Clayton Surratt

Clayton Surratt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro then received his Masters from the Theatre School DePaul University.  His script “Serial Twin” was a quarter-finalist in the Big Aussie Screenplay Contest.  In May 2004, Clayton sold his script “342” to 2929 Productions.  He is currently repped by Emile Gladstone & Justin Silvera at Broder-Webb-Chervin-Silbermann Agency and manager A.B. Fischer at Octane Entertainment.  Clayton lives in New York City. (July 2004)
 

Where are you from and where did you grow up?

I was a Navy brat so I moved around a lot when I was a kid.  Every year or two we moved to a new place.   I was born at Fort Ord, CA, which is actually an Army hospital near Monterey, Ca.  So, to keep it simple I often just tell people I was born in Monterey.  But I didn’t stay there long, in fact I don’t even remember my birthplace.  I grew up moving around my whole life.  I lived in San Diego.  Falls Church, VA.  San Pedro, CA.  Pearl Harbor.  Back to San Diego.  Then when I was almost 15 my dad retired and we moved back to his hometown of Denton, North Carolina.  I was really upset by that because I felt like we were just moving to the boonies. The population was less than one thousand and I graduated from High School in a class of 55.  It was really really small.  Now, I don’t want to upset anyone who lives in and loves small towns but I had grown up in cities, and city life was really more to my liking.  After High School I went to college in Greensboro and then moved to Atlanta, and Chicago and now finally New York City.  Which I love.  I love New York.  Living here spoils you for the rest of the world I think.  I understand why people think New Yorkers are snobs.  I really do.  We are snobs.  Not on purpose, but just because we tend to think that the way we do things is the best and most sophisticated.  I will say that the experience of moving a lot  when I was young had and upside.  I learned to make new friends easily.  I think that that ability is a really good social skill that has served me well.

When did you become first interested in films and or screenwriting?  Did you write much growing up?

I was, like a lot of people, interested in the theatre and acting, and from about 13 or 14 I really wanted to be an actor.  We used to travel to High Point NC to see the North Carolina Shakespeare festival and I was really into that.  Even at 15, 16, 17 I thought Shakespeare and great theatre was the bomb.  Obviously, with Shakespeare it’s all about language.  As far as films…  that was always something I loved as well.  Going to the movies was a big part of growing up for me.  Everyone in my family loves the movies.   It seems like we were going two or three times a month.  I don’t think I was particularly discerning either, if there was a cool car chase or a scary monster or dinosaur in the movie I would go see it.  And I mean pre-Jurassic park dinosaur movies.  Here’s a funny tidbit about my love of the movies.  I had a habit (that I now recognize as annoying) of describing movies I had seen to friends and family who hadn’t seen the movie.  Not as a way of ruining it, but if someone I knew was not going to see the movie I would tell him or her the whole movie.  Beginning to end.  With every cool scene and detail included.  So if you were stuck in a car with me for an hour I would tell you EVERYTHING about that movie.  I guess that was the earliest “pitching” I ever did.

The early films I loved were popcorn fare that we would consider classics today.  “Star Wars.”  I was obsessed by that movie.  I saw it a dozen times over the course of a year.  Those were the days before the Cineplex and before Moviephone and advance ticket buying.  Advance ticket buying back then meant going to the theater hours before the show time to buy the ticket and then waiting in the ticket holder line for two hours.   I have really fond memories of that time.  Me and my whole family camped out in line and ate fast food while we waited to see “Star Wars” for the 3rd time.

I loved “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Alien.”  Then later it was all the John Hughes films and the Brat pack stuff.  James Bonds movies were always big.  I loved all the Planet of the Apes films.  Science Fiction, Fantasy, spy stuff.  More recently I’m a big fan of mind-twisting stories like “Memento” and “Fight Club” and “The Usual Suspects.”  Stories of that ilk.  Things that make you scratch your head and think about them after you’ve left the theatre.

Where did you go to college and or did you ever study film/writing?

