Interview [Part 7]: Jason Mark Hellerman

One script that received a lot of attention in the 2013 Black List is “Shovel Buddies” by Jason Mark Hellerman (it garnered 22 votes). I was quite struck by the story — “Over 24 hours, four teenage friends try to complete the “Shovel List” (a will/bucket list) left for them by their best friend before he died of Leukemia” — and reached out to talk with Jason about it. We ended up talking for 90 minutes, an excellent conversation covering a lot of territory. I think aspiring screenwriters will find Jason’s insights particularly relevant as we got into quite a bit of depth about his process of being outside the business to inside it.

Today in Part 7, Jason shares what it was like to learn “Shovel Buddies” had made the 2013 Black List:

Scott: I’m looking at a tweet from December 16th, 2013, at 1:07 PM from the Black List “Shovel Buddies” by Jason Mark Hellerman, Black List 2013, what was that like?

Jason: It was surreal. I’ve followed the Black List since it was a thing. I have a news piece from my dad from 2007, whenever he first realized it. It was, “Hey isn’t this cool? Maybe someday you’ll be on there,” and I was.

To me, it was this weird sense of fulfillment. “Hey, Jason you’ve done a lot of dumb things. You got through them.” I want to go back to Jason standing in the hallway, dialing his dad’s phone number as he decides he’s going to quit being a doctor, and be, “It’s the best decision you’ll ever make. You were right. Don’t be afraid of what you’re supposed to do. Don’t be afraid of anyone who’s going to say, ‘You’re never going to get a job out there, man. You’re going to be making 20 grand the rest of your life. You’re going to be doing this. A writer’s one in a million.’”

For me, the moment that went out, knowing that I had made it to a goal that I had set for myself, seven years prior, was like this giant rush of “OK, time to get down to it. Great, I did it once. Now let’s do it again.”

It was nice hearing people liked “Shovel Buddies.” I’m sure students will get this, because I got this. For the longest time “Shovel Buddies” was a PDF on the Internet that I wasn’t sure anybody was reading. For a longer time before that, it was a PDF on my laptop that nobody had read.

Knowing that people had read it, not only read it but also liked it, and not only liked it, but were willing to tell other people they liked it, changed the game for me. Writers notoriously lack self‑confidence, and that was like going on a date with Kate Upton.

I was blown away. I was, “Oh, my God. You like me.” Insert Sally Field quote here. I was just shock, awe, and flattery. I felt like I had made everybody proud. Michael was able to roll calls that day and be like, “Did you see my assistant, Black List.” Plus, rolls my calls, plus, helped me out at home.

My parents got to put it on their Facebook page with their four friends.

It was cool. My girlfriend said, “I’m proud of you.” I was, “Oh, I did something, something that wasn’t just a PDF on my laptop.” That’s all it really takes. That’s all any writer ever wants to hear.

Scott: You’ve written a 65th draft of the script and it’s going out to directors. Is that right?

Jason: Yeah. It’s out to directors, we’ve had a lot of interest. Here’s what I added. One of the big things that I had been trying to do, but ran out of time was Susan, Ted’s wife. I was never happy that Susan gets the cop out ending of, “Well, let’s not tell mom.”

I always thought about that, and I had time over Christmas to be with my own mom, and to really talk with her about everything, about life and big decisions. I thought, “Damn, if that happened to me, I’d want my mom to know where I was.”

I just wasn’t satisfied anymore that Susan was going to spend the rest of her life thinking her kid was in an urn that someone handed to them. I went back, much as I did with Ted. I sat and I added six scenes with Susan.

Here’s Susan’s journey by herself. She leaves to get some air. The kids break in, they take the thing, Ted goes. When Susan gets back to the house no one’s there, and she’s, “Oh, where are people?”

She doesn’t want to be there alone, so she sets off on her own journey through the night, which brings her to a convenience store to pick up Sammy’s favorite snack. It takes her downtown to get a cheese steak, where she has a very late night 3:00 AM cheese steak with a very famous person.

Then in the end, it brings her to a stoplight in a minivan, where Ted is sitting in his beaten cop car, in his pajamas, and she pulls up next to him, and says, “What the hell are you doing here? Where’s our daughter?” Spoiler, it takes her to the stadium, so that everyone can say goodbye. I sat for a long time and I looked at it.

Like I said, I talked to my mom and I knew you can’t Bogart a goodbye from a parent. That’s one thing. I had to be mature with “Shovel Buddies” to understand that there was a mature theme to it. If my parents were going to sit and watch this movie, they would want to say goodbye to me, and how much I’d want them to be able too.

That’s the addition of Susan. Everything else is the same. What happens at the end is that Susan pulls up in her minivan after the kids have dropped the body and they’re smoking. They’re, “How do you want to get home.” Susan and Ted pull up in the minivan and we end with all of them in this minivan, and they start laughing.

That to me was the ultimate full circle. We all start crying with a situation like that.

I thought that night, those events, and what happens to Susan, Ted, Kate, Jenny, Dan, and Lump the only way you could end is laughing, because if they ended crying it would be different movie. They end driving on this highway, Ted makes a joke, and everyone just laughs. They laugh and laugh and laugh, and we fade out on that.

Tomorrow in Part 8, Jason talks about his approach to the craft of screenwriting.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Part 6, here.

Jason is repped by CAA and Management 360.

Twitter: @JasonHellerman.