Interview (Part 6): 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 6, Amy provides some advice for aspiring screenwriters:

Scott: In doing some research on you, I’ve found a newspaper feature on you, from the Brookings newspaper, your hometown newspaper and you were quoted…see, I do my work, homework.

Amy: [laughs] You did a good job.

Scott: You were quoted as saying, “The difficulty in screenwriting is you’re constantly making choices of what to include and what not to include…

Amy: Yeah.

Scott: …and it has to be very clear, no room for excess on the page, but at the same time it has to be very clear so the reader doesn’t get lost.”

Amy: That’s the one thing that screenwriters all understand, I think. There have been people who say, “It’s the hardest kind of writing to do in the world.” I think all writing is hard, but there’s a strange intersection of journalism and poetry in dramatic writing.

The poetry part is the economy of it and the beauty, but the journalism part is you know exactly the who, what, where, when, you know all those answers. Beyond that there’s this magical element that makes it wonderful.

[laughs] You know, like it’s, “What’s the part of the script that makes it wonderful?” I think that’s the really hard part. Everyone wants a formula for that but there isn’t one. I don’t know if you’ve read WALL‑E, the script?

Scott: Oh, yeah.

Amy: It’s incredible.

Scott: The Haiku style Andrew Stanton uses…

Amy: Yeah. And even the way you break a line or… This is either where I’m getting better at what I do or I’m just becoming so crazy obsessed with it, it’s unhealthy.

I can get to A point where I don’t like how a script breaks from one page to another or I will change dialog so that I like the look and feel of it on the page better. It gets a little ridiculous and OCD. But the script people read is what has to turn everybody on before it can become a movie.

Scott: Dana Stevens mentioned something funny when she was introducing you at the Nicholl Award ceremony ‑‑ I thought it was funny ‑‑ that you’ve written a zombie script.

Also I’ve learned you have a script set back in South Dakota. Sounds like you’ve got a broad range of interests in terms of the stuff you’re writing. Yet, on the other hand, oftentimes, you’ll hear managers and agents say they prefer writers who come in one genre so they can brand them, and that’s the easiest way to sell things.

What are your thoughts on that?

Amy: I’m sure my thoughts are not much different than every other writer who says, “I write what I write. Leave me alone.” [laughs] But I also understand the business side of that, because you want to know what you’re getting. I’ve been working a lot on that, on the branding and the branding of my writing.

It’s weird, too, because the heart and soul that’s in Abeka, I think that exists in all of my scripts. No matter what I write. I think that is the brand of writer I am. Even my zombie script, it’s really a relationship script. It’s about a marriage threatened by zombies, and people love that script. But that’s what they love about it — the relationship.

I have science fiction scripts. I have dark, creepy dramas. I have some comedies. There’s a biography I wrote with a producer who has the rights to this woman’s amazing life. I think the common element would be they all have a strong emotional core. You feel something. You get emotionally invested. I think that’s what all my scripts do.

Scott: I’m guessing from that that if you were to provide advice for aspiring writers, you’d probably go along the lines of what most pro writers would say. “Just write stuff you’re passionate about.”

Amy: At the end of the day, everyone can tell when you’re not into it. So either be into it…And even if you take an assignment that isn’t your idea, you have to be into it. I’ve done some of that. I can tell when I’m not into it. Everyone else can, too. You’ve either got to find your way into the material or let it go.

Too many times we think, “I’m never going to get this chance again.” I don’t want to say that that’s not true, but a lot of times…that’s just not true. [laughs]

Scott: Maybe we could round it off with this one last subject area. I’m struck by this image of you in the back of these vans or whatever you’re traveling through Ethiopia in. You wanted to be back there so you could just concentrate and look and learn. Dana Stevens, again, when she was introducing you, she made a point about how there’s that old adage. “Writers should write what they know.”

She made the point, “Rather, we should write what we want to know.” Which I think resonates with you. Maybe you could unpack that a little bit, in terms of, again, aspiring writers. You think there’s some truth there that they need to grab onto?

Amy: I loved what she said there. That’s the journalism side of screenwriting. I think that, yes, you can write what you know, but there’s always some aspect of what you’re writing about that is worth digging deeper into. Personally, I’m an adventurer and I want to see the world and meet as many people as I can. So that’s how I write.

Another thing that was said to me early on, about art in general, is that we do these things so we live our lives better. Art is the reflection so we can understand each other better. Be better to each other. That’s why good movies and good stories have such a grip on us.

Or maybe what you “know” is more about what you know in your heart to be true. Not necessarily your actual life experience. I’ve never actually met a zombie…right? But I know how one might scare me. I can imagine how that terror might feel.

This idea that we’re all the same. When you drill down past the skin and the economics, we’re more the same. We all want love. We all want purpose and a community. We all want to be good people. Is that true? I don’t know. I’d like to think that’s true. [laughs]

I feel like I’m saying I don’t know a lot. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that’s why I’m writing. I write to figure it out. [laughs]

Scott: I like that balance. Write what you know, but write what you want to know, too.

Amy: Her introduction was so beautiful. Some amazing things were said at the Nicholl ceremony. I thought that was a really great piece of advice that night, too. If we’re not seeking understanding of each other, then why are we telling the stories? The two really go together. And it never gets old.

To read Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Twitter: @AmyTofte.

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