I got my undergrad degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and my Masters from the Theatre School DePaul University.  I didn’t start as a writer.  I started as an actor.  I got my degrees in Theatre and Acting.  I did take a playwriting class in undergrad and wrote a play as a result of that class.  That was my first venture into dramatic writing and I had very much a mental tug-of-war with myself when I wrote that play about what direction I should follow–  Acting or writing.  I  strongly considered going in the literary direction– but there was this thing, this bug, this acting sickness that I had to get out of my system first.  I also have this strong completion drive, and since I set out to be an actor then damn it that was what I was going to do.

The other thing that held me back a bit was a question of maturity.  In my early twenties every time I thought about writing I would stop before I started because I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about.  I think I had to grow into writing.  I needed to experience life in order to have something to say.  That sounds like a cliché when you say “go out and get some life experience” but there is no way around it.  Life must be experienced first, then you can write.

Tell me about writing your first script?  What was your approach like?

Well, my very first scripts where plays.  I wrote short plays first and then graduated to full length material.  What happened was I moved to New York and I was working with a group of actors to produce shows to perform in in order to get agents.  Showcases.  I found myself writing new work for myself and others to perform in and then I really got the writing bug back.  I also found acting to be increasingly frustrating because I wasn’t progressing like I knew I should and I was tired of not getting any attention from agents and all…  I also wasn’t really happy with the quality of work available to me.  But when I sat down to write I didn’t have to worry about getting fellow actors to work with or renting a theatre space or even auditioning and waiting for someone to hire me.  I could sit and write any time I wanted to and fulfill my creative impulses.  So I sort of grew into writing, and I knew I was on the right track because when we did my plays for live audiences they would laugh when they were supposed to laugh and cry when they were supposed to cry.  It was great.  I got a short play into a festival.  I was getting lots of positive reinforcement.  At least in my little world of off-off Broadway theatre.  But my first screenplay…  That’s another story.

After I had written several one act plays and a full length play, I then took a shot at a screenplay and the first thing I wrote was a TV spec for “Star Trek: Voyager”.  I know that makes me sound like a nerd and such a loser — and maybe I am–  but I knew that they would read it because they had this open submission policy at the time and I thought “what the hell?”  I figured it would at least be a good experience in my own self-education.  I was right about that.  It forced me to learn about TV structure.  I thought the story was damn good too.  But, it got rejected of course.  After that, I was going to write another stage play but the more I thought about the ideas I was interested in, the more  I realized that the story I wanted to tell wasn’t a play it was a movie.  So I wrote my first feature — “Serial Twin.”  “Serial Twin” was a major learning experience for me, in terms of screenwriting craft, because I started off on it and got about half way when I realized that it wasn’t working.  So I stopped, figured out what was not working and then really learned about screenplay structure.  I read a lot of books on the subject including the Syd Field stuff.  By the time I read Syd Field I got it, and then I dove in and got Serial Twin to be a really cool script.  Bottom line is I basically taught myself screenplay structure on my first script.  But it’s so important.  Like William Goldman says “screenplay is structure.”

Tell us more about “Serial Twin”?  What is it about?  What was it like writing it?

“Serial Twin” is a cloning story that asks this question:  “Can a murder victim be cloned and return as an eyewitness to her own murder?”  The answer, in my script, of course, is yes.  The theme is even revealed in that sentence.  Is a clone only a copy of the original and therefore and extension of that life, or is a clone his or her own person?  Are we simply the sum of our DNA and electrochemical impulses in the brain, or are we more than that?

I wanted to write a story that would deal in a more honest, scientific way with the realities of human cloning.  I was sick of Hollywood’s versions, in-that every movie with a cloning story has the creation of the clone happening in about five hours and ending with a fully realized adult, complete with memory.  That is nowhere near reality.  I wanted to raise awareness of the human side of the issue.  I take the position that clones occur all the time in nature.  They’re called identical twins.  So a human clone is really just an identical twin that uses modern scientific techniques like in-vitro fertilization.  Thus the title, “Serial Twin.”  Now, that’s an oversimplification of the science, but I think it’s still dead-on in terms of the morality issue.  I would say, no matter what legislation is enacted in the next few years or even decades that Human cloning is somewhat inevitable.  The genie was let out of the bottle years ago when we began in-vitro.  I also touch on the possibilities of improving health and quality of life with stem cell products and all.  Stuff like growing human hearts for transplant.  Anyway, I digress.  In “Serial Twin” the cloned girl grows up normally until she is seven and then she begins to have memories of the murder and strange behaviors.  Her father attempts to get her some help from a psychiatrist to get to the heart of the memories and erase them while also protecting his daughter from the killer who is still on the loose and who would be threatened by this potential new eyewitness.
 

