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How to Sell a Script:

15 stories from writers who sold their specs in 2016-2017

A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

finaldraft.com
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

How to Sell a Script:

15 stories from writers who sold their specs in 2016-2017

INTRODUCTION by Lee Jessup

Spec Spotlight: David Hauslein from Big Break® to Big Sale 5

by Andrew Bloomenthal

Spec Spotlight: Donald Diego Takes Inspiration From His 9

Wedding Year

by Eva Gross

Screenwriter Matthew Altman Talks Martial Arts and Spec 13

Script Sales

by Andrew Bloomenthal

Spec Spotlight: Calvin Starnes Talks Transitioning from Grip 17

Department to Spec Script Sales

by Final Draft
Spec Spotlight: Isaac Adamson Talks Bubbles 21

by Valerie Kalfrin

Spec Spotlight: Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi on their 25

recent sale of Exposure

by Valerie Kalfrin

Big Break Finalist Joseph Greenberg Tells His Tale From Draft to Sale 29
(Part I)

by Andrew Bloomenthal

Big Break Finalist Joseph Greenberg Tells His Tale From Draft to Sale 33
(Part II)

by Andrew Bloomenthal
Spec Spotlight: BenDavid Grabinski Sells Bravado to Paramount 37

by Shanee Edwards

Hammerspace spec script nails down live-action and animation 41

in an emotionally powerful story

by Shanee Edwards

Spec Spotlight: Nick Yarborough on Letters From 45

Rosemary Kennedy

by Roe Moore

Spec Spotlight: Sam Franco & Evan Kilgore on Keeper Of 49

The Diary
by Asmara Bhattacharya
How to Sell a Script:
15 stories from writers who sold their specs in 2016-2017

Spec Spotlight: Pete Barry discusses Marian 53

by Roe Moore

Spec Spotlight: Liz Hannah, Writer of The Post 59

by Asmara Bhattacharya

Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini, Writer of Skyward 63

(Part I)

by Asmara Bhattacharya

Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini, Writer of Skyward 67

(Part II)

by Asmara Bhattacharya
 How to Sell a Script: 15 stories from writers who sold their specs in 2016-2017
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

By Lee Jessup

Every feature film screenwriter out there dreams screenplays written on spec such as Shane Black’s

about selling a spec screenplay, shedding the THE LAST BOY SCOUT, Joe Eszterhas’s BASIC

moniker of a writer just starting out (be it the INSTINCT and INDEPENDENCE DAY by Dean Devlin

preferable handle of Emerging Screenwriter or New and Roland Emmerich made its creators instant

Voice, or the significantly less favored designation of industry superstars by virtue of the associated price

Baby Writer or Aspiring Screenwriter) for one that is tag. Unknown screenwriters too were able to emerge

more dignified, namely a Professional Screenwriter seemingly overnight and generate the sort of sales

who is, for all intents and purposes, made. After all, - and purchase prices - that left many eager to figure

back in the 90’s selling a spec script used to be THE out how to do the same.

way to put your screenwriting career in the fast lane.

However, much has changed in the industry today. Although the spec market first showed signs of

contraction leading into the new millennium, it wasn’t

The spec market, which was really more of an until the WGA strike of 2007/2008 that it came to

auction space through the 60’s, 70’s, and the better a virtual halt, leaving many a spec screenplay that

part of the 80’s, exploded in the 90’s, following might have sold in the good old days when concept

the 1988 WGA strike, when material by previously- and big idea were king languishing on the shelf.

unavailable name screenwriters (who were until that Today, executives, agent and managers all point to

point writing on studio contracts) flooded into the that strike, to the years of 2007 and 2008, as the

marketplace, and moved from agent to market to point in time when everything changed. Spec scripts

sale at a dizzying pace, complete with bidding wars stopped selling at as steady a pace. Most buyers

and ticking clock methodologies. During that time, favored buying into a “package”, complete with talent
attachments, as opposed to a “naked” spec. This simple

reality of today’s ever-evolving market is what makes

spec scripts sold into the professional space - and the

scribes who wrote them - more fascinating than ever.

In this new age of screenwriting, where Peak TV

is growing larger by the day and the spec market

continuously fluctuates, not many screenplays are

privy to a glamorous spec sale. For most first-time

writers, it doesn’t matter whether the script sold for a

mid-six-figure deal to a major studio, or for WGA guild

minimum, as long as it put them in the map. A spec

“A spec script selling
script selling may not mean immediate house-buying

money in the bank; what it does mean is that a bona may not mean
fide industry player has put his money where his immediate house-
mouth is, and that the writer behind it has emerged

into the professional space. The scribes who are able to

buying money in the
accomplish this fete in today’s marketplace offer much bank; what it does
for us to learn: In these pages they share with us the
mean is that a bona
inspiration, the drive, the stops and milestones along

their screenwriting journey, and the lessons that pushed fide industry player
them along their path and helped them along the way,
has put his money
invaluable information to comb through, be inspired by,

study and explore for anyone seeking to do the same. where his mouth
is, and that the
Lee Jessup is the author of Michael Wiese Productions’ writer behind it has
Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide To A Screenwriting
Career. She is a career coach for screenwriters, with emerged into the
an exclusive focus on the screenwriter’s professional
development. Her clients include WGA members, Golden professional space.”
Globe and Emmy nominated screenwriters, writers who
have sold screenplays and pitches to major studios, best-
selling authors, contest winners, staffed television writers,
as well as emerging screenwriters just starting on their
screenwriting path.
Spec Spotlight:
David Hauslein
from Big Break®
to Big Sale
by Andrew Bloomenthal
 6
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Buck Run, a poignant script by David Hauslein, follows the

tragic circumstances of rural Pennsylvania teen Shawn
Templeton, as he grapples with hardships no one his tender
age should have to face. He’s poor, his mom dies of cancer,
and he receives precious little comfort from his estranged
father, who begrudgingly takes him in. And then there’s the
oppressive weight of living in a small depressed mill town,
where hunting is the chief recreation, economic prospects
are few, and hope runs in even shorter supply. Yet there’s a
stark beauty to Shawn’s raw pain and to the setting itself,
authentically expressed by Hauslein--a Pennsylvania native,
who spoke to Final Draft about creating a story near and dear
to his heart.

What was your inspiration for this story? “It wasn’t so

I grew up in Bucks County Pennsylvania, but then moved to much my life.
California, and when you move away from a place you’ve lived
your whole life, you realize things about where you come from
I tend to write
that might not have been clear initially. I started mythologizing
my past, blowing things up and getting nostalgic about things
about things
I never used to care about. I’m afraid of
The core of the story was inspired by a farmer’s market and things that
where I used to hang out pretty much every weekend, where
you’d see people selling MacDonald’s toys and old toasters. I dread.”
The people seem to be having a good enough time, but I
always wondered how many of them were relying on the
revenue to afford groceries for the week. So it started there,
and then it somewhat became pastiche and I started building
a story around it.

These characters are extremely hard-edged. Was this your

life?

It wasn’t so much my life. I tend to write about things I’m

afraid of and things that I dread. When I first starting writing,
I had trouble explaining what my stories were about, because
I write to atmosphere and tone first. I want the world to be
realistic and specific, and then I create characters that could
live there. And rural Pennsylvania, with its failing steel mill
towns, has a specific set of circumstances and a specific feel,
with regional archetypes, you’ve probably never seen before.
It’s a beautiful place with lots of unique architecture, but
it’s an old place, with an eeriness to it. I wanted to show an
appreciation but also a critique of the area I come from.
7 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

