Tanya Reihill

Tanya Reihill grew up in Ireland. She studied filmmaking at NYU and USC. Tanya is currently writing the feature length script based on her short film.

Where are you from?
I was born in Dublin, Ireland. Grew up just outside of Dublin. Farmland. Great little town called Bray – until I was sixteen. Then I went to England for three years to finish up school. I then did a cookery course for a year.

To be a chef?
Yeah. (Laughs)

Where did you go to school in England?
Sussex, though I’d go into London as much as the trains would allow to my older and bolder Cousins.

When did your interest in film take place? Was it a big part of your life and or family?
No background at all through my family. My mom’s a writer. A novelist. I couldn’t tell you exactly when. I really enjoyed films. Seeing certain movies. When I was about sixteen I started thinking that would be interesting. NYU was up there on the ranks so I thought I’d work my way over to America and see if I could get in.

You just applied, they accepted you, and you took off?
Yes. It was really quick. I decided but I missed some sort of deadline so I went into the Liberal Arts course first, which was a blessing in the end really. Side by side with the film courses, it was great. It gave me more subject material. I went through philosophy and that was really interesting.
So when did the writing come in?
I’ve always written – little poems, short stories. I think you gravitate towards things you are patted on the head for. For sciences and the math there was no pat on the head. (Laughs)
I was certainly encouraged. Though most my writing poetry, short stories, I’d never really show anybody. They were more private, till I hit NYU.

What changed that at NYU?
Even before the screenwriting classes, I had prose classes. My English teacher would single me out so it encouraged me. It makes you feel like you can. There was a professor there, Stephen Policoff, publishing a magazine, “The West Fourth Street Review.” He started publishing my short stories and one of them won “The Elaine Kuntz Memorial Writing Award” and since it was my first, it was kind of a big deal.

How did you write these first scripts?
I didn’t have a clue about film when I first arrived at NYU. Unlike a lot of the students who seemed to have been born with cameras born in their hands, I was scratching my head. I didn’t know how to turn the thing on. It starts off pretty basic and they bring you along.

For me screenwriting is very concentrated. I write it long then I try to go back and rein it in. A lot of it is craft. Format and all that I learned at NYU.

What did you do from there?
I ended up making a thesis film at NYU but I never really finished it. One I wrote and directed. What I did do in my finishing year, was that I got together with another NYU graduate and we partnered up to form our own music video company. That was a lot of fun.

I wasn’t concentrating on my writing at the time. We decided to call the company Maverick Films. This was in mid-80’s. We went out and made two spec videos with bands around the city. Then we started hounding record companies to give us a chance. We must’ve made over 200 calls and were almost on the verge of giving up, we got into someone’s office at MCA. A woman there took a shine to Bret. She sent our video down to Nashville. The next thing you know we get a call from Jimmy Buffet’s new company and we went down to New Orleans to shoot a new band they just signed called The Iguanas – a fabulous New Orleans’ band. It was really cool. Now we’re music video directors. (Laughs)

So after that, they loved the job we did on it. Jimmy Buffet hates doing music videos, but he agreed to a music video by the skin of his teeth. That was fun. We traveled around the country catching various shows on his tour.

But it was selling products – promoting something. Storytelling is what I wanted it to be about and though we were getting to produce material for our reel we weren’t exactly rolling in cash from our exploits (part of our appeal was definitely how cheap we came!). We closed up company and moved out to Los Angeles.

Bret got into his own thing and I started writing. I had gotten an idea in New York, so I came out here, sat down, and started writing my script.

This was your first one?
Yes, I came out here and started writing. I didn’t know anyone in the film industry. I wrote it and finished. It took me about three months. The descriptions would go on for a half a page. (Laughs)
I’d met this Irish producer, in a bar in New York, at one point a friend of my mother’s had introduced me to. She says “This is Frank Reihill’s daughter, Tanya”. His name was Noel Pearson and he’d been looking for financing for a film called “My Left Foot”. For years he went around to every businessman in Dublin going “I got a great, great movie here.” My dad was one of the unfortunate businessmen who said ‘no’. And upon the introduction his response was, ‘Oh well we won’t hold that against her’ bought me a drink.
He was the only guy I knew. I tracked him down with a directory and I shipped him my screenplay with a letter saying I hope you still won’t hold it against me. (Laughs) I reminded him of our conversation.
Three weeks later, I got a call from him saying, “Yeah, this is very interesting. I like this script. And we should meet.” So I flew back to New York to meet him, and I worked with him for a bit on it.

For free?

Yeah. When I got to New York he offered to give me money for the flights. I said “oh no I came out on flyer miles” He looked me dead in the eye and said “Don’t ever turn cash down when it’s offered to you” But I did, and more the fool me – cause I never did get the check at the end of the day on that deal. I managed to get hooked up with an agent at CAA to handle my end of the deal. I thought this was great. Of course there’s a price that comes with major agencies when you are beginning writer.

How did you find the agent?