How if at all has your acting experience helped you?  With creating characters? Dialogue? Do you find yourself acting out the parts much while writing?

I think that my acting background helps me with every aspect of the writing game.  Dialogue, characters, the whole lot.  As an actor you do investigative work to get to the root of a character and shape a performance.  It’ like writing in reverse.  An actor tries to figure out what the writer was thinking based solely on the tiny clues on the page.  As a writer I get to play all the parts in my head.  I hear the rhythms of the spoken word.  I also think that you either may or may not have an ear for it.  I always think my dialogue is great, but I can’t really prove it till I hear an actor say it.  A reader may tell me that some of my dialogue is choppy, but I like it that way.   I think that that is how people sound.  In my view the reader is simply failing to hear how great it’ll sound when good actors roll with the rhythms.

Character creation, for me, stems from the needs of the story, so I let the characters be what suits the situation.  If you’re going to write a western you need cowboys and so forth, but, of course, what one does for a living is only one part of the equation.  You have likes and dislikes and past histories and traits like introversion or extroversion, but all of those ultimately have to serve the story.  You can’t have any arbitrary traits in a screenplay.  If you’re working up a story and your character goes to the store for some toothpaste, you’ll have to know why the guy buys Crest instead of Colgate.  You’ll end up creating a whole backstory about the terrible traumatic dentifrice incident he had in grade school.  Okay maybe not quite that bad, but pretty close.

I do ultimately act out all the parts at home alone.  I live in a New York high rise apartment and if anyone can hear me in the hallways they probably think I’m nuts.  I also picture movie stars in the roles.  It’s good to dream big.  It’s fun to imagine what it would be like to have Clint Eastwood or Tom Cruise doing your stuff.

What was getting your first agent like?  How did that come about?

Well the bad news is I didn’t get my first agent, my first signed agent, till after I sold “342”.  But the good news is that I found my Lit Manager AB Fischer (or I should say he found me) and he was instrumental in moving my career forward and getting me an agent.  I can’t speak highly enough of AB and I want to stress to those starting out that a good manager is a really great thing. As for finding AB and getting started,  I’ll just say that I did it the hard way.  I sent hundreds of query letters and sent “Serial Twin” to anybody that would read it.  I bought a copy of the HCD which lists producers and studios and stuff and I scanned the pages to find companies that were making movies that were similar to mine, then I’d mark those companies for a query letter.  I  also sent queries to some agents and lit managers.  When I had my list I meticulously added each address and contact to my computer database.  Hours and hours of data entry were involved but there was not other way it was going to get done.  Once I had my database I wrote a killer query letter and did a mail merge and printed and stamped and addressed and sealed all those letters and sent them off into the ether.  I would say I got about a one percent return rate which is okay.  Most of the queries went unanswered.  Many, especially at the big places sent polite return letters explaining why they couldn’t read unsolicited submissions.  But you just go with the yeses and keep on keeping on.  I also sent it to contests, Serial Twin was a quarter-finalist in the Big Aussie Screenplay Contest in 2001.  That was cool because it was something I could mention in my queries and because it was validation.  Once again I knew I was on the right track because people were responding, however slightly, to my work.  Keep in mind now that this process took months and months.  I would send out, say, 50 letters a week.  Break it into chunks that are more manageable.  Plus I was working as a waiter full-time and doing everything else that is involved with living life.  When AB became interested he sent “Serial Twin” to an agent that liked it and she agreed to meet me.  I thought, “wow, cool, I’m going to get an agent now”  but the reality wasn’t like that.  She met me and picked my brain and we talked about other stories that I might be interested in writing in the future and that was that.  She wasn’t going to take the script out on the market but she would read anything that I wrote in the future.  Kind of like saying, “I don’t think you’re ready for prime-time but you might have potential so  keep me posted”.  Which I did.  Based on that meeting I set off to write my next screenplay and then finally “342” which is the one that everyone agreed was right for the market.
 

