Interview: Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman (“Draft Day”) — Part 4
Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman wrote the script Draft Day which landed at the top of the 2012 Black List. Subsequently Lionsgate produced the movie starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner and Dennis Leary, and directed by Ivan Reitman.
In March, 2013, I interviewed Rajiv and Scott while they were in Cleveland during the film’s production, and I’m happy to share that wide-ranging conversation this week as Draft Day opens in theaters nationwide this Friday, April 11.
Today in Part 4, Rajiv and Scott discuss plot twists and turns, not only in the movie Draft Day, but how it came to be produced by Lionsgate, and the surprise of learning their script topped the 2012 Black List:
Scott M: We were talking about plot twists earlier and speaking of them, you had one in real life. The script for Draft Day was originally set up at Paramount, then they put it into turnaround. Then Lionsgate picked it up, right?
Scott R: Yes.
Rajiv: Yes.
Scott M: It struck me that that little bit of business dealing, that’s almost like the protagonist of your story wheeling and dealing draft picks.
Scott R: There’s been a lot of that. There’s been a lot of overlap between the script and real life, the wheeling’s and dealing’s and how these things get done. There’ve been a lot of phone calls, mainly by the producers, not by us, where they are handling multiple offers on multiple different things to that go into making a movie, from which teams are going to be represented, to which colleges. Once it left Paramount and was picked up by Lion’sgate, we had this added ticking clock of the draft actually coming. We needed to get all out ducks all in a row very quickly to be able to film at the draft. I just can’t say enough about what the producers of this movie did to make that happen is nothing short of miraculous.
Scott M: Life imitating art.
Scott R: Yeah, exactly.
Scott M: Reading about where Paramount decided to put the script into turnaround, there was some speculation that they said, “Well, American football just doesn’t travel very well internationally.” I think I remember they said The Blind Side did well in the United States but didn’t do so well. Does that concern you at all? Bigger picture, how much should screenwriters be thinking about the international market, now that it’s basically getting 70 to 75 percent of box office, when we’ve conceiving original story ideas?
Scott R: I’m really conflicted as to what advice to give. If we had thought about that, we never would have written Draft Day. We both instinctively knew not to tell our reps about it for exactly that reason. We just knew we had a head full of steam and loved this idea and, honestly, we obviously never thought it would get to where we are right now, sitting in Cleveland shooting this movie. We just loved the idea. I do think that translated into the script. That said, looking back, 20/20 hindsight, yeah, it did make things harder on everyone to be trying to sell a football movie. I’m sure there would have been a lot more open doors to us if we had written, I don’t know, something that travels better overseas, soccer movie?
Rajiv: I don’t think writers can consider this. We never would have written this movie if we had considered that and that’s not easy to know. I’m a big believer in that, at the end of the day, you really write the stories you most want to tell. Like I said, it’s a labor of love. This could bomb overseas, and that’d be fine. We’ve already got it made. I know that was the biggest threat against it, and we needed a couple miracles to get us here, and I’m so glad we got them. But if this movie had never been made, I’d be just as proud of it.
Scott R: Going back to The Hustler, I don’t give a shit about pool, that was just a good movie. I remember seeing Bend It Like Beckham. I don’t know anything about soccer. I just had heard that that was a good movie. I guess that’s my hope as it goes international, that we put together a good movie, and people will want to see good movies regardless of whatever the subject matter is. But I agree with Rajiv. I don’t think you can worry about that. The best thing we did is not worry about and write the thing we love. I just can’t help but think that you can feel that. If there’s anything that people are responding to, I think a lot of it is that, that we love and care deeply about what we were writing about.
Scott M: The movie’s being produced, starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, and directed by Ivan Reitman. Where are you in terms of the shoot right now and what’s your involvement in that process?
