Interview [Part 2]: Jason Mark Hellerman

One script that received a lot of attention in the 2013 Black List is “Shovel Buddies” by Jason Mark Hellerman (it garnered 22 votes). I was quite struck by the story — “Over 24 hours, four teenage friends try to complete the “Shovel List” (a will/bucket list) left for them by their best friend before he died of Leukemia” — and reached out to talk with Jason about it. We ended up talking for 90 minutes, an excellent conversation covering a lot of territory. I think aspiring screenwriters will find Jason’s insights particularly relevant as we got into quite a bit of depth about his process of being outside the business to inside it.

Today in Part 2, Jason discusses how moving to Los Angeles turned out to be a smart decision and the importance of finding mentors to help steer a young writer through the Hollywood minefield:

Scott: So you move to LA. What next?

Jason: Boston University has this great extension program. They call it Boston University in Los Angeles and, basically, what they do is they set you up with two internships and they let you ‑‑ of course, you have to pay for it ‑‑ they let you pay for this university a certain amount of money to say that you’re still in school, even though you’ve graduated, and then you can intern.

I interned for the TV show “Mad Men,” and I also interned at Scott Free, Ridley and Tony Scott’s production company.

Scott: What did you do with that?

Jason: I did “Mad Men”, it was great, and I learned a ton about research and just honestly the stress and the amount of work that goes in the producing an hour of television. It was really inspiring.

At Scott Free, what was great was I was interning there, learning about coverage, learning a ton about features and I became really close with the president at the time who was Michael Costigan. He was leaving to open his own production company and he was backlogged with work. I said, “Look. I can help you move some boxes, if you want.”

He was so generous. “We can use all the help we can get. If you’re free after Christmas, when we come back from the break and I’m opening my own place, maybe you could help.”

One day, I was stocking a moving van, moving some scripts. The next day, I had unloaded the boxes in his new office, and I was unpacking all of these uncovered screenplays, and he was sitting there at his desk saying, “Oh, my God. We’re going to have to read all of these.” I said, “I can write coverage. I can read them.”

He goes, “Great. Let’s do that. I can give you a month’s worth of work, and we’ll go from there.”

That month quickly became a year. I parlayed that back into his assistant lineup. I was like, “I could answer phones while I read.” Then he wound up hiring more people. I just sort of got to be the first in the door, from moving boxes, to reading scripts, to writing coverage, to answering his phones, to sitting in on development meetings. I really got the full sense of what it takes to be an assistant in Hollywood, what it takes to be a top-of-your-game producer, which is the most invaluable information I could ever have come across.

Scott: People ask, “Do I have to move to LA in order to make it in the business?” There are some things which can’t happen unless you’re there.

Jason: You can get a PDF anywhere. You can get on a call and talk to anybody anywhere. Case in point, this conversation. But you cannot sit next to Michael Costigan, producer of Prometheus, American Gangster and Brokeback Mountain unless you’re in L.A. One on one wisdom, whether it’s driving him to the airport and listening in on roll calls, and how he deals with things, or just watching him sit across from an A‑list writer‑director, seeing what gets them enthusiastic and parlaying that into doing a project together. Those are the tips and tricks.

It’s not even you sitting there and telling me it, it’s just something I get to view. It’s something I will always be grateful for. He kids, he’s like, “Put me in your memoir.”

It was, for me, the “kid stays in the picture” moment, just sitting with him. I’m doing these things and really understanding what Hollywood is, what the game you play is, which is be nice to everybody, but really loving only certain people.

For me, I was very, very lucky, blessed, whatever you want to call it, that Michael took me under his wing and exposed me to a plethora of different people. It has helped just knowing people Michael works with or even Zac Roth who went to BU. Roth Films is huge.

Having that connection so that later, when I have an agent, and he’s like, “Oh, I’m going to send it over there. I’m going to sweeten the deal by saying, ‘Hey, this kid went to BU just like you.’”

Also, I met Bruce Feirstein, who wrote the Bond movies in the ’90s and Tomorrow Never Dies and Golden Eye and The World is Not Enough.

He went to BU. I had a professor at BU who hooked us up via email. He’s been a great confidante and support system. A source of encouragement when the times weren’t great with “Shovel Buddies,” when I’m getting weird notes from people I’m not sure I want to sign with, he was a really great sounding board, someone who had been there professionally, who had worked at the top, who was willing to give me ten minutes, which is, sometimes, all I really needed to explain how to not get taken advantage of, what I’m owed for certain treatments and different things like that.

Scott: You’re speaking to the importance of finding those mentors who can help steer you through some of the booby traps out there…

Jason: If I didn’t have Michael or Bruce or all of my old professors in my life… These are people who know so much more than me, who have sat through it and then be like, “Here is a mistake I made. Don’t make this one.” They taught me invaluable lessons about humility but also how to deal with all sorts of personalities, then also going the extra mile to expose me to all sorts of personalities, so I know what it’s actually like. Again, those are things you cannot get outside of the industry.

Scott: So at this point, working for Michael, you’re writing scripts?

Jason: Yeah, I’m getting up very early in the morning and staying up very late at night. My Saturdays and Sundays are just kissed goodbye. I sit in a coffee shop, and I write and write and write. I was in one writing group, but then I’d wind up having to stay late at work, so I had to drop out of that one. I started another one, then I started bouncing ideas off random people.

Michael would give me 10 minutes on Fridays to pitch him loglines. He would say, “Nope, bad, bad, bad, nope, that’s good, try that.” Just utilizing the time I had. I knew coming out here I wanted to be a writer. That’s true for a lot of people. They come out here wanting to do one thing, then maybe find out they love development.

I work closely with a friend right now, who came out here thinking he wanted to write sitcoms, but he’s so obsessed with development. He’s like, “This is so much more fun to me.” For me, it was always writing. I knew that if I stopped for a little while, that I would never start again.

Tomorrow in Part 3, Jason recounts what inspired him to write “Shovel Buddies”.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Jason is repped by CAA and Management 360.

Twitter: @JasonHellerman.

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