The script dives deep into hunting culture. Did Tell me about landing the literary representation
you have baked-in knowledge of this activity, or that helped you get this property produced.
did you heavily rely on research?
To correct you: I don’t actually have representation,
Hunting was definitely not something I’ve had but I’d love some! I’ve been working on the script
a lot of experience with. I’ve shot guns, but I’m since about 2009, and it’s my first proper feature,
not a gun guy. My experience with hunting is that which I began while earning a Bachelor of Arts in
in Pennsylvania, on the first day of deer season, Motion Pictures and Television degree from Temple
schools are half empty, because it’s like an unofficial University. But as a writer, my technique was really
holiday, and the kids are all let out to hunt. Going immature. I had done the Final Draft Big Break™
back to tone: I like the idea of the forest just on Screenwriting Contest in 2011, and I made it into the
the edge of houses, where nature encroaches on top 40, but not into the top 10, and I get it; there were
people’s lives. I remember once being on my swing obvious problems with logic and accuracy. I then went
set in the backyard, and a guy in an orange vest, to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco,
with a rifle, came out of the woods, looked at me where a lot of talented people in the screenwriting
funny, then turned back around. We’d hear gun shots department pushed me hard, so I kept developing it.
close to our house, which was always unnerving.
And maybe once a year in Pennsylvania, you’d hear Once the script was in salable shape, how did you
stories about someone supposedly accidentally get hooked up with the purchaser?
getting shot during a hunting trip, where it was
actually an intention to cover up a murder, but I don’t I graduated school without any leads, and was already
want to give too much away. starting to feel some dread, because I had all this debt
and the script wasn’t getting much traction. But I had
been contacted a couple of times by some people I
went to school with, who were interested in optioning
“How often can the script, but there was never any money, so I was
getting discouraged and feeling bad about the whole

you say you writing thing. It’s hard to self motivate when you’re in
that head space. Bet then, I got four or five calls that
I ignored, because it was from the same person who

submitted a script called me before, but then I got an email that said,
“We need to talk, because I have this interested actor
who’s good friends with [director] Nick Frangione, and
and a film was we could probably get a few hundred thousand dollars
to make the movie.” So I did a rapid succession of

made completely
rewrites, which felt great, because there’s nothing like
having hard deadlines, where there’s a light at the end
of the tunnel. The money was still on the small side,

how you wanted but then I thought, “Will you guys be a signatory of
the Writers Guild of America? Because I’d really like to
get into the Guild.” So they went ahead and became a

it to be?” signatory, so once the film completes filming, I’ll get

an invitation to the Guild, which was the carrot for me.
Spec Spotlight: David Hauslein 8
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Without an agent’s guidance, how did you

negotiate the actually dollar amount for the sale? Career journalist Andrew Bloomenthal has covered
everything from high finance to the film trade. He is
You’re sort of out in the woods, trying to figure it the award-winning filmmaker of the noir thriller Sordid
out, so I called up the Writer’s Guild and they very Things. He lives in Los Angeles.
patiently explained things that I could have very
easily read on their website. But I needed to talk More information can be found on Andrew’s site:
to someone, because I was completely and utterly www.andrewjbloomenthalcom
clueless. I ultimately just took the Guild minimum, Twitter: @ABloomenthal
because it’s a low budget movie and it’s important
that this film gets made. I obviously want to get
paid, but I don’t want to bleed the film, because
regardless of what people think of this movie, how
often can you say you submitted a script and a film
was made completely how you wanted it to be?

Screenwriting Tips

• Look for inspiration in your life. Great characters

aren’t created in a vacuum. Anytime you meet
someone who you like – or dislike – jot down what
you think it is that makes them unique.

• Don’t feel like you have to be a master of what

you are writing about. As Andrew states, he
wasn’t particularly a “gun guy,” but he knew
enough – and saw how it affected his community
– that he was able to weave it into his story and
make it authentic.

• Write, write, and re-write. The work of writers

is done in the editing. Don’t feel discouraged if
after two months you’ve only written 10 pages.
Conversely, if you get inspired and write an entire
treatment in a weekend, don’t think you’re done.
Great writers are always working on their stories.
Spec Spotlight:
Donald Diego
Takes Inspiration
From His
Wedding Year
by Eva Gross
 10
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Donald Diego went to six weddings last year, including his

own. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy for you but I actually have
to call my caterer with final numbers for my wedding.’”

There should be a special kind of commendation for that

amount of juggling. What he found instead was a prime
writing opportunity. During a hiatus from his TV writing
(he is the Executive Story Editor on ABC’s new American
Housewife and previously wrote for Community) and during a
steady stream of weddings, Diego wrote The Wedding Year,
his first feature film script. The spec chronicles one woman’s
journey through her own jam-packed wedding year (15 in
12 months!), which forces her to confront her own feelings
not only about marriage but about her future in general.
Lakeshore Entertainment recently acquired the script.
“I went to five
“I started writing [The Wedding Year] when it dawned on
weddings last
me – we would get one invitation and then my wife would year, myself,
get one and I finally realized, ‘this is a lot’… I thought this
would be a funny thing for a couple to go through and then my role
going through it affirmed that idea. It’s insane. Weddings are
always fun but the family is crazy and friends get weird.“ ranging from
plus-one to
Speaking for many of us in our late 20s/early 30s, “I can
relate”. I went to five weddings last year, myself, my role Maid of Honor.
ranging from plus-one to Maid of Honor. And weirdness was
a common denominator. As was love and friendship and
And weirdness
truly fantastic dance parties. But there is something almost
undefinable that pervades the planning and celebrating of
was a common
weddings, a unique stress that brings out qualities just as denominator .”
unique in those participating.

For Diego’s protagonist this stress becomes a catalyst.

“She’s a young kid and it’s about whether she wants to take
that next step, not only with marriage but with her own life,
whether she wants to make that transition into adulthood,”
Diego says.

Diego got his own start into adulthood in Boston doing

improv comedy and sketch writing. “That’s when I knew I
didn’t care about classes anymore, I just wanted to do that.
But I didn’t know that being a film writer or a TV writer was
a thing that I could do – it just didn’t cross my mind that was
an actual job.”
11 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

From there he moved to New York and began target. Just keep going, which is the thing I just said
interning at The Onion News Network writing web I wouldn’t say.”
sketch shows. He made ends meet as a barista. “I
was that guy making your cappuccino and writing And as for his wedding schedule? “We’re finally
scripts on the side,” he laughs. almost done. I think we have two more next year and
then hopefully we’ll have a good five or six year block
before babies start.”

“It’s OK to Eva Gross is the Director of the Big Break™

Screenwriting Contest. She studied writing at Emerson

doubt yourself. College in Boston and has enjoyed time as a journalist, a

book buyer, a script reader and a Collections Processor

But you have to

with the Writers Guild Foundation Library and Archive.

push through
that.” Screenwriting Tips

• Be open to inspiration in unexpected places.

Diego found his while on hiatus from his TV writing,
His knowledge of the industry limited at that time,
as he planned his own wedding and attended the
he began cold calling agencies. “I didn’t know any
weddings of friends.
better to be scared of calling agencies. I just started
calling CAA and was like, ‘Hey, will you read me?’ I
• Nurture the love of your craft. Diego started
actually got read but then that relationship withered
writing as a young adult, doing improv comedy and
because I was this crazy person just calling them out
writing sketches, then landed an internship at The
of the blue.”
Onion News Network.

“Then I got smarter about it,” he says. “I got a friend

• It’s OK to admit you don’t know anything and to
at a production company to email for me so I didn’t
doubt yourself—but push through those rough
look that crazy. A person who is kind of reputable
days. Hold on to your nerve, and stay on target.
kind of vouches for me.”

He’s now with WME and Think Tank Management,

his work vouching for itself. To writers just starting
out now he advises that it’s “OK to admit you don’t
know everything. It’s OK to doubt yourself. I’m not
one to say ‘never give up’ but there are going to be
down days for any number of reasons and it’s going
to make you think, ‘what am I doing?’ But you have
to push through that. Hold your nerves and stay on
 Screenwriter
Matthew Altman
Talks Martial
Arts and Spec
Script Sales
by Andrew Bloomenthal
 14
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

The son of a Broadway theater electrician, Matthew Altman

literally grew up immersed in the glow of the entertainment
sphere. After spending years as a lighting technician himself,
on mainstay theatrical hits like Les Misérables, Nine and
South Pacific, it was only natural for the native New Yorker to
pivot his energy towards writing stories for the silver screen.
After selling his balls-to-the-wall action thriller Red Widow
to STX Entertainment last month, it’s clear that Altman is on
the right path.

