Interview: Stephanie Shannon (2013 Nicholl Winner, 2013 Black List) — Part 6

Stephanie Shannon not only is one of five recipients of the 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, she did it with her very first full-length screenplay: “Queen of Hearts.” Beyond that, the script landed on the 2013 Black List. Therefore I was pleased to have the opportunity to talk with Stephanie about her background, the script and her take on the craft as she has developed as a writer.

Today in Part 6, Stephanie answers more craft questions and offers advice to those trying to break into the business:

Scott: To harken back to the comment you made about how you would hunker down on weekends and just write this thing at night and in the mornings, how important is it, do you think, for a writer to have a real, specific passion for the story they’re writing?

Stephanie: I think it’s extremely important. Writing is so hard. To force yourself to sit down and face all your fears and doubts and just dedicate yourself to something that may never end up being anything is a really scary, difficult experience.

I think unless you really are having fun, and not just fun but unless you really feel like what you’re doing excites you…. In my experience, I knew it was the right story, because I would constantly be thinking about it and constantly walking around and seeing the scenes in my mind and coming up with new ideas.

It was almost like once the switch got turned on in February it didn’t turn off until I finished it. There was no moment where a large part of my brain wasn’t thinking about the script. I think if you don’t care about your story, if you’re not writing something that is personally important to you, that you really feel like you can tell well, then you’re not going to be able to dedicate the amount of mental energy it takes to really complete something.

Scott: What do you love most about writing?

Stephanie: I love how there are endless possibilities. At the same time, that can be very intimidating, but…if I can create a world that’s real enough that it invites complete strangers in and they want to stay, I think that’s the most beautiful thing and exciting thing I could do with my life.

Scott: That’s a really wonderful way of looking at that, inviting complete strangers into the world you create. I’ve never quite heard it said like that, but that just makes so much sense.

Stephanie: I think that’s also something that Lewis Carroll felt later in his life…That was one of his desires, too. In my script it even says he regretted he wouldn’t live to see the generations of children that would take their own journeys down the rabbit hole.

That’s what’s beautiful about storytelling. It’s ageless. It’s a way to affect the lives of people that you’ll never even know their names, but you know that you have.

Scott: That’s terrific. One last question for you now that you’ve gone to the other sided here. You’ve broken through the membrane of a working writer, or what not, you’re going to get this question all the time. What advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and bringing it into Hollywood?

Stephanie: I think it’s important to just sit down and to do it. That was my biggest obstacle I had to overcome, was that it took me years to actually have the courage to sit down and believe that I could actually do it, and to put pen to paper.

I think that’s really the key, is to just write, because even if you think it’s going to be bad, or you don’t have any ideas, you never know. When you actually start, the things that come to you, they constantly surprise you.

On a general level just learning how the business works. Doing different things. Not just writing, but maybe working on set in different departments or working as an assistant. Really getting dirt on your hands in the industry, learning how it works from the inside and actively getting to know as many people as possible. I did all those things and I’m very glad I did. And then, of course, carve the time out to actually write. It’s a combination. I don’t think it does much good to write in a vacuum hoping someone in Hollywood will read your script, no matter how good it is.

Scott: Reminds me of the speech that you made when you accepted the Nicholl, the conversations you’d have with your mom where you were complaining about your script, feeling like you were lost. She would keep saying, “Just keep writing.”

Stephanie: Yeah, I was so mad. I was like, “That’s it?” [laughs] But it was so true.

Besides all of that, what I would say is most important, at least for me is… don’t write a movie that you think people will want to see. Write the movie that you want to see. The rest should take care of itself.

For Part 1, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Please stop by comments to thank Stephanie for her time and ask any questions you may have.

Stephanie is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

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