Interview (Part 5): 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 5, Amy shares what it was like to learn she had won the Nicholl Fellowship and her experiences during the week of the awards ceremony in Los Angeles:

Scott: The movie, I think you said, is about family. You’ve got a variety of families, your own family, you’ve got creative families, like a writing group, and your fellow graduates from CalArts, and a theater family. Now you’ve got a new family, the Nicholl family. What’s that whole experience like?

Amy: It’s really interesting. I probably learned about the Nicholl when I wrote my first screenplay, one of those screenplays that I don’t want anyone to ever see. I had friends who were writers and they would talk about it, but it was always this thing that I would never, ever be able to do. [laughs]

I’d never really considered myself a screenwriter. I was still barely considering myself a playwright. I was like, “I’m an actor who writes things,” but then as I started to get more serious about it, and after I started the MFA program and I got more comfortable calling myself a writer…

It’s strange to call yourself a Nicholl Fellow and feel like now you’re doing this thing that you’ve thought about, that you’ve known about for so long, and you’ve admired so many of the people who’ve done it and read their scripts — it’s a little overwhelming.

The only thing I can say is they are — from the committee, to the staff, to the other fellows I’ve met — the most wonderful people, so kind, so generous, so relaxed in who they are, and excited for you, and supportive. Now, I’m only a few months in. That could all change. [laughs]

I talked about this in my acceptance speech, that the Nicholl Committee thinks long and hard about these decisions. They read so many scripts. They’re generous people and they make me want to give back in the same way they’re all giving back to this community of writers. They care about story telling. They care about film. I feel really lucky.

Scott: You mentioned in your speech, I’m quoting you here, “I think one of the most important things we do as human beings is we collect and share our stories.”

Amy: Even if you talk about how you went out last night and the crazy thing that happened to you, I think that’s how we develop our compassion. That’s how we can feel for other people and do the right thing. That’s why diverse story telling is so important.

Scott: Let’s jump into some craft questions here if we can.

Amy: Sure.

Scott: How do you come up with story ideas?

Amy: Usually something sparks with a character. Once I get a character that I feel really strongly connected to. I’m going to guess that maybe I do have an emotional connection to a character and that’s what I mean by “spark.”

That doesn’t mean that a character is a nice person. It just means there’s something there. Sometimes, too, I like this idea of rules. I’ve done that with some of my plays. Like with the Bechdel test, I’ve written plays with no men.

I’ve just said, “You know what, there are no men in this play. That doesn’t mean there aren’t men in the world, but there are no men in this play, and how will I handle that, and what will happen, and how does that affect the play.” But I think the spark usually has to come from a compelling character.

Scott: How much time do you spend in prep writing and what are the aspects of that? Do you tend to devote most time to brainstorming, or character development, plotting, research, outlining?

Amy: It depends on the story. I do spend time researching, outlining, and then the writing and revision. I do time on all three of those with everything I write. The better I’ve become as a writer, the more I outline. I love outlines. I love treatments. You get so much work done and solve so many problems.

Everything I write, even if I think I don’t need to research anything, I’ll research something. I’ll find something like a book or…I’ll go and seek something out. I think that’s an important piece of the puzzle. Some stories, I spend more time outlining. If it’s complicated, I’ll spend more time outlining than doing the sit down and writing.

I have a script right now that I’m finishing. The last 20 pages are killing me. I’m actually digging into a writing book and trying to figure out what are some exercises I can do to crack these last 20 pages.

I’m a nerd but, to me, that’s why I love writing. I love the actual process of digging in and making it better.

Scott: You’ve mentioned that often times your story ideas derive from connecting with some character. How do you go about developing your characters? Are there any specific techniques you find yourself using?

Amy: I came from a day-job world as a writer and I know that there are a lot of people out there where they’re trying to write when they can. I still use that mentality.

I’ll make an assignment like when I had a lunch break or limited time to write, and go write a letter as the character to somebody or write a monologue. Or a short scene. Create profiles and histories for characters. Sometimes, it’s the most eye‑opening thing. Writing something simple from the character’s point of view.

I’ve even recorded myself because I live in LA, of course, I’m always driving. I’ll record a monolog and then transcribe it. If it sucks, I just throw it out. Things like that have been helpful for character development.

Scott: I suppose, too, getting you in touch with the character’s dialogue?

Amy: Yeah. Sometimes that stuff evolves into a scene or sometimes it just becomes information about how they feel about something.

Scott: Theme. You mentioned in this process with this script that this idea of the luxury of compassion is something that emerged over the process. Are you one of those people that starts with theme or just themes emerge over time when you’re writing?

Amy: I was taught that theme comes last and I kind of believe it. I feel like theme has to come last if you’re going to be truthful to the characters, because no character is acting out of theme. I just think that characters have to do their action and go after what they want, so I feel like theme comes last.

I think sometimes the best people to tell you what the theme is are the people who don’t know anything about your script. They read it once and then they tell you, “Oh, my God, this is what it’s about…”

Tomorrow in Part 6, Amy provides some advice for aspiring screenwriters.

To read Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Twitter: @AmyTofte.