Q&A: Screenwriter Stan Chervin (“Moneyball”), Part 5
Stan Chervin is one of the credited writers on the screenplay for the movie Moneyball along with Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. In the fifth part of my Q&A, Chervin offers some insight into working as a professional screenwriter:
A few craft questions. First how do you decide which writing projects you choose to pursue?
It’s like falling in love or believing in a religion: you can’t fake it. If there’s a passion within you to tell that story, you will do whatever it takes, put up with any abuse, overcome any obstacle to write that script. If it’s simply a job-for-hire, I feel it can often be reflected in your wrok.
Do you look for a project that you feel has the best chance to get produced or is your choice guided less by commercial considerations and more by your emotional connection to the material?
My emotional connection to, and passion for the material, is the only thing that guides me. If I was guided by commercial considerations, I like to think I would’ve been more successful.
How much time do you typically spend doing research on a project? Are there some guides you have on how you approach research?
I’d say I usually do 3–4 weeks of research before I start writing (or to prepare the pitch) and then continue to research as I work. Even with Moneyball, where all the research was done for me by Michael Lewis, I still did my own research into Billy and the other characters in the book and often found useful tidbits that illuminate character or scenes.
What are some of the keys to how you develop characters for your writing projects? Do you use tools such as character biographies and interviews to flesh out your characters?
I do a character biography only in terms of contrasting characters with each other. I will often make a chart and write down each characters attitude, reaction, quality, etc. so I can make sure there are many different points of view being presented and that each point of view has a consistency.
How do you go about plotting a story? Is there a specific screenplay paradigm you prefer to use or do you find the story’s structure more organically?
I probably spend more time plotting the structure of the story than any other prep I do. When you get down to it, almost all every paradigm for screenplay writing — Syd Field, Save the Cat, etc. — follow the same fundamental guidelines, rules and key points of execution. Usually, the only difference is what they call them. I think I tend to synthesize all of these approaches, and then superimpose it onto the classic five-part structure of theatrical plays (Inciting Incident, Exposition, Escalation, Climax, Denoument)
As part of your story development process, do you write treatments or outlines before you type FADE IN? If so, how extensive do those tend to be?
I never write a treatment unless I’m contractually required to. For me, a treatment falls under the “neither fish nor fowl” — it’s not quite a short story, and it’s not a screenplay. It’s a strange hybrid animal that doesn’t accomplish the goals of either one.
Once you start the first draft, what is your writing process like? Do you have set hours every day for writing or do you write when you feel like it? Daytime writer or night owl?
I always try to bang out a first, rough draft as fast as I can. There’s a story of George Abbott, the theatre director, coming into the theatre of a musical he was rehearsing and seeing the choreographer with all of the dancers on stage, but none of them were dancing. Abbott asked why. The choreographer said he was trying to figure out how to choreograph the number. Abbot told him, “Well, do something! That way, we can change it.” I think it’s always easier to revise a script, even a truly awful one, than face the tyranny of the blank page.
I almost always write from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 or 2:00 pm, take a lunch break, and then work on non-script writing chores in the afternoon. I find I’m really only good for about 5 hours of actual scriptwriting a day. Unless I’m under a deadline at which point I tend to work long, long days — 10–14 hours of writing.
Sometimes the single greatest challenge for a writer is actually to sit down and start a writing session. Are there times when you resist writing and how do you overcome that impulse not to write?
To me, that’s the biggest challenge of writing: finding the discipline to sit down and do it every day. Like any good writer, I don’t need much excuse to procrastinate. I tend to overcome by “doubling down” the next day and trying to really increase my output.
There’s a software called Freedom which blocks your access to the Internet for how ever many hours you set it for. I find that HIGHLY productive because you can’t be distracted by checking your e-mail or surfing the web. It forces you to work only on the script.
What do you like to read? Which authors inspire you?
I’m afraid my tastes run heavily toward “the usual suspects.” Besides Shakespeare, I’ve always been a big fan of Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens. No one writes better characters than Dickens — he can often define someone with a single line or phrase. (Consider Mr. Micawber’s “Something will turn up.”) One of my all time favorite books is Moby Dick. I do read every Michael Lewis book because he’s such a great writer.
How about your personal favorite top five movie list.
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid Breaker Morant Casablanca Groundhog Day It’s A Wonderful Life
Finally do you have any words of advice for aspiring screenwriters.
If your goal as a screenwriter is to make a lot of money, you’re doomed to fail.
If your goal as a screenwriter is to produce the best possible writing you are personally able to write, writing that celebrates the sheer beauty of the craft, you cannot hope but to succeed.
What a great way to end the interview. I encourage you to visit comments and thank Stan for taking the time from his busy schedule which has included many award ceremonies to do this interview for GITS readers.
For Part 1 of the Q&A, go here.
For Part 2, go here.
For Part 3, go here.
For Part 4, go here.
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