Red Widow follows retired super-spy Sara Drake, whose life

of domestic bliss is tragically upended when a rogue team
of CIA special ops murders her unsuspecting husband.
Suddenly thrust back into the spy game, Drake embarks on
a bloody revenge campaign that leads her to discover some “I write a lot.
serious high-level malfeasance. Consequences will be dealt.
I treat it like a
We chatted with Altman about penning his thrilling tale and
bringing it to market.
job, and I’m
Tell me about your trajectory as a screenwriter.
one of the few
writers who
I was always heavily into comics, martial arts, movies and
TV, plus I read a lot of a science fiction and fantasy novels. I actually enjoys
always wanted to write, but I just didn’t know what I wanted
to write. In college, I did the honors English program at the process.”
University at Albany, SUNY, and by my final year, I realized I
wanted to write movies, so I read Syd Field, Save the Cat—
all of those books, and wrote my first script, which took
about a year to finish and was terrible. But I gradually got
faster and better by reading scripts like Shane Black’s Lethal
Weapon, and I eventually started doing well in contests. I was
a finalist in American Zoetrope [Screenplay Contest], which
got me my current manager Jim Wedaa, who encouraged me
to make the move to L.A. and take the plunge.

How do you communicate to your manager that you’ve

written something noteworthy, and what’s his typical
turnaround time to read submissions?

I write a lot. I treat it like a job, and I’m one of the few writers
who actually enjoys the process. I’ve certainly experienced
the pain of facing the blank page, but I enjoy creating worlds,
and stories and characters, and I spend a lot of time doing it,
so it’s honestly not a big surprise to my manager when I tell
him I’ve got a new script. Thankfully he’s good at reading it
15 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

quickly—usually over the weekend, which may include

“If you’re writing

a Monday and Tuesday, but he’s going to get back to
me that next week, in all likelihood. If he likes a script
a lot, he’s the one who makes my agents read it,
because my agents are great, but they’re super busy,
and they only want to read something they can sell for spec, you just
right away, which is totally understandable. It’ll take
the agent maybe a week or two to read it--especially
if the manager highly recommends it. In this case, I
have to let it all
actually gave [my manager] two projects around the
same time, and he actually liked them both enough
to give them to an agent who just joined my team
go and let it all
hang out .”
at APA—Ryan Levy, who encouraged my lead agent
Chris Ridenhour to read Red Widow, which Chris .
loved as well, so we decided to go out with that one,
which was obviously fortuitous, because it worked.

Do you ever feel vulnerable when sending out Compare your relationships with your manager
something you’ve put your heart and soul into versus your agents.
writing?
Agents are doing the deals with the lawyers and they
Not any longer--maybe because I write so much. have a lot more relationships with the buyers, where
I’ve sent a few projects that just haven’t clicked with the managers are generally more into developing
anyone. Last year I sent out an invisible-kid script, and your career. Not to say the agents don’t want to
never heard anything back, so I guess they didn’t like advance your career, but they’re not going to be
that one. But I write a lot, so there’s probably less developing scripts with you. They want to see the
impact because of that, and I’m not precious about script when it’s ready, which makes sense, because
any of my scripts. they have a lot of clients and they’re busy doing
the actual negotiations. In this case, my manager is
How does your representation loop in the also attached as a producer, so he’ll have notes in
producers who are ultimately going to be making that regard, which I’m happy to take. But I generally
this film? submit pretty complete drafts.

Red Widow was shown to a lot of different producers I always ask action film writers if they worry
and the three who liked it the most took it into about the costs and logistical complexities of
territories that they had relationships with. Jim Wedaa filming elaborate action scenes, and thus far, no
had a relationship with Matt Berenson, who took one has felt constricted by these concerns. What’s
it to STX because he had a relationship with them, your opinion?
so basically whichever producer got someone to
buy it was going to be attached as the producer. If a My opinion is that you can’t write with budget in
company is interested, they’re going to contact the mind unless you know you’re writing for low budget.
agent/manager right away, which is what happened But if you’re writing for spec, you just have to let it
with STX. We went out Monday, and by Thursday, all go and let it all hang out. I will say, because of
they made us an offer. my martial arts background, I try to make the fight
Spec Spotlight: Matthew Altman 16
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

scenes realistic and have some sort of logical flow- Yeah, I definitely want to write something people
through, but I tend to overwrite these scenes the will enjoy reading. Screenwriting is funny, because
most in the early drafts and I have to pull back, tone you’re creating a blueprint for something that doesn’t
it down and make it more concise. But at the same exist. But even though it’s not a book or something
time, it’s a movie and you want to have fun. You want that lives on its own, it should still be something
the audience to have fun and the readers to have you enjoy, as if you were seeing a movie or reading
fun, and you want to give the actors cool stuff to do, a comic book or watching TV. You should have some
so you can’t worry about budget and the other stuff. excitement and fun with it, and I love making it as
You just have to go for it. Generally, if you’re writing tight and fun and readable as possible.
specs, you have a high level of detail in explaining
action, because no matter what, it will give you an
idea of how long a scene is supposed to take.
Career journalist Andrew Bloomenthal has covered
Does your martial arts background allow you to everything from high finance to the film trade. He is
flesh out fight choreography in your head, and the award-winning filmmaker of the noir thriller Sordid
better imagine how bodies in conflict would Things. He lives in Los Angeles.
move?
More information can be found on Andrew’s site:
Yeah, a lot of time when I’m choreographing what’s www.andrewjbloomenthalcom
going on in my head, I’m having characters react the Twitter: @ABloomenthal
way I know they’d react, depending on how trained
I’m writing a character to be. I wrote one script
where no one had any martial arts training, and the
fight scenes were a lot simpler because they didn’t
know how to do it. But when they know how to
fight, I get really into how people would react and Screenwriting Tips
what kind of techniques they would use, and I can
really play with it.
• Immerse yourself in what you love. Comics, martial
Discuss how the story seemed elementary at first, arts, and science fiction and fantasy novels feed
which amplified the payoffs of the twists that came. Altman’s creative streak as much as film and TV
do, so he enjoys spending time creating worlds,
I was trying to establish this perfect world that Sara stories, and characters.
had constructed—this façade, as fast as possible
because it’s all going to end by page 15, when • Write more projects so that you become less
everything gets turned over and we learn that precious about them. You’ll always have pride
everything we thought was true, wasn’t true, which in your work and want to put your best work
I like. out there, but having more to submit takes the
pressure off waiting to hear back on that one script.
Red Widow is vivid in its descriptions, articulating
sound effects, such as the “THOCK-THOCK- • Don’t worry about the budget unless you’re hired
THOCK-THOCK-THOCK of a knife chopping to write for a particular budget. In a spec script,
vegetables”. Is this so people reading it will enjoy you just have to go for it.
the experience?
 Spec Spotlight:
Calvin Starnes
Talks Transitioning
from Grip
Department to
Spec Script Sales
by Final Draft
 18
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

FD: How did you get started in the entertainment

industry?

Calvin Starnes: I kind of stumbled into it. My major in college

was Political Science. But, in my junior year I randomly took
a Super 8 class, which ultimately led me to an internship at
this small art-house theater. After that I started working on
low-budget movies and student films. And whenever a big
movie or commercial would come through town, I would go
work on that as a Production Assistant. I did that for a couple
of years then eventually moved to Los Angles and worked
as an Assistant Director for about a year. But, then I got an
opportunity to switch to the Grip Department and did that for
a long time. I only started writing a handful of years ago.
“For me,
FD: You have great credits in both film and television, from
The Hangover to Parks and Recreation. What was that like feedback and
for you over the years?
notes are such
CS: At first it is every bit as exciting as you would think it
would be. But, as the years ticked by it became a grind and
an important
the long hours eventually drove me to want to leave. But, I part of my
would never take it back. There was a lot to love. I met a lot
of amazing people. I got to go to places I never would have process.”
gone or even been allowed to go. And I got to do and see
some really cool stuff.

Plus, coming from the production world helps me as a writer.

I’d recommend to all writers, if you have an opportunity,
definitely get some time on set. It’s going to translate to a
greater understanding of what your written words mean. If
you write “the little girl and her dog are lost at sea during a
raging sea-storm” then it helps to know what that means in
terms of budget.

