Interview: Sean Robert Daniels (2012 Nicholl Winner)

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is the most prestigious of its kind and holds a primary place of importance in Hollywood movie development circles. With the announcement on Friday of the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship winners, I thought it would be a good idea to reprint all of the interviews I have done with previous Nicholl winners since there’s a lot to be learned from these talented writers. Today: Sean Robert Daniels, interview originally posted February 2013.

Sean Robert Daniels’ original screenplay “Killers” is a taut, finely crafted thriller that won him a 2012 Nicholl fellowship. And for those of you toiling away on spec scripts outside the United States, Sean can be an inspiration for you as he lives 10,364 air miles away from Los Angeles, all the way in Centurion, South Africa.

Here are links to all six installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “One of my favorite ones was the idea that if you don’t tell anyone your dreams for seven years, then you can actually see wind. Little gems like that I would pick up and note down.”

Part 2: “Then I went on the trip round the world and I realized that it would be a far, far better film if I set it back in South Africa where being middle class carries a huge amount of issues around it.”

Part 3: “By leaving the characters unnamed they, I think in a way, become a purer version of who they are.”

Part 4: “Suddenly I was getting emails and a massive amount of phone calls from agents to managers wanting to chat and find out whoever I was, and the courting season began, which was very flattering.”

Part 5: “For me, the important thing, the very important thing about discovering the story and the characters is getting that first draft done.”

Part 6: “One of my biggest bugbears with writing is exposition. It’s something that I try and avoid as much as possible.”

Sean is represented by Kaplan/Perrone.

I am happy to report I have interviews lined up with two more of the 2013 Nicholl winners and two of the 2014 winners.

Tomorrow: James DiLapo, 2012 Nicholl winner.