And after the contest what happened?

Well, in the contest I was only a quarter finalist not a winner.  So I was in the top 40.  I didn’t make the top 20.  So the contest was really nothing more than some degree of validation.  I hate to sound like a needy artist type but I guess I am.  I need some yeses from people along the way.  Trust me, there are way way way too many “no’s” out there.  In the period between “Serial Twin” and the sale were lots and lots of writing.  Writing draft after draft that needed to be re-written to make it more saleable.  That’s where AB is so valuable.  Once he started working with me he would read every draft and give me feedback and nudges in the right direction.  He would steer me away from stuff that is already out there or that hasn’t performed well in the marketplace and steer me in a more commercial direction.  See, the problem with selling a screenplay is, that it’s less about how good or bad you are as a writer than it is about how everyone thinks it can be sold as a movie.  There are tons and tons of great stories that ought to be told but only a very few that make good movies.  The trick is, if you’re a screenwriter, to concentrate you forces on the ideas that will make the best movies.  In theory anyway.  It’s so much speculation and just hoping for the best.

You are currently repped by Emile Gladstone & Justin Silvera at Broder-Webb-Chervin-Silbermann Agency and manager A.B. Fischer at Octane Entertainment? Not to put you on the spot but what is it like working with them?  Do you talk often?  What do they look for from you? What do you look for from them? Do you feel both are necessary?

Now that I’m repped by this fantastic agency things are really exciting.  Everyone at the agency is working hard for me.  They are sending out my script (“342”) as a sample, telling everyone who reads it how great I am, setting up meetings for me.  (I take meetings now.  It’s weird.)  They are doing everything to generate buzz and get me work, they are creating tremendous opportunities for me.  It’s really awesome, and of course it’s what you toil away for in obscurity to obtain.

Working with them is great.  I talk to them all the time.  Daily.  Multiple times daily.  I send work to AB; he helps by putting a new set of eyes on it.  Emile and Justin are focused so much on building my career.  They’re thinking about the next job and next year and down the road…  I could not be happier or more fortunate.

I think they look for me to work hard and bring my intelligence and viewpoint to a piece or a take for an assignment.  I like having both, but it’s also the only thing I know.  I think the more people you have rooting for you and fighting for you the better.
 

This past May 2004, you set up “342” with 2929 Productions.  As I understand it this was your first sale. Yes?

Yes.  This was, of course, the highlight of my career so far.  At the end of the day you can either shoot your own script or sell it to someone who will– so this was huge.  I knew when “342” was getting lots of buzz that it was going to be a good thing for me no matter what but selling it was a dream come true.  I also really believe that it will make it to the screen because 2929 is really committed to making the movie.  It’s not going to sit on the shelf forever.  They are moving forward fast and aggressively.  It’s really exciting when, after dreaming of big name actors during the writing process, someone says so and so is interested or we’re planning to go after so and so.  That is one of the coolest things ever.

Short story.  I was still working at the restaurant, doing a dinner shift and it was about 10 or 10:30 pm New York time, so it’s the end of a long business day in LA, “342” had been on the market for a week, it was in all the studios and my nerves were frazzled.   AB called on my cell phone, which I kept in my pocket even though I was still in the course of dinner service, and told me that an offer was made.  I told my co-workers, and everyone was really excited for me.  Then, without my knowledge, the manager on duty took a bottle of Champagne and gathered the whole staff in the private dining room and called me in.  All my co-workers toasted me and we drank Champagne.  They knew I would not be at the restaurant much longer and they were all so excited for me.  Everyone loves Hollywood stories and so, in my little sphere of influence, I was really honored by my friends.  That was a great and really touching moment that I will never forget.

And can you tell us about the development of the script and what went into writing it for you?  Research? Why this story per se?