You have a kid, so now you have restricted working hours

and have to hire a teacher. You have an animal, so you need
an AHS rep and an animal wrangler. Is it a water tank? Or
is it the actual ocean? Wind and rain machines? Marine
coordinator? Visual effects? And on and on. If you know how
sets work and movies are made, it gives you a better ability
to write to budget. Not to the dollar obviously, but having
an awareness makes you a better writer, especially when
dealing with executives who might be asking you to cut
money out of your script.
19 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

FD: How did the transition to writing happen? married couple and their journey through this part of
their life. But, it also happened to take place in a heist
CS: One night my wife and I were watching 28 Days movie. Apparently, I have a thing for heist movies.
Later and during the scene when Jim is running up
the stairs screaming “DON’T LEAVE ME!” to Selena FD: Can you talk about those first steps you took
with the Infected right behind them; pretty much towards getting representation and getting your
the scariest thing imaginable; and my wife turns to work out there?
me and asks, “You wouldn’t leave me behind would
you?” I looked at her like she was crazy and said CS: I queried. I got my script to a point I was happy
“Are you watching the same movie I am?! Of course with, although as a first time writer, it was nowhere
I would leave you!” Joking, of course. near ready. I made the classic rookie mistake of
thinking “Oh, they’ll get it or they won’t.” My older
After that we started talking about, “If you got self is slapping my younger self on the nose.
zombified I’d keep you in the backyard” or “If you
went to jail, I’d break you out.” We went through I sent out a lot of queries, but only a handful of people
all the things that we would do for one another requested it. And the only legitimate person was
and that’s how the idea for my first script, which the manager I’m still with at Circle of Confusion.
ultimately landed at Screen Gems, was born. He requested it and a couple of weeks later called
me and said he liked it. It needed work, but he had
And through the course of that experience I thought, an executive at DiBonaventura who was looking for
“OK maybe I can take a shot at a career in writing”. something like what I had written. Then through the
I didn’t give up my day job straight away, but as I process of developing and trying to sell the script with
began to have a little more success and get more DiBonaventura attached, I landed an agent as well.
traction, I was finally able to say, “OK, I’m going to
do it full time”. FD: What was the rewriting process like?

FD: Your first script for Screen Gems was also a CS: I can’t remember my process writing the first
Heist film. Can you talk a little about that interest? script before I sent it out. I just wrote and wrote
until I was sick of writing and then said, “Done.” At
CS: The first one, I had no idea what I was doing, so I the time, I don’t think I even had readers beyond my
just kind of jumped in. Didn’t do an outline, didn’t do wife. I didn’t even really get feedback from anyone
anything. Just said, “I’m going to write a script”.To before I sent out that initial draft. And I don’t say any
say I wrote with a focus on character would be false of this as a good thing.
because I didn’t know what that even meant. Looking
back though, I remember loving writing the character For me, feedback and notes are such an important
stuff the most. The set pieces were cool, but telling part of my process. Maybe when you’ve been writing
her story was the most fun. for years and years as a “working writer” then, okay,
you’re veteran enough to know what you’re doing
My next script was a heist/car movie. And the script without notes. But, early on in your career I think it’s
that just went out was about international jewel so important as you’re learning your craft. That honest,
thieves. After that I said, “No more heist movies!” truthful feedback you get from outside sources can
But, I found myself wanting to tell this story about an elevate your writing, whereas when you’re writing in a
older married couple who were retired bank robbers. vacuum with yourself as your only critic then you are
And all I really wanted to do was just write about this limiting your chance to grow.
Spec Spotlight: Calvin Starnes 20
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Anyway, after my script landed at DiBonaventura Just off the top of my head… Shawshank
I got notes from them. Then once it was optioned Redemption, Training Day, True Romance, The
at Screen Gems I was getting notes from both Godfather, Boyz N The Hood, Aliens, Die Hard,
DiBonaventura and Screen Gems. Sometimes it Matrix. I could go on all day. My most recent favorite
works in perfect harmony. And sometimes you have is Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s definitely one I can’t not
to navigate choppy political waters when you get watch when it’s on. That movie just punches you in
conflicting notes. Luckily it was the former for me. the face and makes you remember, “Oh, yeah. This
But, that was definitely getting tossed into the deep is why I love movies.”
end. Going from next to no experience to having to
parse notes from executives who do this every day. FD: What advice would you give to younger
You find your way. And if you don’t, you drown. writers?

FD: What do you plan to work on next? CS: It’s OK to admit you don’t know everything. It’s
OK to doubt yourself. It’s OK to ask for help. And
CS: A few things, but I’m most excited about a just know that there are going to be dark days. Days
contemporary Sci-fi/Fantasy feature. I’m pitching it that are going to make you want to say, “What the
as Lone Survivor meets The Lion, The Witch, and The fuck am I doing?” Or even, “I have no idea what
Wardrobe, but with no talking animals… and nothing I’m doing.” You have to push through that. You have
gets stolen. to hold your nerve and stay on target and just keep
going. This is a hard job and it is not for the faint of
FD: What inspires you to keep writing? heart. Swing for the fences, but definitely try to go in
with eyes wide open and with realistic expectations.
CS: I don’t care if I’m famous. And obviously getting
paid is nice, but I don’t do this solely for money.
But, what I really want to do is write a movie
that someone stays up until three in the morning Screenwriting Tips
watching for the millionth time because they just
love the hell out of it. To write a movie that people
love and watch over and over again would be • Learn how sets work, or if you can manage it,
amazing. And if you write something where people spend time on set or gain production experience.
create fan art or cosplay or do themed parties around Awareness of how films are made helps you
it; that just seems like the coolest thing to me. understand what your words mean in terms of
effects and budgets.
FD: Do you have any other films or shows that
have inspired you along the way? • Get feedback and notes on your script, especially
as you learn your craft. Truthful feedback from
CS: Heat. Heat was my touchstone writing the first outside sources—not just friends and family—can
movie. It didn’t make it into the script, and not that elevate your writing and help you to grow.
I even think that I could replicate what Mann did,
but I just kept thinking of that gun battle through the • Watch films that inspire you. Even if you can’t
streets of L.A. And I wanted my characters, who replicate what those writers or directors do,
were women, to have their version of that. It was thinking of scenes and characters from those films
that world and that movie, definitely. can infuse your stories with the same feel.
Spec Spotlight:
Isaac Adamson
Talks Bubbles
by Valerie Kalfrin
 22
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Isaac Adamson felt he had a toehold in the film industry

when his first novel, Tokyo Suckerpunch, was optioned in
2000—but his spec script Bubbles launched him to a whole
new level. Here’s his story.

Growing up in Fort Collins, Colorado, Adamson studied film

at the University of Colorado at Boulder but soon learned he
preferred writing fiction. “I was an awful cinematographer—
nothing I shot ever looked the way I wanted—and I learned
pretty quickly that while re-shooting a terrible scene cost a
pretty penny, rewriting a terrible sentence is free,” he said.

The optioning of Tokyo Suckerpunch—a detective story

blending martial arts, gangsters, geishas, and Japanese pop “I learned pretty
culture—demystified the screenwriting process as Adamson
saw the scripts generated during development. After quickly that while
crafting the time-bending thriller, Complication, published
in 2012, he wrote his first script, a caper about bumbling re-shooting a
criminals accidentally killing Chicago’s mayor. It’s still in the
“metaphorical drawer,” but writing it forced him to learn terrible scene
screenwriting, and gave him confidence.
cost a pretty
“I’ve been concentrating on screenwriting for about the last
three years—and only making a full-time living at it for about
penny, rewriting
the last year or so—so it still feels a little funny calling myself a terrible
a screenwriter,” he said.
sentence is free.”
He first thought of Bubbles, a biopic of Michael Jackson
by way of his beloved chimpanzee, after running across
two items: a news story about Bubbles living in a Florida
ape sanctuary after Jackson’s death, and Me Cheetah: My
Life in Hollywood, a 2009 pseudo-memoir about the chimp
who played Tarzan’s simian pal. The idea of seeing Jackson
through Bubbles’s eyes intrigued Adamson, but the story
didn’t fully gel until he saw 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the
Apes portray the conflict and hierarchy within the primate
social structure.

“A lightbulb just went off: What if Bubbles spoke with a

pseudo-Shakespearean voice and believed himself to be the
heir of The King of Pop?” Adamson said.

