Interview (Part 2): Sam Baron (2014 Nicholl Winner)

Sam Baron wrote the original screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter” which won a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Sam and I had a great conversation which I will be sharing with you this week in 6 parts.

Today in Part 2, Sam provides background on his award-winning screenplay “The Science of Love and Laughter”:

Scott: Let’s dig into your script, “The Science of Love and Laughter,” for which you won the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship in 2014. Here’s a plot summary:

“A neuroscientist trapped in the wrong job and the wrong relationship finally decides to turn his life around. But when he discovers his wife has cancer, he becomes determined to save his marriage.”

In an article I found, you’re quoted as saying, “I wanted to write something that was a character‑driven story and was interested to explored the themes of love and relationships.” Where did those creative impulses for this story originate?

Sam: You know, that script is very personal and it has really intimate emotional arcs, so people who read it always ask, “How much is true? What’s real? What’s not?”

The way I see it, it’s thematically autobiographical, but 100% fictional. I have personal experience with people close to me getting cancer, and I’ve also been through the breakdown of a relationship, as most people have. But I didn’t want to just tell the stories of what had happened to me, I wanted to explore the ideas and the feelings behind those experiences through a new, fictional story.

Scott: There are two primary characters in the story, Daniel and Emma. They’re a married couple, unhappily together at the start. The narrative is told from Daniel’s perspective. Did you always have that POV in mind?

Sam: I did, and I probably shot myself in the foot a bit with that, but I just thought it would be interesting. How could you tell that story and not have the audience just hate the guy who wants to leave his wife who has cancer? That’s really the most unforgivable thing that a person could feel or think, so I wanted to explore if that could ever be a justifiable thing to feel.

Scott: If I’m getting that right, you had that ending in mind pretty early on.

Sam: Yes. The final scenes in the movie didn’t really change from the first draft. I did a lot of drafts, and everyone who read the early drafts said, “You’ve got the ending wrong.” But it turns out I had the first seven-eighths of the movie wrong.

Scott: Hmm, interesting. It speaks to the wisdom of that thing I’ve heard in Hollywood. You’ve got to know your ending before you start writing your story.

Sam: Yes, and I really did a lot of drafts over the course of two years. I just couldn’t crack it. It felt like I was going around and around in circles. The thing that finally allowed me to crack it when was I opened a blank document and rewrote the whole script from scratch, without looking at the previous versions. I just had one thing written at the top of the screen — “everything needs to support the ending”.

Scott: In most stories, movies, or TV, the protagonist characters generally start off, I call it, in “Disunity”. They’re disconnected in key ways from who they’re supposed to be, laying the groundwork for the narrative, the psychological journey. Daniel clearly falls in that category of Disunity.

I’d like to explore some of those dynamics at work in his character at the beginning. First, he’s a scientist who has a not‑so‑secret ambition to be a stand‑up comic. If you think about those disparate images, a serious‑minded scientist versus a stand‑up guy who’s all about making people laugh, it’s a really disjunctive type of a thing. Could you get into how that dynamic emerged in your character development process with Daniel?

Sam: Well, he’s a guy who’s taken the first thing that came along, in every area of his life. He’s with the first woman who ever fell in love with him. He took the first career path that seemed to be going well. He’s never taken a leap. And I think that trying stand‑up comedy is the most terrifying thing that a person like that can do. For an intellectual guy, it’s the equivalent of a bungee jump. So I was just interested by this guy who has that overwhelming urge to do the bungee jump, but has never left his safety nets.

Scott: Have you yourself done stand‑up?

Sam: I’ve never done stand‑up.

Scott: OK, because I thought it was something interesting just in talking with you up to this point, Sam. I asked you, “What were some of your favorite movies that you remember from your childhood?” It was like, Monty Python and Naked Gun. Clearly, you’ve got that comedic thing going on. Then, some of the scripts you were reading were very serious‑minded, The Squid and the Whale. In some ways, doesn’t Daniel embody both of those? He’s got the kind of drama side and comedy side?

Sam: Yes. You’ve got to find yourself in all of your characters.

Tomorrow in Part 3, Sam delves more deeply into the script’s Protagonist character.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Sam is repped in the U.K. by the Curtis Brown Agency and in the United States by 3 Arts and UTA.

Twitter: @baronifish.