Lots and lots of re-writing.  I mean lots.  Twelve drafts I think.  I don’t know, I lose count.

And  tons of research.  I live for research.  I think that it’s the heart of storytelling.  Really knowing what you’re talking about.  I loved being in college.  I love to study and read.  In fact I’d say that for writers in college now if you don’t love the study and the deadlines you might want to reconsider…  Professional writing us just like being in school.  There’s always something due.

The story, I think, was kind of a lucky accident.  I was working on ideas for a new story and I knew I wanted to do a spy thing focused on the FBI.  The Robert Hanson story had just broken and I was really interested in showing the truth about spies and their home life etc…  At the same time I read in Wired magazine about this guy that was trying to un-erase the Nixon tape with the missing 18 ½ minutes on it and I started thinking… “What if someone could do that?  What would be on that tape and why would we care?”  So I combined the two ideas, and, well, in a simplified way that’s how “342” came about.

Then I jumped into the nitty gritty.  I read books about the FBI.  How it worked.  How it was organized.  I went to the FBI website.  I bought a book called “Abuse of Power” which was nothing more than the transcription of all the Nixon tapes in print.  I researched the National Archives.  Where they were located, laid out, etc.  I researched the period surround the political climate of the time.  I re-watched “All the presidents Men” about Woodward and Bernstein and the investigation into the Watergate break in.  I looked into the players in Nixon’s cabinet–  Looking to see who did prison time and who was dead and who was in the Oval office.  I researched DARPA and the cool science projects that they work on.  I like to find as much real world stuff as possible to give the material a solid grounding in authenticity.  Then I make up the elements that are necessary to make the most exciting story.  For example, the real tape that we’re talking about is still a mystery.  There is a conversation, then there is this huge 18 ½ minute gap, and then the conversation resumes.  Now, we know who was in the room, but we don’t know what was said.  That’s when I took artistic liberties and made up a conversation that would be the most dramatic thing I could think of.   The main thing is to read and watch shows and do everything that you can to be immersed in the world you want to write about.  In a sense, you have to become an expert on the thing to make it real.  That takes time, and sometimes while doing research I can fall into a sense that I’m not being productive because no pages are being generated, but then I just have to remember that it’s all part of the process.

What was it like making that deal?  Working with 2929? Have they started giving you many notes? Have you met with them?

The deal making is all agent and manager stuff.  When the script was ready it went on the spec market.  I was on the sidelines for that and just got updates everyday.  It went into all the studios.  Everyone was begging to read it.  It was exciting and very very tense.  I knew that in a matter of days the script would either sell or it wouldn’t and that would be all but I knew it was a big deal either way.  As it turned out…  I got the best of all possible outcomes.

I have met with 2929 but I’ve not gotten any notes yet.  The script is in great shape and it’s out to directors.  When we get a director I’ll be getting notes from both 2929 and the director at that point.

Do you do much research when preparing to write a script?  Do you travel? Take tours?  Visit libraries?

All of the above.  And don’t forget the internet.  There is so much there.  When I was looking for FBI information and Nixon information… so much of it is on government websites.  Thank you Freedom of Information Act.

I like to order books from Barnes and Noble.  I can search for them online and because I live in Manhattan they get delivered to my house by the next day!

I recently toured the International spy museum in DC.  It rocks!  That place really sparked my imagination.  I spent hours looking at all the material and there was still so much I didn’t have time for.  Seeing real spy gear and techniques from ancient times to the present was very inspirational to me.  Something about seeing a thing in person makes it more real.  You understand a thing simply by looking at it.  You can read about a one-shot pistol that looks like a tube of lipstick, but to see it really brings it home.

Plus I’m nerd.  I was mesmerized by the museum.  My wife liked it too, but after about two hours she was ready to cut loose.  I stayed behind and strolled around for over four hours.  They say you need 2 ½  but I could have stayed for six hours if left to my own devices.

I’m a sick CNN junky.  It’s on all day.  It’s important to stay up with current events and I get a lot of really great ideas there as well.  Sometimes when I’m trying to solve a story something that someone says on CNN, or out on the street for that matter, jogs something loose and breaks it open for me.