The challenge became not letting Jackson overwhelm the

story. “It’s similar in ways to Amadeus in that the story isn’t
really about Mozart; it’s about Salieri. Yes, it does function as
a Michael Jackson biopic, but he’s not really the protagonist.”
23 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Bubbles topped 2015’s Black List. Soon afterward,

Adamson was tapped to adapt Alcon Entertainment’s Valerie Kalfrin
psychological thriller The Ice Twins, based on S.K. Journalist / Screenwriter / Script Consultant
Tremayne’s book about a family turned upside-down
after an accident kills one of their twin daughters. Valerie Kalfrin is an award-winning crime journalist
turned entertainment writer, screenwriter and emerging
Then producer Andrew Kortschak of End Cue, along script consultant. A member of the Florida Film
with Dan Harmon and his Starburns Industries Network, she has written for The Guardian, Bright Wall
production company, acquired Bubbles to become Dark Room, The Script Lab, Signature Reads, and The
a stop-motion animated feature. Harmon was an Tampa Bay Times, among other publications.
executive producer of Anomalisa, nominated for a
2016 Best Animated Film Oscar.
Find her at valeriekalfrin.com
“Bubbles wasn’t conceived as animation, and I
think that’s part of what Starburns found appealing,
given their aesthetic,” Adamson said. “The brand of
hyper-realistic stop-motion animation they pioneered
in Anomalisa, besides looking amazing, solves a lot
of the practical puzzles in turning this script into an
Screenwriting Tips
actual film, like how do we find an actor who looks
like Michael Jackson, how do we train a chimpanzee
• Read as many scripts as you can, and have
to do the moonwalk, how can we recreate Neverland
interests across a range of genres. Not becoming
without spending a bajillion dollars.”
fixed on a single idea provides for more
opportunities for inspiration. A news story and a
Adamson enjoys writing and watching most genres
pseudo-memoir helped Adamson’s story to gel.
except fantasy. His favorite film is 1950’s Sunset
Boulevard. “I watch it at least once a year.”
• Choose subjects you love. Your passion for the
He encourages other writers to read as many scripts
subject will come through in your writing, even if
as they can, write what interests them, and not get
the topic is a difficult sell.
too fixated on a single idea. “Write every day, even if
just for an hour,” he said.
• Enjoy the process. Adamson, who is also a
novelist, studied film in college but soon learned
He composes ideas in Gmail (easy access anywhere
he was an “awful cinematographer.” Reshooting a
and less intimidating), but once he’s ready to write,
terrible scene is expensive, he says, but rewriting a
he uses Final Draft.
terrible sentence is free.
Spec Spotlight:
Hayley Schore
and Roshan
Sethi on their
recent sale of
Exposure
by Valerie Kalfrin
 26
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Paths through development and medical school led Hayley

Schore and Roshan Sethi to TV writing, where an executive
producer thought they’d make a good team. The duo scored
their first feature spec sale this year with Exposure. Here’s
their story.

Growing up in Venice Beach, Schore aspired to write short

fiction and plays. She studied fine arts and creative writing at
the University of California at Berkeley but became drawn to
screenwriting, earning a Writers’ Program certificate through
UCLA. “Screenwriting sort of melded the visual with the
verbal. Fiction writing with more a visual approach,” she said.

She found work in development at companies such as King

World Entertainment and Steven Bochco Productions, doing “I think every
notes on scripts and looking for writers. Her first TV credit is
as assistant to David Milch, co-creator with Bochco of NYPD script you
Blue. She later worked as a script consultant.
read helps you
Sethi, meanwhile, grew up in Calgary, Alberta. With his twin
brother, he graduated from Harvard Medical School but had
understand
always been interested in writing. After a year of residency, what works
Sethi was working in a radiation oncology program when
he met writer/producer/director Amy Holden Jones, then and what
creating a medical pilot. She enlisted Sethi as a consultant.
doesn’t.”
Although that show didn’t work out, another of hers did:
2014’s Black Box, a drama about a neuroscientist keeping her
own mental illness a secret.

Jones again asked Sethi to be a medical consultant; Schore

helped develop the show doing research and later writing.
Jones, a veteran screenwriter (Mystic Pizza, Indecent
Proposal, The Getaway), suggested that the two write
together. Both were hired as writers for Code Black, the 2015
CBS medical drama now in its second season.

They’re no longer with Code Black but have a feature in

the works. Entertainment One acquired their spec script,
Exposure, about Rosalind Franklin, a scientist whose
work in crystallography was instrumental in the discovery
of DNA’s double-helix structure in 1953. Franklin died of
cancer in 1958. Scientists James Watson, Francis Crick,
and Maurice Watkins later shared the Nobel Prize for the
discovery in 1962.
27 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Sethi learned about Franklin during his undergraduate passion comes through,” Schore said. The two write
study at Yale University. His genetics class read using Final Draft.
Watson’s book The Double Helix: A Personal Account
of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, which
portrays Franklin as an antagonist. “Our professor Valerie Kalfrin
was really interested in her true story,” he said. Journalist / Screenwriter / Script Consultant

Brainstorming feature ideas with Schore, he Valerie Kalfrin is an award-winning crime journalist
suggested Franklin, whose navigation of a male turned entertainment writer, screenwriter and emerging
environment appealed to his writing partner on script consultant. A member of the Florida Film
another level. “I went from the feminist mecca of Network, she has written for The Guardian, Bright Wall
Berkeley to a male-centric world,” she said. Dark Room, The Script Lab, Signature Reads, and The
Tampa Bay Times, among other publications.
Their biggest challenge was developing Franklin’s
many layers. “The truth is that she wasn’t the most
pleasant person in the world, and she wasn’t an Find her at valeriekalfrin.com
innocent hapless character. To do justice to her
complexity was a fine line to walk,” Sethi said.

“It wasn’t that Rosalind was entirely unpleasant,”

Schore added. “She had all kinds of defenses she Screenwriting Tips
needed to survive. She had a hard time trusting
people because she couldn’t really trust them.”
• Read, read, read. Every script you read helps you
Although their tastes in TV differ—Schore likes Mad understand what works and what doesn’t.
Men while Sethi enjoys Girls—they find that they
complement each other. • Choose subjects you love. Your passion for the
subject will come through in your writing, even if
“We’ve been lucky from the beginning in that we the topic is a difficult sell.
write in similar ways (even though) we both come
from different backgrounds and experiences,” Sethi • As a writing team, of course you’ll collaborate on
said. scripts, but it’s also fine to do individual passes and
then compare each other’s work. Your strengths
“Roshan always tells me I sound like a development likely will change from project to project.
exec,” Schore said. “I think every script you read
helps you understand what works and what doesn’t.”

Both of them collaborate on scripts but also will do

individual passes on a script and then compare.

They advised other writers to find a mentor and

to pick subjects they love. With Exposure, “this is
something we thought would be a difficult sell, but
it’s something that we felt passionate about, and that
 Big Break Finalist
Joseph Greenberg
Tells His Tale From
Draft to Sale
(Part I)
by Andrew Bloomenthal
 30
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

NFL media specialist Joseph Greenberg has always been an

aspiring screenwriter on the side. But given how Twentieth
Century Fox just dropped six-figures on his spec script Man
Alive, things are changing for the 39 year-old New Jersey native.

In this dystopian tale, aliens have taken over the minds

of Earth’s inhabitants--all except for the protagonist
(aptly named “Man”), who is oddly immune to the alien
assimilation tactics, and must live amongst them in a
perpetual stalemate.

Greenberg submitted scripts to the Final Draft Big Break

Screenplay Contest on several prior occasions, and his
persistence paid off in 2014, when Man Alive won the
Science-Fiction/Fantasy category, triggering a storm of “You have to
requests from literary agents and managers wanting to read
Greenberg’s material. The script ultimately fell into the hands just let your
of Greenberg’s now-manager, Scott Stoops. After Greenberg
was whisked off to L.A. for a dizzying week of meet-and-
hands go,
greets with financiers and production companies, Fox spoke
the loudest and purchased the property for Fargo creator
meaning you
Noah Hawley to helm as his feature film directorial debut. have to write
In this first installment of a two-part interview, Greenberg everything down
spoke to Final Draft about creating the thrilling page-turner
that couldn’t be denied. without over-
First off, where do you hail from? analyzing it.”
I’m proudly raised in Bordentown--”Exit 7” in Jersey speak.

How did you come up with the idea for Man Alive?

