Interview (Part 1): Sallie West (2014 Nicholl Winner)

Sallie West wrote the original screenplay “Moonflower” which won the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. I had a great conversation with Sallie about her background, the writing of her award-winning screenplay, and how she approaches the writing craft. This week: That interview in 5 parts.

Today in Part 1, Sallie discusses how she wound her way into screenwriting and her initial foray into writing “Moonflower”:

Scott Myers: I understand you’ve been a science writer for most of your adult life. How did you get into that line of work, and explain to us what does science writing entail?

Sallie West: Science writing involves the production of printed communications used in technical fields such as electronics, engineering, chemical, defense, manufacturing, medical, and related industries. After I graduated from college, I went to work at Battelle Columbus Labs, a contract research organization.

Later I worked for Research Triangle Institute when we moved to to Chapel Hill. Both organizations had divisions in defense, environmental science, software, biotechnology, energy, and other fields, giving me experience working with a variety of disciplines and nomenclatures. I also worked in health care sciences research at the Durham VAMC/Duke University.

In Charleston, South Carolina, I worked for a number of contractors connected with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Scott Myers: In college, were you into science, writing, or both?

Sallie: I was an English major. At the time, technical writing was one of the main avenues for securing writing jobs, so I gravitated to that. I liked being part of research teams, and I learned a lot.

I worked on different kinds of documents — marketing materials, speeches, peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, proposals, user manuals — many documents you might not associate with technical writing. Everything was great until the economy tanked. [laughs] Thereafter funding, especially government funding, began to evaporate, and it became harder to secure permanent positions. The quality of documents has fallen off.

Scott Myers: What was your focus in English?

Sallie: Contemporary literature.

Scott: At the recent Nicholl Ceremony at the Academy in Beverly Hills, you started out your acceptance speech by saying, “Last year, having at this time, a secret security clearance, I was writing a communication manual for Air Force One.” How did you go from that to writing a screenplay?

Sallie: It was actually the presidential motorcade, “Limo One.” I was going for a joke relevant to the movie industry! I thought everyone would get I was joking. Having never given an address before, I Googled tips for delivering a speech, and beginning with a joke seemed to be de rigueur. Now everyone’s saying, “Really? Did that really happen?” It did, but it was the other presidential vehicle, and I certainly didn’t breach national security! The point being that I completed “Moonflower” in the days that followed that job.

Scott: Let’s jump back a bit. Were you much of a movie fan growing up?

Sallie: I was, but I never thought I had a talent for screenwriting. And I didn’t! It has taken me 30 years of working with the language to get to this place. When I began to write Moonflower, I did my due diligence in terms of research to learn the craft. I studied conflict and subtext and formatting; I had a story in my mind, but it took awhile to figure out the right approach, because I didn’t know what I was doing.

But it turns out it really wasn’t unlike other writing jobs: you follow the rules of the genre, you work within a framework, you know your audience, and you figure out where you’re going. For me, the writing piece is easy. Coming up with the creative ideas [laughs], was hard.

Scott Myers: I remember reading an interview with you in a local newspaper. You said, “I had to do my homework about how to write a screenplay.” How did you do that? And did you go through various drafts?

Sallie: Seriously, I went to the Internet and read everything I could find on the topic, and bought books on screenwriting. Naturally, it helped that I had 30 years of writing experience.

Moonflower evolved, the way it came about. I started on page one and worked my way through, revising it as I went. I read that some other writers did this too. They start on page one and work toward the end, revising the whole thing as they progress from the start to finish.

So, there weren’t really separate drafts. It was updated constantly, improved, and finessed, until it was finally done.

Scott: I saw an interview with Eric Roth who wrote Forrest Gump among many other movies. He said the exact same thing. He always starts at the beginning, any writing session. No matter where he is in the draft, page 30, or 40 or 50, or whatever. He starts on page one, so he’s constantly revising as he goes through.

Sallie: That’s exactly what I did. I knew what my milestones were. For instance, “X” must happen around page 60; at page 75, I need a setback, et cetera [laughs].

I basically plugged it together that way, using that. I don’t know how anyone could sit down and just free-form a screenplay. For me, I have to know where I’m going.

Scott: In that same article, you were quoted as saying about writing “Moonflower” that it was, “Fun and frustrating and maddening and nuts, all at the same time.”

Sallie: It was. I would go into a zone, which I’d never experienced when writing. But it was this Zen place, where I’d be for hours, without noticing really. And it might go on for a few days, so I actually lost track of the day. Was it Wednesday or Thursday? And I’d show up for appointments a day or two early or late. This happened several times with my shih tzu’s groomer, Jackie. Finally, she’d see me walk in with my dog, and she’d just laugh and say, “Have you been writing again? It’s TUESDAY.” Friends were worried. One said I needed Life Alert! But those periods were massively productive.

Then I’d hit some writing road block, which was frustrating, and I’d start second-guessing myself and think, “This is ridiculous. Why am I doing this?” I’d stop writing until I figured out how to solve the problem.

But I had little control over these periods. The screenplay was in control. Which is why I said it was maddening and exhilarating at the same time.

Tomorrow in Part 2, Sallie shares what the inspiration for “Moonflower” was.