You currently live in New York then travel to Los Angeles for meetings? What has that been like for you?  How do you feel about the old “you have to live in LA” debate?  Is it difficult for you?

This is all new.  I sold the script and went out to LA for two weeks to meet people but since then I’m just hanging out in NY and working at home.  There are lots of NY based production companies.  So as far as the debate goes I’ll just say that I love NY.  It’s not a problem for a writer, and it’s not like I’m in Idaho.  (No offense to the fine citizens of Idaho).  I like to remind people that New York City is the other entertainment capital of the world.  You absolutely do not have to live in LA.  If you want to write you can live anywhere.  If you want to drink Cosmo’s with Tom Cruise you have to live in LA.

Have you done many pitch meetings?  How have things gone for you?  Do you have any recommendations or pointers for other writers?

Pointers about meetings?  I don’t know.  This is all really new.  I’ve been given the opportunity to pitch my take on some re-writes and I’m giving it my all but I probably suck at it.  I do think my acting background helps because it’s like an audition.  I work up my ideas and then I have to tell the story live.  It always gets my blood flowing and after a pitch I’m tired.  Like I just worked out in the gym.  Once I get myself worked up into performance mode and I have all of my emotional energy tied up in the outcome of the pitch it kind of puts me through the ringer.  My only pointer would be to rest up, be prepared, be yourself, and be enthusiastic and fun.

What about feedback on your work? How do you handle that?

I take feedback like everyone else — up and down.   When someone tells me I’m a genius it feels great, and when I hear the opposite it bums me out.  It’s not fun hear that someone doesn’t like a pitch or a take or an idea.  I want every idea I have to be gold, but I’m smart enough and realistic enough to know that isn’t possible.  I really listen to feedback.  Especially in how it relates to viability in the market place.  If I have what I think are six cool ideas and AB or Emile think five of them are not right or someone else is working on something similar at a studio then we’ll hone in on idea number six and work it up and even then along the way if I’m wondering whether to zig or zag they’ll help.  An extra pair of eyes is really helpful in discovering logic holes or other objections in a piece.  Movies are hard and it takes a lot of work to get a script right.

Do you rely much on feedback from friends and or your agent or manager?

I don’t get feedback from friends.  I don’t have very many friends in the business and besides I want to socialize with them and have fun and not have to worry about what they think of my work.  My friends might all have opinions but I’ve never really tested the waters of that pool.  I’m really only interested in what AB, Emile and Justin have to say.  My wife,  however, does get some input.  She is my first line of defense.  I throw stuff out at her and she can give me a feel for it.  I’ll say “how about this?” and she’ll say “oh I like that” or “um, that sounds like X movie that’s crappy”.  Not that I have any crappy ideas  but it’s great to bounce stuff off of her.  And she’s not in the biz by the way, she’s a banker.  But she is a great audience member.  She loves the movies.  We go to a movie together every week.

What are some things that you know now that you wish you knew when you were first starting out? Do’s and don’ts?

I don’t want to give do’s and don’ts.  I’m just not comfortable with it.  Besides, I’m sure I’ve ignored every don’t in the book at some point.  I also don’t want to be the guy that talks about how hard it is etc.  Everyone reading this knows that.  I don’t want to sound like the expert that I’m not.  I hope everyone that has a dream keeps dreaming big.  Work hard and take action.

What’s a typical writing day like for you?

Well, used to be I had to scrounge around for a couple of hours a day to write in when I was waiting tables.  I’d write on weekends and nights.  Just fit writing into my schedule any way I could.  Now I write from nine to about six or seven.  I get up and kiss my wife good-bye for the day.  Then I’ll walk out to get a cup of coffee and think about the work for the day.  I’m glad I make myself go out for the coffee because sometimes I don’t leave the house again all day, which is weird.  Then I fire up the computer and read e-mails and news online and stuff and then I get a couple of hours of work in and have lunch.  Then after one o-clock my time it’s 10am in LA and I’ll check in with AB about stuff.  Figure out whom I’ll be talking to during the day.  Talk about the recent pages.  Things like that.  Now working is a funny thing to try to describe because sometimes it’s writing pages–  a treatment or screenplay or something.  But sometimes it’s reading.  Sometimes it’s research and all that goes into the mix.  It’s all a part of working, just like going to the library is a part of the process when you’re in school.  If I’m trying to get a re-write job then I’m reading a script and making notes and collecting my thoughts and then talking to an executive whose script I’m hoping to re-write and working up the pitch so he or she understands how I would do it.  By the end of the day I’m always thinking “where did the day go?”

