would have one writing things very experimentally, and someone who’s writing very much the well‑made play or the well‑made screenplay. It opened ideas of what writing could do. All the different ways you can tell a story whether it’s theater, film, or a novel.

Scott: Eventually, you got an MFA at CalArts?

Amy: I made a living as a theater actor for a little while. I trained in New York. I had some small plays I wrote produced. Then I moved to LA, because I felt, “OK, I’ve done the New York thing. I want to try the LA thing.”

I would audition for one‑liners or under‑fives. And when you come from theater, and you’re doing that, it’s a let down. And so superficial, so much about type. That’s when I turned more and more to my writing. And some stories just had to be screenplays.

Then I read every single book on screenwriting I could find. My boyfriend had gone to film school and I read every book he had. I loved them. I think that’s also something a lot of screenwriters have in common, you go through that period where you love film so much, and you love the process so much, you just can’t get enough of it.

But then I was at a crossroads. I was either going to buckle down in my day job and have a career in non‑profit work, or I was going to go to graduate school for writing. I applied to six schools that I liked and didn’t tell anyone. I got calls from three of them.

CalArts called and that’s where I wanted to go, so I quit the day job. It felt really scary and crazy, but, at the same time, it was a huge life‑changing moment of like, “Now’s the time to do it.” Someone said yes to me and my writing so I’m going.

Tomorrow in Part 2, Amy talks about what inspired her to write “Addis Abeka”.

Here is video of Amy’s acceptance speech at the Nicholl Award ceremony:

Twitter: @AmyTofte.