Interview: Spenser Cohen — Part 2
In December 2011, writer-director Spenser Cohen sold the action-thriller spec script “The Driver” he wrote with Zach Luna. In November 2012, Cohen sold the action spec script “High Value Target”. Then in January 2013, Spenser sold another spec script: “Pantheon”. A writer who sells 3 spec scripts within 2 years is someone we need to hear from, so I’m pleased to present my interview with Spenser.
In Part 2, Spenser talks about how he was introduced to the craft of screenwriting, the sale of “The Driver,” and how he got representation:
Scott: Shifting over to screenwriting, Spenser, at USC you were one of four students in your class chosen to direct a thesis film. Was that “Shattered?”
Spenser: Yeah, that was.
Scott: I featured “Shattered” on Go Into The Story in January of 2010.
Spenser: I’ve been a huge fan of your site. I saw some shorts that went up and sent you “Shattered.” I think that’s how it happened.
Scott: Yeah. I have that series I do every so often “Movies You Made,” to promote independent filmmakers. What was that experience like doing “Shattered”?
Spenser: It was great. We were the last year to shoot on film, so it was fun to be able to have that experience before everything switched over to digital.
But the thing about USC that I didn’t realize at the time was they use the thesis experience to prepare you for the real world, and they design the program to mimic how Hollywood really works. There are 50 kids in each class, and anyone that wants to direct has to pitch the faculty on their vision, on the characters, the story, the visual design, and the execution, but only 4 directors are chosen. Even though I didn’t know that’s what it would be like when I got out of school, it was great training for the real world. Nothing is ever handed to you. You have to fight for it.
This was also the first time that I was working with a full crew so it was a great lesson in navigating personalities and running a set. I really feel like people feed off the director’s energy so it’s important to encourage teamwork and collaboration and keep a positive attitude even when problems arise, and problems will always arise. And I learned that it’s important to be prepared. People follow the director’s lead and they want to know that this person is confident, has a vision and a plan for what they’re doing.
Scott: How much of the screenwriting craft did you learn in film school, and how much had you learned before you went to USC?
Spenser: I wrote one script in high school, but most of the things that I wrote were short stories. When I got into USC, I took a few classes, but I feel like it’s so hard to teach what screenwriting is. You get the basics in a day, but there’s just so much you really learn by doing. You have to just throw yourself in. You can’t necessarily be taught what to do. I had some teachers who said, “You should never outline,” and some teachers who said, “You HAVE to outline.” I spent a lot of my time sitting alone in my room figuring out what worked for me.
I deconstructed movies like “The Sixth Sense,” and “Aliens.” I’d have the script in front of me, and I would watch the movie and see how the writing translated. I learned more from doing that than I did in any class. The stuff that I started out writing was just awful…I was just trying to figure it out. Then you start to get a rhythm and you’re like, “Oh, this is feeling right,” and you start to understand character, and structure, and you realize the importance of the architecture beneath everything.
Scott: Like I tell people on the blog: watch movies, read scripts, write pages. It sounds like you pretty much adapted that as a personal mantra in learning the craft.
Spenser: Oh, 100 percent, and the first thing on there is “ass in chair,” which is the most important thing of all. I think literally sitting down, turning your phone off, and saying, for the next 10 hours, 8 hours, whatever it is, I’m not leaving here until I figure this out. Even if you write nothing, just being able to sit there consistently, that’s really what screenwriting is. It’s boring to sit in a chair and not do anything, and you really have to get past that, and realize that once you get into a story it gets really exciting. But just the act of sitting in a chair, I feel like that’s half the work.
Scott: It seems to me that there are two different paths for writer‑directors. There are the writer‑directors who are primarily focused on directing, and they write in order to service and find the material they want to direct. Then there are writer‑directors who come out of the writing background, who get into directing, because they want to protect the vision of what they write. Where would you fall in those two approaches?
Spenser: I think definitely more of a director who writes. I picked up a camera before I wrote stories. Like I said, since I’ve been making short films since I was seven years old, but I didn’t really fall in love with writing until high school. I probably had ten years before that where the camera was my pencil, my typewriter…that was what I used to tell stories. Even if it’s a project I’m not directing, I still approach everything visually.
Scott: Your first big splash in Hollywood, I believe, was the “The Driver,” a script you co‑wrote and sold that Voltage Pictures and Anna, your producing partner are producing. The log line for that is: Centers on a man whose life suburban existence is flipped on his drive to work when he finds himself coerced to be the wheelman of an assembled group of criminals. The man learns that thieves were not randomly assembled and that the heist leads to a larger mystery. What’s the chronology of events that led to that deal?
Spenser: “The Driver” placed in the top 30 of the Nicholl Fellowship. I was repped at WME at the time, and Brooklyn Weaver, who’s my manager now, read “The Driver” and called me and said, “I love this project. I want to be involved.” I had a bunch of manager meetings lined up, but I sat down with Brooklyn, and in two minutes I knew he was the guy. He totally got the material and he got me. I loved his attitude. He’s a go‑getter. I let him run with the script, and we ended up partnering with a friend of mine, Stephen L’Heureux, who’s a great producer and championed the project. Together we sold it to Voltage.
Scott: How did you get to WME? Was it through your short films?
Spenser: Through short films, and the work that Anna and I were doing in TV. I directed some pilots and a few show opens after graduating. Then we were asked to start and run a television production company. The company was repped at WME so the agents saw our work and we got to know them. We left the production company after a year and we signed with WME.
Here is the short film “Shattered” that Spenser wrote and directed while at USC, and I featured on GITS on January 20, 2010:
Tomorrow in Part 3 of our interview, Spenser reveals how he developed “High Value Target” and we dive into some key elements of that story.
For Part 1, go here.
Please stop by comments to thank Spenser and ask any questions you may have.
Spenser is repped by WME and Energy Entertainment.
Twitter: @IAmSpenserCohen / @AnnaHalberg
Six Foot Turkey Productions website here.