It was actually a couple of different things that were swirling

around in my head that coincidentally collided at just the
right time. The set-up of this story is an updated take on
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. My wife and I were
watching the 1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland, and
there’s a scene where pod-person Jeff Goldblum and pod-
person Leonard Nimoy catch up with Sutherland and shoot
him with a sedative--presumably so he’ll fall asleep and
they can absorb him. And my wife said, “I don’t understand.
They’ve been chasing him through the whole movie, so why
don’t they just kill him?” And I said, “They don’t want to just
kill him, they want to absorb him.” And the next thing that
popped into my head was, “What if there was someone in
31 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

that universe who couldn’t be absorbed, who just The character of Man has a robust knowledge of
woke up the same every day?” The realization that weaponry. Tell me about the inspiration for his
he has to live in this world is where Man Alive starts, character.
long after the alien invasion began.
The character of Man is based on a friend of mine,
who went to Iraq for 18 months, and was in combat
in Fallujah and some really bad places. He was there

“I was interested for the surge and was awarded a couple of medals.
But when he came home, he was able to pick up
where he left off and he now works for the Secret

in telling a story Service. And I remember going to his coming-home

party in Georgia, and asking him about what it was

that was inverted,

like over here, and he said he just wanted to get
home to his family and be happy and healthy, and
he did that. This guy could be the poster child for the

where a guy military. “Hey, come serve in the military and then
when you come home, great things will await you!”
We’ve all seen films where the soldier comes back

comes home and from war and can’t let go of that battlefield and has
trouble readjusting. American Sniper is a perfect
example. But I was interested in telling a story that
is totally fine, was inverted, where a guy comes home and is
totally fine, but there’s been some sort of first-order

but there’s been

change at home, which is quite literally not the place
he left anymore. So the character is loosely modeled
after my friend’s experiences, and my idea to put a

some sort of first- character like that in an off-the-wall situation, to see

how it evolved.

order change at The epic battle scene, where Man mounts a

military-style forced retreat defense against

home, which is
the aliens, seems like it will require a lot of
choreography, explosions and other moving parts.
Did you contemplate the logistical complexities

quite literally not and budgetary considerations of shooting this

scene when you wrote it, or did you let your mind
run wild?

the place he left To put it in a boxing term, you have to just let your
hands go, meaning you have to write everything
anymore.” down without over-analyzing it. I never stopped and
said to myself, “This is way too big and it’s not going
to sell.” Maybe going forward, it would be different
if I picked up an open writing assignment where
Spec Spotlight: Joseph Greenberg 32
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

I knew what the budget would be. But if I’m just Shelly Mellott actually called me to tell me that I
writing something on spec, out of my head, I don’t had won the Sci-Fi category, which they refer to
consider those things at all, because you’re ideally as a “finalist”, because the grand prize winner is
fleshing out a character that you’re following through the “Winner”, but I prefer to say “Sci-fi Winner”.
the story, and you want them to go wherever they Once it won, I got a lot of emails from people at
need to go, and second guessing yourself would management companies, saying: “Hey, could I hop
restrict your imagination. It’s not really so much on the phone to talk to you?”
about budgetary concerns; it’s more about content.
I had to let go and follow the story how I saw it, So you were actively pursued?
because I didn’t think anyone would respond to Oh yeah. I didn’t query anybody…
the violence in the script. I mean, in the first five
minutes, Man walks into a food court with an axe
and starts hacking people up, so I thought anyone
Career journalist Andrew Bloomenthal has covered
reading this would think I should be committed. But
everything from high finance to the film trade. He is
I had a graduate school writing professor who would
the award-winning filmmaker of the noir thriller Sordid
say, “You have to write like your parents are dead.”
Things. He lives in Los Angeles.
Because most people self censor their voices when
they’re writing something that’s extreme or visceral,
More information can be found on Andrew’s site:
because they think, “What will mom and dad say
www.andrewjbloomenthalcom
when they read this?” That’s the voice I had to let go
Twitter: @ABloomenthal
of, to let my creative voice come out.

How did the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting

Contest come onto your radar screen?

I’ve always used Final Draft software, going back a

few years, now. And I don’t live in California; I live
in Southern New Jersey, and even though I can get
to New York, it’s not really a commutable distance,
so I’m not in a film town and I’m not in an industry
sphere, so it was just a matter of, “I want to be
a writer/director, how do you do that?” From the
director point-of-view, you need to keep making
short films and try to get them noticed in short film
festivals, which I’ve done, but there are also writing
competitions, and every year I wanted to make a
submission to the top contests, so I constantly did
searches for, “What are the top ten screenwriting
contests”, and Big Break was always on that list.
I entered for two or three consecutive years, and
submitted Man Alive to the 2014 competition, and
then I kept getting alerts that it was moving up--past
the quarter-final round, past the semi-final round,
then the finals, and then [Final Draft vice president]
 Big Break Finalist
Joseph Greenberg
Tells His Tale From
Draft to Sale
(Part II)
by Andrew Bloomenthal
 34
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

In Part I of this interview series, New Jersey screenwriter

Joseph Greenberg spoke to Final Draft about craft and
writing his spec script, Man Alive, which sold to 20th Century
Fox for an impressive six figures. In this second installment
of his interview, Greenberg describes the process of
acquiring literary representation and greenlighting the sale of
his script.

After Man Alive won the Science-Fiction/Fantasy category

of the 2014 Final Draft Big Break Screenplay Contest,
you were actively pursued by management companies,
correct?

Oh yeah. I did not query anybody. Basically, it was a lot

of management company assistants who were trying to “I’ve learned
make a name for themselves, by monitoring screenwriting
contests to see if they could read the winning scripts. I things about the
wound up hooking up with Aengus McLoone. I worked
with him rewriting two drafts, and he was insightful and
pre-development
had great notes, but he decided to take a break from the
industry, so he said, “I would really like to show this to my
phase of getting
very good friend Scott Stoops.” Scott liked it, and kicked it movies made,
up to his bosses, Jake Wagner and Jake Weiner, who called
me less than a week after I sent it, and I wound up signing that I had no clue
with them as management. We did another polish, then they
started showing the script around, and a few days later, I about before.”
was contacted by Bryan Besser and Parker Davis at Verve
[Talent and Literary Agency], who I Skyped with for over
an hour and I loved what they had to say, so I signed with
them as well. So with “the team” officially assembled, they
showed the script to 46 producers and financiers, and got
great responses from a lot of people who wanted to talk to
me--either because they were interested in the script, or
maybe the script wasn’t for them but they liked the writing
style and wanted to meet me, so I came out to L.A. and did
25 meetings in five days.

Describe the difference between your interaction with

your managers, versus that of your agents.

I’d say my conversation was more relaxed with the

management guys, who had an in-depth take on my script,
and the notes they gave me weren’t, “This doesn’t work and
that doesn’t work,” it was more like, “I see what you’re trying
to do here, and you might bring it out a little better if you did
X, Y & Z.” They even got the more nuanced stuff. And I’d say
35 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

I was generally a bit more nervous with the agent, Noah Hawley was interested in directing it. My
because he’s the rock star who figures out a plan and agents said, “We didn’t think this was a studio
executes the deal. It’s a different dynamic. movie, but Noah has a great deal with Fox who he’s
working with on Fargo,” so I was told to stay by the
What were your personal thoughts on signing on phone, because Noah would want to talk to me
with your representation? at some point during the day. When he called, we
talked for more than a half hour, and I really liked
My personal thoughts were that I really didn’t want his take on the script, so I called my agent back and
to f*** this up. In school, nobody tells you how to said, “I love him,” and he said, “Okay. Let me hop off
secure representation and nobody tells you what to the phone and get the deal done.” And he did. It was
look for with your rep. I knew agents and managers a happy day.
got ten percent and that lawyers got five percent,
but beyond that, I didn’t know what questions to ask.
So in the past three weeks, I’ve learned things about
the pre-development phase of getting movies made,
that I had no clue about before.
“The next thing
How involved were you in negotiating a dollar
figure for the sale of your script?
I know, I had to
Well, before I even went out to California, a company put my phone
made an offer for an option, but [my representation]
wouldn’t give them an answer until after I flew out
for my meetings. Once I got there, I first met with
down and leave
the room because
Scott Stoops, and then together we went over to
see Bryan and Parker at Verve, and they walked me
through the week. “Here’s your schedule, which
may change, but we’ll let you know right away if it
does.” They explained that meetings with people it was constantly
interested in me as a writer would be more laid back
and conversational, versus meeting with financiers
interested in the script, which would be more like,
buzzing.”
“Here’s our plan for getting the money and getting
this film made.” I ended up having a lot of good
meetings. There was really only one bad meeting,
but I really enjoyed meeting with everyone out there,
because they were passionate about the script, When it comes to all parties agreeing on the
which was great. purchase price, do your agents say, “This is the
proposed figure, you need to literally tell us ‘yes,’”
After I got home, the agents followed up with or do you have to confirm your approval in an
everybody, and there was one company I absolutely email?
loved, who made an offer and the agents were
putting together our counter-offer, when Fox came It was just verbal, and then the paper work came in
in and really picked up on it, because [Fargo creator] the next day. They said a deal like this is like lightning
Spec Spotlight: Joseph Greenberg 36
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