Scott R: We are coming up on day seven of a 38 day shoot. We are well aware that we are in rarified air here. Included in that is the fact that Ivan wants us here every day and has made us feel welcome to be on set, so we’re on set every day of this thing. Again, this being my first go‑around in a movie being produced, I can only suspect that that is not the case for everyone.
Rajiv Joseph, Kevin Costner, Scott Rothman
Scott M: Did you have that experience William Goldman did where he said, “The most exciting day of a screenwriter’s life is the first on a movie set, and the most boring day a screenwriter’s life is the second day on a movie set?”
Scott R: We have not had one of those boring days yet. The first three days were shooting at the NFL draft as the NFL draft was happening. We shot on Friday at Cleveland Brown’s stadium with the real Cleveland Browns.
Rajiv: Every day is better than the last. I have not had a boring day of this yet, and I honestly don’t anticipate it happening as such. I also don’t know if I get 100 more scripts made, if I’ll ever be as happy as I am right now because, this being my hometown and my home team and so much converging at once for me, I just don’t know how it gets better than this.
Scott R: We have had separate careers going. To be able to do this with a friend is just something that adds a whole different level of joy to this whole process.
Scott M: Speaking of joy, the script for Draft Day made the Black List in 2012. How did you find out and what has that meant to you?
Scott R: [laughs] I actually think it’s a pretty funny story. I think we were pitching on something else that day. I can’t remember what time of year it was, but it was cold and it was the first year that the Black List was being announced on Twitter. We came out of this meeting and I’m sitting on a corner, freezing my ass off in New York City. I think Rajiv had to run to another meeting or I told you not to be around me or something. Do you remember? I’m just constantly refreshing Twitter, and they’ve mentioned like 60 other script and no mention of us. To me, the Black List was this huge deal. I had told Rajiv by a year before, if we could make the Black List, I will feel like we really would have accomplished something, because I was a fan of the Black List.
I’d always read the top 10 scripts on the Black List. I really deeply wanted to be on the Black List, and I thought we had a shot at making the Black List, and I hated myself for even thinking that because I didn’t want to lead myself up to being disappointed when we didn’t make it. I kept refreshing on Twitter and didn’t see our names and was like, “Fuck this…”
[laughter]
Scott R: “…I’m going to lunch.” I got on the subway and I lost cell phone service, came back up to have lunch. My wife, who I guess was doing the same thing, I didn’t even know she knew what the Black List was, told me that not only had we made the Black List, that we had been chosen number one on the Black List.
Scott M: Other than a personal satisfaction, do you notice a jolt in terms of meetings or anything making the Black List?
Scott R: No question. I think we’re now the guys who not only were on the Black List, but topped the Black List. We got a lot of attention because of it, which we are so thankful to Franklin [Leonard] and the whole gang over there for. Yeah, we certainly got a jolt out of it. I think, no matter what, that’s something that happened and can never be taken away from us. I think our names will always be linked, in the very best sense, to the Black List. Every article ever written about us now, not to say there’s a million articles, but when they do mentions us, it’s Black List writers.
Rajiv: It’s a huge honor. It’s an honor shared by the industry, so it obviously has an enormous affect on what happens afterwards.
Scott M: I believe you two have another project that you’re working with Ivan Reitman, “Big in China,” a journalist and his family move from New Jersey to Beijing. Is there anything that you can share about what that project’s about?
Scott R: We are still writing a draft of it for Paramount, and we’re very excited to be working again with Ivan on something.
Rajiv: It’s like a rock and roll family comedy about a family abroad, a fish‑out‑of‑water family, living in China.
Scott R: Based on a true story by Alan Paul. But that’s about all we can say.
Tomorrow in Part 5, Rajiv and Scott share their thoughts on some aspects of the screenwriting craft.
For Part 1 of the interview, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Rajiv is repped by Gersh and Kaplan / Perrone.
Scott is repped by CAA and Kaplan / Perrone.
Twitter: @scottmrothman, @RajivAJoseph, @DraftDayMovie.
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