Now you say, “talk about recent pages” with AB?  Do you constantly send him new pages? Are these rewrites? Or is this new material?  Also when do you decide when to show your material to your manager or anyone else for that matter?

A script is always being re-written.  Everything from re-imagining the story to re-working scenes and character traits down to alternate endings and just cleaning up dialogue or nit picky little line things.  So, yes, I am constantly sending him new pages when I’m in the script phase of a project.  There is also the research phase and the “which idea should I focus on?” phase and the “I’m stuck” phase.

When I’m writing script pages I try to send stuff to AB to read only when I think I’ve done it as well as I can.  To me, there is no point in him reading a script or even just the first Act if I already know that there is stuff I’m going to change.  He can’t read my mind, he can only read what’s in front of him, so if he says “don’t do XYZ” or “I didn’t get ABC” I don’t want to say “yeah, I know, I’m going to do it differently and pay it off like this.”  There’s no point in that and I think it’s a waste of time.  On the other hand, everyone always wants to see what I’m doing as soon as possible.  From their perspective they want to head me off at the pass and stop me from going down a bad direction before I spend a month on it.  So I have to balance all these forces.  Sometime I have to write the crappy stuff before I can get to the good stuff.

Do you outline all your scripts first?  Write treatments?

I do outline.  I start with a simple idea in 3 or four sentences.  Then I figure out the beginning and the end and the plot point at the end of act one and two.  Then I write out a short treatment, just for me, so I have some idea of where I’m going.  Then I research and get a feel for the characters and their world.  I throw ideas down on cards.  That way I can just write down cool bits as they come to me and I can shuffle the cards or throw them out later as I figure out the story.

Eventually, I just have to jump in the pool and write pages and create a first draft.  In a lot of ways my first draft is really just a detailed outline.  I never consider my first draft ready to show.  When I outline I can have a direction and an idea but something happens when I write the pages– and it’s a good thing, an unexplainable insight takes over many times.  Old ideas go out the window and new immediate ideas come in.  Often when I start writing the third act I find ways to resolve the story that force me to re-do the set up.  So usually when the first draft is written I know immediately what I will change in the first act on the second draft.

How much of theme do you keep in mind overall? Scene by scene? And do you find yourself initially or eventually asking what’s the point?

Whether it’s obvious or not everything I write has a theme.  I’m a human being with a very strong point of view on life and so my voice is always there.  On purpose or not.  But I think theme is the most important thing to have.  I never start with “What’s my story?”  I always start with “What do I want to say?”  Story and everything else flows out of that.  The beauty of having a theme to start is that after the story is structured I forget about theme.  It’s there in my body.  It manifests itself subconsciously in the choices I make for the characters and the situations they find themselves in.  I think if I try to think too hard about theme then it become obvious and preachy.  One of my favorite movies is Aliens.  The theme of Aliens is family.  Let that sink in if you haven’t already and you’ll go “wow, yeah”.

The kind of themes I like most are just simple relatable themes.  Love.  Betrayal.  Regret.  I think every story I have ever written has, in some way, been about regrets.  It’s a very humanly relatable feeling.  There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t have regrets in some, if not every, aspect of their lives.  Family.  Career.  Love.  Friendship.  Obligations to society.  To oneself.  Misspent youth.

How do you approach rewrites?  Any method or path that you typically follow?

