Interview (Part 6): Alisha Brophy & Scott Miles (2014 Nicholl Winners)
Alisha Brophy and Scott Miles wrote the original screenplay “The United States of Fuckin’ Awesome” which won the duo a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Alisha, Scott and I had a great interview which I will be rolling out in 6 installments this week.
Today in Part 6, Alisha and Scott give their advice for aspiring screenwriters:
Myers: I like to ask writers, “What’s your single best excuse not to write?” What you just said there, Alisha, I think is quite interesting that oftentimes, our gut, our instinct is the most important thing we can bring to a project.
If for four days in a row you are finding excuses not to write this, you are smart enough to say, “You know, there must be something not working here.” I guess sometimes, you can look at those excuses or putting off the writing is actually being a way of yourself trying to tell you something important.
Alisha: Yeah.
Myers: Scott, you’re going to move out to LA?
Scott: Yup.
Myers: I know you’ve written together before or at least with your program at UT Austin, would you still be inclined to do the Skyping out there once you’re both in the same city?
Scott: Yeah. It’s funny because I’m still not sure where exactly I’m going to be moving.
She is on the Eastside and says, “Look, you can move to Santa Monica, you can move to the valley, we’ll just keep Skyping. It doesn’t matter.”
Who knows, if I’m within walking distance of her place, then we’ll maybe get together. But, the Skype works out so nicely that we could be a block away and we still might just stick to Skype.
Myers: Well, given the traffic in LA…
Scott: Right.
Alisha: I would like to add that there’s a great program called, “writerduet.com.” It’s a free program. It has all the correct formatting for a script. But, it also has double cursors. We write in that. We have our little video up in the corner. And we have our two cursors going on the page simultaneously.
For anyone that is in a writing team, it is so efficient, so lovely to be able to just work on the documents simultaneously, not have to read changes aloud to each other as one person has a master copy, which is how we had to do it before WriterDuet.
Our writing process actually had to go through a change when we stopped doing our old system of sending pages back and forth.
Up until WriterDuet, he would write a reel, I would write a reel. Then we would trade it, edit it. He would write the next reel, I would write the reel after that, trade it, edit it.
What that meant was that you would have three or four days by yourself to constantly edit and change your first draft before the other person ever saw it. By the time they read pages you were confident that you had something you could show your co‑writer and he’s not going to run for the hills. But, when we started with Writer Duet the other person can look at their screen and watch your little blinking cursor, which means that they see you put your very first attempt of a line on the page.
That is terrifying. So we had a really open conversation about it when we first started with that program like, “Hey, I trust that your line’s going to suck, but I also trust that, down the road, it’s going to be amazing and the final version of this will be even more amazing. No judgment.” Once we had that conversation, it has been full steam, two cursors going, and no comments about the initial bad lines that are thrown up there.
Myers: OK. Let’s jump to this thing I mentioned earlier, what do you love most about writing?
Scott: At least for me, having the early exposure, writing and directing films, and then getting to screen those films in front of an audience. I’m writing comedy, so hearing the audience laughter is so addictive. Alisha found this out the other day when we had the live reading, that, at least for me, that’s what it is. Writing something and feeling pretty confident that it’s going to get laughs.
Obviously, on the page I don’t see the final version, but that’s always what I’m aiming for is that final audience reaction.
Alisha: Yeah, I was definitely laughing harder than anyone else in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater the night of our ceremony. Listening to those actors do the most amazing job with that scene. I can see what Scott means by that audience reaction becoming addicting.
For me, I think my big realization of what film can be was a reaction to Harold and Maude. The first time I saw it was on a small TV, and I was blown away. I just remember crying, all by myself, watching this movie, and falling in love with it. Since then, I’ve watched it many, many, times and it’s always moving, but it’s not the same, because I know what’s going to happen in the end.
A couple years ago a book festival was doing a celebration of the ’70s. And so the Alamo Drafthouse showed Harold and Maude in their theatre.
I thought, ‘This is such a fun thing for all my friends to do together.’ We all get there and get our popcorn. I’d say we were only about 10 minutes into the movie and I started crying my eyes out. Did not stop crying the whole movie. It was really embarrassing because I had no idea how much larger the connection and emotional impact a story can have when the image is blown up to the size of a theater screen.
That, for me, is what I want to be a part of, and I want to put out there. We obviously haven’t had that yet, but the idea of how much I giggle and he laughs just working on the pages, I can’t wait for it to be on the big screen, and hopefully the material, comedy‑wise, has the same effect. Not crying. The laughing.
Myers: In that respect, the fact that Scott laughs, you giggle, and if you can make each other respond that’s a small version on a daily basis of what you hope to have happen when the movie comes out.
Alisha: Yeah.
Myers: Finally what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into Hollywood?
Alisha: Take daytime cold medicine.
[laughter]
Scott: When you’re writing a spec script, I think it’s so important that you’re not chasing a trend, that you’re not chasing what you think Hollywood wants. My whole life I’ve been writing weird, little projects. I’d say “USofFA” is no different.
As Alisha said, originally my first impulse was, “Here’s this fun idea, but we can’t write this as a movie. It’s too weird. We shouldn’t even bother speccing it.” She’s like, “No, let’s go for it.”
Obviously it’s worked out for us, and I think, if left to my own devices, I might say, “Oh, let me chase this more commercial thing,” or, “Let me find something a little bit less obscure or weird to write about,” and then, either get frustrated and not finish, or it doesn’t have my heart and my voice in it because it’s not that weird, passionate thing that I love so much.
I would just advise people that it doesn’t matter how strange or bizarre your idea is, if you can find a way in and really put your voice and your passion into it, it’s going to find a home eventually.
Myers: How about you, Alisha?
Alisha: I would probably say find a way to settle in, because it’s going to take so much longer than you think. I’m probably still wrong in my own head of how much longer I have ahead of me. It is such a slow process, this town, that you just have to find a way to settle in and find ways to enjoy the process of it.
I love the day‑to‑day writing with Scott. I love my writer’s group. Hanging out and trading notes with them is quite literally hanging out with my friends, and doing something fun.
If you can find a way to love each part of the process, and each part of the process is being productive, if you can find the fun in it, or the way of socializing or connecting with others, it’s going to make it a lot easier than if you come here and think of it as work. Some people think you just have to work harder and more, and you’ll get there faster. You’re not going to get there faster, so just enjoy the process.
For Part 1 of the interview, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Part 4, here.
Par 5, here.
The duo is repped by Paradigm and Circle of Confusion.
Twitter: @alishabrophy, @scottmiles.