It was through a friend of the family who knew someone over there. They looked at the script and took me on since it was a deal that was already happening. They weren’t signing me – but were agreeing to look after the deal. All they had to do was look at the contract. Unfortunately that’s not the way it worked out. The paycheck never arrived.

It was my first ‘knock’ but I think this tests your metal. How bad do you want it? You are going to come up against these situations where everything collapses. And if you are the kind of person who says, I knew it wouldn’t work out and walk away then (this) isn’t for you. I finally came out with the optimistic view that I have something here and came so close.

You and Noel worked on it then it just didn’t work out?

Yeah. He didn’t take anything from me. I still got the notes for the script. It had moved forward and it was still mine.

You moved on but you still had your agent?
No. Part of the problem was that my agent wasn’t responding to his lawyer’s phone calls. I wasn’t even aware of this. Apparently that agent was gone six months later. Whatever. What can you do? People can only handle so much. They work like crazy and this is one of the reasons not to go with a big agency when you are first starting out.

So you moved on again?
Yeah. You can look at it in one of two ways: I was so close there so something is right or of course this isn’t going to work what was I thinking. I didn’t go with that (the latter.)

I bought a book, “The Script Is Finished Now What Do I Do?” It’s a great little book. It had all the agencies and explains them. I started writing letters. It’s a numbers game. I got some responses but they didn’t bite on it yet.

I went home for Christmas and when I came back my cousin was dating a girl who was an assistant over at Luc Besson’s company. He had just started dating her. She wanted to look at my script so I gave it to her. She rang me and said, “We love this script. Come in for a meeting.”
Here we go again. In I went. Seaside Productions was over at Sony at the time. This was in 1998. So I went through the process. They said they wanted. I went with William Morris.

How did you go with them?

Someone who I knew who was a development executive had called them and told them that Luc Besson’s company was interested in producing my script. Suddenly I got a call saying, “We love it. We love it.” (Laughs) I got the whole sales pitch. I was loving it.

This was after “Mission Impossible” just finished. At one point they were saying, this is good for Brian DePalma. I was sitting there going I can’t believe this. Luc Besson producing and Brian DePalma directing! Then it got very slow. I was waiting to hear back from them. No news is good news, but then at a certain point when nothing has happened it’s over. You have to figure it out for yourself. DePalma went on to make “Snake Eyes.”
They said you know what, we love the script but bye. Then William Morris says we want changes. I said what do you think it needs before it goes out ? For months, I went back and forth with them, trying to give them what I thought they were asking for. It was my script and I wasn’t going to write stuff in the script that I didn’t believe in. I eventually rang them up and said it’s there for me and I’ve worked on it and if this isn’t right for you… So we said adios.

It’s very frustrating but you have to be proactive.

You went back to school?
Back to school I went. The first year I was there a friend of mine, Deb, who was an assistant at the time called me up. Again, it’s the assistant who will always get you in when you’re on the outside. The big guys don’t read. It filters through the assistant.

My friend had a fellow assistant who had just been hired by Jim Sheridan. She was leaving for Ireland that day. Deb told her, “My friend has this great script you should really check it out.” So I went over to the girl’s house. She wasn’t there, so I left it on her doorstep. Two weeks later she called me from Ireland and said the script was great and she was going to give it to Jim.

Here’s the irony. Jim is the director of “My Left Foot” and Noel was the producer. Only so many movies that came out of Ireland, in the first place. A very small industry. That’s why I ended up coming to America. No film board. No film school. Now that’s changed.

A year later… (Laughs). His daughter read it. His producer read it – Arthur Lappin. He loved it. Finally Jim read it. They called me. I went back to Ireland and met with Arthur. Lovely man. I go into this little Dublin restaurant. There’s Arthur with this big wooly sweater – so unHollywood. We had a really good chat and if I remember right a good bottle of wine in the process.

They had a screenplay that they had bought the rights to – a Spanish movie called “Tesis” Very good movie. They were looking for a writer to adapt it. I told him I was interested. He spoke to Jim and they decided to hire me to do the rewrite.

I totally trust these people. They said you are really going to need an agent. I said I’ll just get a good lawyer. He said you really need an agent. Trust me. I can hook you up if you want. I’m like no I don’t want to do that. (Laughs)

At the end of the meal, I asked him whom he was thinking of. He said I’m not going to hook you up with Jim’s agent. There’s another agent who’s really good that works with a writer Jim works with, Terry George. Her name is Patty Detroit and she works at ICM. She’s fabulous. I said okay.
She (Patty) said she wouldn’t do the deal unless she liked the script. She read it next and called me in. I get to the office and I think here we go again. I met with Patty and Jeanne – her partner. But she’s very different than any of the other people I’d met in agencies. She’s very straightforward. I had good conversation with them.

I went with them. Signed a deal and started the job on “Tesis” and finished it.

So you’re still in film school while doing all this?

It was surreal. They are such grounded people. They’re these extremely talented and prominent European filmmakers and I felt very comfortable with them. There’s no “I’m the big shot here.”