striking, where a hot, young director who has a constantly buzzing, and when I picked it up, I had
major deal with a studio, likes the spec script and like 110 notifications from Facebook, 10 missed calls,
the studio picks it up. That was how I broke into the and eight messages. It was just wild. That’s when
business, which doesn’t happen any more. So you the magnitude of this really started to sink in--this
have to trust that your agents are negotiating on your realization that I might be able to just write as a
behalf, and I definitely did, because they did such a screenwriter, which is something I’ve been working
good job keeping me informed. I remember asking, for since I got out of undergraduate school, which is
“Do you need me to do anything?” And they’re like, damn near 20 years ago.
“No, don’t do a thing.”

In the final phone call, a team of six people was on

the phone, and they said, “This is what the offer
Career journalist Andrew Bloomenthal has covered
started at, this is the final offer, this is how we
everything from high finance to the film trade. He is
arrived there, and as your representation, we would
the award-winning filmmaker of the noir thriller Sordid
council you to accept this, but in the end, it’s up to
Things. He lives in Los Angeles.
you.” I said, “yes”, and they said, “Okay, I’m going to
hop off the phone and let Fox know.” At that point,
More information can be found on Andrew’s site:
it’s basically a handshake agreement, and then the
www.andrewjbloomenthalcom
agent is responsible for making sure everybody
Twitter: @ABloomenthal
gets paid. The lawyer gets five percent, which
was another thing that completely blew me away,
because I didn’t even know I had a lawyer. (Laughs)
“Hi Joe, this is Allison, I’m your attorney.”

So as a writer, give me two adjectives to describe Screenwriting Tips

the feeling you had when you officially agreed to
the sale.
• To borrow a boxing term, let your hands go when
Oh Jesus…I should be able to do this, because you write. Just write everything down without
screenwriting is all about concision. Well, when they overanalyzing it or thinking, “This will never work.”
first called to tell me that Fox was interested, which
was a coup in itself, I was feeding my two-year old • Another way to quiet that inner critic? Write as
macaroni and cheese, and I’m thinking, “I’ve got if your parents (or loved ones) won’t see it. Many
to put down this mac and cheese and get busy writers worry about what their parents might think
doing what they need me to do”, but they’re like, if they touch upon extreme or visceral material, but
“Relax, just finish what you’re doing,” so I hung up the story should go where it needs to go.
the phone and finish feeding my daughter the mac
and cheese, and then I suddenly got this nervous • Enter the top screenwriting contests. You’ll
feeling of elation. It was definitely surreal. But it not only hone your skills, but your work will get
really sunk in when the press release went out the noticed, especially if you don’t live in an industry
next day and it showed up on the IMDb news page town.
and one of my friends saw it and posted it on my
Facebook wall. The next thing I know, I had to put
my phone down and leave the room because it was
 Spec Spotlight:
BenDavid Grabinski
Sells Bravado
to Paramount
by Shanee Edwards
 38
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

With the sale of his spec script, Bravado, screenwriter

BenDavid Grabinski has become an overnight success…after
10 years. Here’s his story.

Growing up in the Midwest, Grabinski knew he wanted to

be a film director at 10-years old. “I was really obsessed with
movies, so I had this long-term plan that when I turned 18,
I would just move to L.A. and become a director,” he said.
But his parents had other plans for their son that included
a college degree. Reluctantly, Grabinski agreed to study
journalism at Iowa State. He liked the idea of journalism
because he could write movie reviews and didn’t have to
take any math classes. One summer, while Grabinski was
working at Wendy’s, donating plasma and reading comic
books, he decided he would just try writing a script for the “His advice to
heck of it. His buddies told him the script was good and he
believed them, so he just kept writing. young writers
After college, he moved to L.A. and passed one of his
is not to try
screenplays, Imaginary Barry, to his actor-roommate, who
in turn showed it to a few people. Soon, the screenplay
to emulate
was optioned and Grabinski got a call from an agent at someone else’s
William Morris Endeavor who wanted to set up a meeting.
The agent was keen on packaging his script with one of the career path.”
actors represented by the agency and gave Grabinski a big
speech about how making his film with this particular actor
was going to be the best thing he could do for his career.
Ironically, the actor passed on the script, but Grabinski is still
with the agent from that meeting. It’s been 10 years.

Grabinski is thrilled to report that his latest spec script,

Bravado, recently sold to Paramount. Producer Andrew
Lazar (American Sniper), helped develop the script and is
producing. Though wanting to keep the main plot points
under wraps, Grabinski did say that Bravado is about a war
veteran who comes back to be a cop and, “it spirals out from
there.” The story also deals with gun issues related to the
militarization of the police.

A huge fan of The Fast and the Furious movies, Grabinski is

hoping to create a franchise that is tonally similar and also
explores, “machismo and the family dynamic in the context
of a heightened modern adventure movie. I like movies
where stuff explodes, people destroy each other, there are
car chases and twists and turns.” Though it sounds like a
box office smash, Grabinski doesn’t write specifically for the
39 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

marketplace. “You don’t know what the trends are Most importantly, Grabinski says to never stop
going to be, you don’t know what the marketplace writing specs. “It’s very easy to forget that, but just
is going to be tomorrow, you just have to work really keep writing specs as long as you have ideas.”
hard, write a lot, take criticism and be patient.”
..........................................
Bravado was written on Final Draft.

“I like movies Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School

where stuff with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film

critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next
MacGyver television writing competition to create a

explodes, TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and

the Machine, is currently in development with America
Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions.

people destroy You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards.

each other, there

are car chases Screenwriting Tips

and twists and • Don’t write specifically for the marketplace. You
can’t know what the trends will be or what the

turns.” marketplace will want in the future. So pursue

what you like, and be patient.

• Likewise, don’t try to emulate someone else’s

career path. In this industry, you have no control
Grabinski’s advice to young writers is not to try to over anything except your own work. You can’t
emulate someone else’s career path. “Overnight beat yourself up if you’re not an “overnight
success does happen, but it’s usually a manufactured success” like someone who wrote that latest
narrative for someone’s PR. Some things take longer buzzed-about smash.
and some things take shorter and I think my main
advice is, you have no control over anything except • Take criticism well, and don’t get discouraged. As
your own work. I’ve been working as a screenwriter you write more, you’ll become more confident in
for 10 years and I would have liked to have more your abilities and understand the business better,
movies made by this point, but at the same time, which only helps over the long run.
my writing has really improved and I understand the
business a lot more. I feel a lot more confident in
my writing and in my ability. I think that it’s all about
staying positive.”
 ® ®

SCREENWRITING
CONTEST
TER NOW
Share over $80,000 in cash and prizes EN

2015 TV Grand Prize winner Eric Buchman

has signed with Mitch Solomon at
Magnet Management and now works as a
staff writer on NBC's Blindspot.

2015 Feature Film Grand Prize winners 2014 Science Fiction Category winner
Joseph Greenberg sold his contest spec
G.W. Freund & Daniel Bonjour script Man Alive to 20th Century Fox for
have signed with Brillstein Noah Hawley of Fargo to direct.
Entertainment Partners.