I try to look at everything I write as if it was written by someone else.  Honestly.  Once I have written a draft I put it aside for a day or two and then look at it with new eyes.  I ask myself what I would do if this was a re-write assignment.  Then I’ll try to be honest about what is working and what isn’t.  Then I cut everything that doesn’t work out of the draft and I’ll have this script with big holes.  Then I fill the holes back in with better stuff.  That’s the second draft.  When I get it the way I like it I give it to AB and he reads it and gives me notes and then I take them.  I just listen and try to figure out how to make the script better based on his insight.  Later on, once the story is right it becomes about trimming and making it sharper and fine-tuning.  But that’s at the sixth draft.

What’s things do you feel more writers need to know or recognize about themselves and or the industry?

Man that’s hard.  It’s all been said so many times in so many books.  I don’t have any new insights but here goes:  Do learn structure.  Don’t think your first draft is ready to show.

Think big.  Write a movie not a memoir.  An aphorism I live by; “Just because something really happened to you doesn’t make it interesting.”

And what are your favorite scripts?  Scripts you’d say every writer should read and learn from?

“Casablanca.”  A perfect movie.  Just like Robert McKee says.  But, a movie like that is a product of its time.  You can’t tell that story now but its structure is still a great example of great screenwriting.  Also anything by M. Night Shyamalan.  He’s a genius and his scripts are so tight and so damn good.  I think Akiva Goldsman is great.  There are lots of great writers working in Hollywood today.  There really are.

What is currently happening with “342”?  What’s the process like now?  Rewrites? Notes?

“342” is moving ahead quickly, which is apparently a bit of a rarity in Hollywood.  I am really lucky about the fact that 2929 is excited about the project and wants to make it as soon as possible.  My script was the first project that they bought on the spec market and so right now I’m one of the only projects they are developing.  It’s great that “342” is not fighting for a slot on the development slate of a major studio.  Right now it looks like we are pretty close to having a director attached.  That’s a big deal.  Once the director is on board I will meet with him and the production company for notes.  Then I will re-write the script based on those notes.  I haven’t yet met with the director, so that’s something that will be happening in the near future.  Then it will be on to casting and some of the other more tangible and exciting aspects of movie making.  From my perspective I am simply waiting for the next phase of development to begin.

What are you working on now or next?  Spec scripts? Assignments? What are they?

I am juggling several balls at once now.  I am working on a new spec script.  It’s in the stage now where I’m very protective of my ideas so I don’t really want to elaborate.  Sometimes, especially in the beginning of planning a new script the ideas are so fragile and fleeting.  An idea pops in and I just want to hold it, like a butterfly in your palm– don’t hold it too roughly or you’ll crush it, don’t open your palm too far or it’ll fly away again.

I have had the opportunity to pitch my take on some re-write assignments but I haven’t landed one yet.  It’s just a matter of time, I think.  One of these days I’ll nail one of those pitches.  There have only been three so far that I got an opportunity to really give me input on.  I won’t mention the specifics but I will give you a picture of the process.  Emile keeps abreast of all the open writing assignments out there.  When there is something that seems like it would be up my alley he will send 342 to the producer to read as a sample.  After reading the sample the producer will agree that I am possibly right for the assignment and they will arrange a meeting or (because I live in New York) a phone call.  Emile will then call me and say the someone has a script that they are developing and it needs something.  They aren’t totally happy with it for some reason.  Emile will describe the project and set the meeting.  I’ll get on the phone and meet the producer in question and get a feel for what they want to accomplish in the next draft.  Then he or she will send the script to me, I’ll read it and have another phone call.  I’ll ask questions and try to dig into his or her mindset about the project get a sense of his or her tastes.  Then I do my best to tell a great story based on the parameters of a logline or outline or screenplay draft that I’m working from.  I’ll take several days and make an outline and create my pitch and then I’ll get on the phone one more time and say “here it is”  “This is how I would do it”.  Then it’s simply the thumbs up or thumbs down on my take.  Like I said, one of these days I’ll nail one.  I think all my takes are great but there really are lots of ways to tell a single story.  There are so many factors that must go into a decision about hiring a writer.  I know it must be tough.  I don’t envy that job.

Will, I want to thank you for this opportunity to share my experience with your readers.  This is really the beginning of a dream come true for me and I really appreciate your interest in my story and the opportunity to share it.