At the end of meeting with them, Arthur said, by the way we’re interested in “Prayers” as well. I had made the decision at that moment after all I’d been through, that when I went back to film school I wasn’t going to sell “Prayers” I was going to make it. I wasn’t going to let the thing go. I said to them I wasn’t interested in selling it. That was probably a defining moment for me. (Laughs) I said I want to direct it. He said, okay are you sure and I said yeah.

Luckily for me I was blessed, and he came back said Jim is interested and we’d like to be part of the project. Jim will executive produce the picture for you.

So I started working with Jim and Arthur and wrote a draft of the script. They are looking for directors.

How did you approach doing the rewrite?

I watched the film. They had a direct translation of the subtitles on paper — very basic. First of all, it’s ten years later so the technology is different. It was a film I really liked it was strong. Wonderfully directed but there were some plot points that needed some fixing and they wanted to Americanize it for the new audience.

It takes place in a film school about a female student who’s doing a thesis on violence in film. I wanted to set it at NYU but that got nixed. I flew back to New York and I would go out and walk around the street, return to the hotel room and just wrote. Didn’t call anyone I knew. Just stayed in the hotel. It was during Fall break.

They wanted it set in a generic town so we ended up universalizing it.
Back at USC, I had written a short script about homeless kids. They selected my script for the 546 Award – which basically means the University will fund it – there’s only four a Semester so it’s a pretty big deal. I wasn’t eligible at the time to direct it though because I wasn’t far enough along in the program.

How was that?

It made it into the Academy Award regional finals. I wrote the script and went with another female Director. I let her go with her vision. When I had sat down and had lunch with her she knew what I was going for. It maybe wasn’t how I would do it but she understood and was passionate about the material.

The following semester I made “Betting the Game.” The script got chosen then I got chosen as the director too for the 546 Award. It was essential to me to do this. To have a calling card.

Let’s talk about “Thesis” then. How did all of that go? Working with Jim Sheridan? How did they treat you?

They were amazing. I think because Jim is a writer and director he discussed it a lot. Long conversations of what it was about, then basically what they said was go write it. Before I wrote it for them I handed in what I thought were the problems with it. Maybe that was the thing that sold them. I said how I would deal with all the issues.
It was very strange to be working on someone else’s work. I felt bad. I know the horror. But that’s the way of life in Hollywood. You will always be rewritten. Adapting someone else’s work is very difficult versus free reign on your on. Especially as I respected the original creator’s work and vision (Alejandro Amenebar The Others, Open your eyes).

When you sit down with Jim it’s like sitting with no other person on Earth. His mind is all over the place. He has this amazing wit. It’s like you are hearing his thought patterns. He’ll be on to another subject and you’re catching up. He has a very lyrical way of talking. He’s so entertaining to listen to. A total storyteller.

So you did a few drafts?

Yes. And now they’re hooking up with another producer and taking around the studios.

What happened next?

I worked on the feature for “Betting the Game.” It got selected for the finals of the Sundance Filmmakers Lab 2002. Then I met with Fox Searchlight. They have a lab they started kind of like Sundance — a filmmakers lab. I want to direct what I write. I met with them. The lab is called Foxsearchlab. They bring in short filmmakers or novelist, etc. They are looking for the next Steven Soderbergh. They give you the means to make another short. After that you sign a contract to have a first look picture deal with them for a year. You get to go in and pitch your ideas to them for a film you’d like to direct.

There was no downside to it. I went in and met with the woman who runs it Susan O’Leary. If they don’t want what I have I can go anywhere.

What’s an average writing day like for you and what is your approach? Concerns? Focus?

You’ve got to have discipline. All the things that go against the artistic mindset. (Laughs)

I get up around 6:30 or 7 am. Get the coffee going. Get the brain going. It’s very hard to start cold so I work off what I wrote the day before. I work on a few pages at a time. I work on the pages then print out a hard copy. Then in the afternoon I read over it and get ideas. Then put those notes in the morning and so on.

The story is the first draft (focus) for me. Getting that locked in. The characters are the most important thing though. I really believe that the characters make the film great. You need characters people can relate to. They get more refined after the first draft.

For me personally, yes there is a structure but it will naturally fall into place. But I think going I’m on page 33 now, and I’ve got to have “this” kills all the joy and takes all the passion out of it.

What are some of your favorite scripts to read? And some of your favorite screenwriters?

I read a lot of novels, probably more than screenplays but every now and again I’ll read some. I ask Patty to send me down anything she finds interesting. There’s so many great screenwriters – but to name a few Paul Scrader, William Goldman, Ernest Lehman and more recently Sam Mendes ‘American Beauty’ oh and I just saw “Lantana” and the writing and acting in that was depressing it was so fine.

And are there any other things you would suggest to writers starting out?
WRITE. And for me personally it should be the passion pushing you – the love for something. Don’t let fear push you. It’s a tough climb up hill. Do it for love of the writing.

What are you working on now?

Keeping sane! I’m finishing a second draft of ‘Betting the Game’ the feature and handing it into my Agent this week and simultaneously finishing the novel of the screenplay ‘Prayers’ and sending it out to Publishers. God willing!