Interview (Part 5): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way:

Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest.

I reached out to friend of the blog Chris Sparling, whose screenwriting credits include Buried, ATM, The Sea of Trees, and The Atticus Institute which he also directed. Chris is adding the role of producer to his credits with “Bed Rest”. He got me in touch with Lori and we ended up having a great one-hour conversation.

Today in Part 5, Lori shares some thoughts on how she approaches the craft of screenwriting:

Scott: Let’s do some craft questions. I always like to ask writers, how do you come up with story ideas?

Lori: That’s a good question. I always carry a notebook with me, just a little notebook I put in my purse, so anytime I’m out and about and a thought occurs to me, whether it’s about a character, whether it’s a story idea, I always jot it down so I don’t forget it. I have another notebook here at home, and I just constantly keep a list of thoughts and ideas I’m interested in so I don’t forget them.

Honestly, most of the ideas just come from living, just going out and experiencing life, traveling, having adventures, having lunches with friends and having conversations. Experiences beget ideas and if you want to reflect life you gotta go out and live it.

So that’s how it usually starts. Then I then start honing in on one idea in particular where I feel momentum. I start a notebook, and I start brainstorming character ideas and plot ideas and thematic ideas. Then, when that starts to catch fire, I usually go to my trusty notecards and put them up on my tack board and start outlining

Scott: Do you put your producer’s cap on at any point? I remember when you said that you called up Kaplan/Perrone and said, “What about Bed Rest meets Haunted House?” That seems like a very strong story concept. Do you ever find yourself thinking, “What’s the universal appeal here? What’s the commercial viability of the idea?”

Lori: Every single time. Absolutely.

I love going to the movies. But having two kids, I don’t get to the movies much. If I’m going to go see a movie in a theater it has to pass the babysitter test… “Is this movie worth not only the price of admission, but worth the price of three hours of babysitting?” So, whenever I start to write, I think about, “Would I go see this? Does it pass my babysitter test?” If not, I’m not going to write the movie.

From there, I put on not only a producer hat but also an actor and a director hat. I ask myself, “Are my characters juicy enough for an actor? Is the story and the world compelling enough for a director?”

Something like “Bed Rest”, for me, it was a one-woman show. It gave an actress her own movie, so I got to check that box. As far as directors, I feel like what I wrote is very atmospheric. The Shining was something that very much influenced me. I felt like a director would have a lot of fun with the mood of the piece.

Then, from the producer’s standpoint, it’s a contained thriller. It’s a very producible movie. It could be done at a price.

I felt like “Bed Rest” hit on of all these things. It’s a high concept, contained thriller, great role for an actress, a really a cool world for a director, and totally producible. This one hit all of those boxes that you want to hit.

Scott: You mentioned index cards. It’s so funny that with all the technology we have nowadays, writers love those little notecards to help break a story. How much time do you spend on prep writing and what do you focus on?

Lori: Honestly, it’s a lot of brainstorming. I try not to nail anything down until I’ve done a lot of research and played with different ways into the story. Once I hook in on a way in, then I jump into structure.

I’m a very structurally minded person, so it’s really trying to figure out what that inciting incident is or what the break into act two is, what our midpoint is, or the break into act three and really finding these solid guideposts that I can string the rest of the story around.

Ultimately, I feel like I get maybe 80 percent of the notecards up, and then I get so impatient, I feel like I have to go write. That’s when I usually just dive in. My board still has a bunch of holes but I can’t help myself, I just have to go and do it. That’s usually my process.

Scott: How about the characters? How do you go about developing them? Do you have any specific tools or techniques that you use?

Lori: No, I just try to dive into the character as much as I can. I just ask questions about what is this person’s backstory, what drives them, what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses.

Ultimately, when it comes down to the page, that’s when I put the actor cap on and say, “If I was an actor approaching this role, are there any holes here? Are there things that don’t sense?” I always try to come at it from an actor point of view and then objectively as a writer as well.

Scott: What about dialogue? How do you go about finding your characters’ voices?

Lori: It depends. Sometimes I have a person in mind, whether it’s somebody I know personally, or whether it’s a certain actor. Sometimes I don’t, but I find that it helps. If you can really picture the character, it’s easier to find their voice and their rhythm. And if you’re lucky, your characters will start speaking for themselves.

Scott: What about theme? How important is that to you? Are you one of those writers who starts with theme or themes of the story or do you they arise in the context of you writing it?

Lori: It depends on the project. Sometimes that’s what I have to begin with. That’s the first thing I have. Other times I get into a story, and then I work backwards and say, “Wait a second. What am I trying to say?”

But ultimately, thematically, I like to know where I’m going before I get too far. I want to know what kind of movie I’m making and how I should feel about it. That’s really important to me in terms of the writing process.

Scott: What do you think about when you’re writing a scene? Do you have any specific goals in mind?

Lori: I hope this doesn’t suck when I read it later. [laughter] I don’t know. If you’ve used notecards, you have a good idea of what things you need to hit on in a scene. Just try to hit the plot points but also make sure you’re coming at it from the lens of the character.

From there I go back and reanalyze. “This is kind of boring. How can I jazz this up? Is there a more interesting setting for this? Can something else be going on in this scene?” Having the courage to get it on the page is half the battle. Once you have that then you can go back in and rework.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Lori shares some advice for aspiring screenwriters trying to break into the business.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Lori is repped by ICM Partners and Kaplan/Perrone.