Early Bird Deadline: Monday, March 13, 2017

Regular Deadline: Monday, June 26, 2017
Extended Deadline: Friday, July 14, 2017

A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

finaldraft.com
 Hammerspace
spec script nails
down live-action
and animation in
an emotionally
powerful story
by Shanee Edwards
 42
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

For writer Mike Van Waes, it all seems surreal. After

putting his nose to the grindstone for over a decade,
he’s finally made his first spec sale. His family-friendly
adventure screenplay Hammerspace reportedly earned him
somewhere in the mid-six figures from Warner Bros. Final
Draft sits down with him to find out more.

Van Waes’ seemingly calm voice belies the excitement

boiling underneath. He’s suddenly in high demand and
admits feeling like he’s caught up in a whirlwind. “Going
from zero to sixty when you’ve been working for something
for thirteen years, and then, it suddenly happens - I’m
shocked, but in the best of ways. There’s meetings and
calls, a lot happens all at once. Suddenly you’re doing the
thing you always wanted to be doing. It takes a minute to “It takes a lot of
adjust,” says Van Waes.
work and a lot
Because he’s been a script reader for various studios for
the last decade, Van Waes knows all too well that the
of commitment,
Hollywood system has recently been bombarded with
superhero films, remakes and sequels, leaving little room
and I think
for spec sales. Despite this fact, he doesn’t begrudge any creative
Hollywood for relying on proven properties. He thinks
there’s room for everything including reboots, remakes person goes
and sequels because “a good story is a good story and
is always worth retelling. But as a creative person, an through cycles
audience member, a writer and a reader, I think it’s crucial
to also be supporting original content.” of insecurities
He describes his original script Hammerspace as “a story and doubts, but I
about Mason, a terminally ill teenager who discovers a key
to an alternate dimension, one that is purely animated.”
never wanted to
Finding the key to Hammerspace gives Mason cartoon-like
quit.”
powers and access to things we’ve only seen in cartoons.
“He makes a friend from the other side and the two have
to heal his broken family and things build up to a bigger,
potentially disastrous combination of the two dimensions
they have to work together to stop.”

The term “hammerspace” refers to the fan-born, classic

act of a cartoon character suddenly taking an object, like a
hammer, from behind their back or pulling it out of thin air.
The term is commonly used by animation and comic book
insiders, but has never been explored as a subject for a film.
43 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

After studying both film and animation at NYU, Van But Van Waes admits his story is more than just a
Waes says, “Hammerspace is this really cool idea fun fantasy. “Mason sees his own mortality and
and I thought, What if someone could use it in real has seen his life fall apart, due to no fault of his
life? Someone could just reach into their pocket and own. He’s had to see his family suffer the ripple
pull out anything they could think of. So that’s the effects of that as well. He has no control over
inspiration, because I’ve always wanted to create what’s happening in his life, and suddenly, he’s
a project that was a combination of live action and given access to this other universe that gives him
animation.” power over things he never thought possible.”

Like all good stories, this one is personal to Van

Waes. “I know from experience what it’s like to

“See as many have illness and other health factors destabilize

your life and the people around you. So that was

films as you can,

kind of my ‘in’ to this project. The fantasy of having
control over things you never had before.”

but read as much Because Van Waes has a background as a script

reader, we want to know what advice he has for
other writers. “I’ve found that it seems like there’s

as you can. More no lack of big ideas or set pieces, fun, new special
effects and worlds we’ve never seen before. But
nine times out of ten, my development notes will

specifically, read focus on building up the character, making sure

they have proper emotional arcs and that they’re

the bad scripts,

relatable, that we feel for them and that the
emotions come out organically. So if there’s an
explosion, we care about what effect that has - it’s

because the bad not just a spectacle.”

His number one piece of advice? “See as many

scripts trigger films as you can, but read as much as you can.
More specifically, read the bad scripts, because the

your critical
bad scripts trigger your critical thinking in a way
that the good scripts don’t. You have to read good
scripts to understand what material is capable of

thinking in a way doing, but when I read a great script, it’s always
hard to figure out what the writer did to get there.
When you read bad scripts, you’re constantly

that the good critiquing them and you’re wondering, Why did they
make this choice, because I would have done this.”

scripts don’t.” Though pursuing a career as a screenwriter is a

long rollercoaster ride, Van Waes says giving up
was never an option. “It takes a lot of work and a
Spec Spotlight: Mike Van Waes 44
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

lot of commitment, and I think any creative person

goes through cycles of insecurities and doubts, but Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School
I never wanted to quit.” His tenacity has paid off. with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film
critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next
.......................................... MacGyver television writing competition to create a
Hammerspace was written on Final Draft. TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and
the Machine, is currently in development with America
Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions.

Screenwriting Tips You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards.

• Build characters before set pieces. A script is more

rewarding when we care about the emotional
fallout of an explosion beyond just pure spectacle.
Make your audience feel for the characters through
proper emotional arcs.

• See as many films as you can—and read as many

scripts as you can, good and bad. The bad ones
trigger your critical thinking in a way that the good
ones don’t. With a good script, it can be tough to
figure out what the writer did to tell that story.
With a bad script, the choices you question are
more visible.

• Hang in there. Van Waes made his first spec sale

after working as a script reader and writing and
submitting scripts for thirteen years.
 Spec Spotlight:
Nick Yarborough
on Letters From
Rosemary Kennedy
by Roe Moore
 46
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Nick Yarborough is making a splash in the Hollywood scene

with his upcoming dark biopics Letters from Rosemary
Kennedy and The Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry.
A rare native to California, he took time to speak with Final
Draft about his experience.

RM: How did you end up in Hollywood?

I’m one of those weird ones that was actually born and
raised here in LA. I grew up in Hermosa Beach and am
now in Santa Monica. It’s just kind of lucky that Hollywood
happens to be located where I also grew up – I would’ve
moved to Ohio or wherever if that’s where the film capital of
the world was – but luckily it’s always been right here in my
backyard. “I realized that
RM: The decision to become a screenwriter happened as long as I
early on in your life. What inspired you to go that
direction?
had a pen and
Movies were always my number one obsession as a kid. And
paper I could
while I felt like there were a lot of limitations as a teenager always write.”
for trying to learn directing or acting or something, I realized
that as long as I had a pen and paper I could always write.
Even if your stuff is terrible, the basically free commodity
of a pen and paper are always available to self-generate
material, and I think this is a big part of why I gravitated
toward it. Writing does not put you at the mercy of anybody
but yourself – compared to say a director’s need for a script
or an actor’s need to be involved with a production in order
to really exercise craft – but both professional and amateur
screenwriters arrive at the blank page with the same
resources of their effort, discipline, and imagination.

In terms of influences that really solidified the decision for

me: Quentin Tarantino’s early movies were definitely the first
time I remember noticing the work of original screenwriting
on display in such an unignorable way. You can’t really discuss
Pulp Fiction without talking about how the screenplay
choices are the most distinguishable aspect. Later on, I came
across the screenplays of S. Craig Zahler and his work was
an equally important influence in terms of recognizing the
type of prose and tone that I found most influential on the
actual page.
47 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

RM: What draws you to write darker material? RM: I’m sure it felt like it happened overnight.

This is sort of a complicated question for me. I Definitely. The dominoes all kind of fell into place in
do really enjoy things that are on the extreme a very surreal way, though again, this was after the
side of things – I’m a big horror buff in fiction and script had actually been written a few months ago
metalhead when it comes to music – but I am never and I had spent years without much luck. But yes,
intentionally trying to make something dark for those weeks when everything came together were
the sake of being dark. To me, if I’m trying to put very, very exciting and made everything worth it.
the audience through an extreme situation – like
a lobotomy in Rosemary’s case or the much more RM: How has your involvement been since the
intense climactic scene of my upcoming script – I script has continued to move toward production?
want the experience to be as intense as possible
if that is what the situation calls for and art is not Sam Gold is now attached to direct; he won the Tony
the place to hold back. Still, I am probably drawn last year for the musical Fun Home. I went back and
to “darker” material because of this. I like art that forth with him on notes and a re-write, which has
pushes and challenges the audience’s boundaries. been ongoing.

RM: What was the process of getting literary RM: You mentioned you worked as an assistant?
representation like for you?
Yup, my first job out of college was as an assistant to
After finishing Rosemary around March of 2015, I a producer. I kind of consider this my grad school – I
submitted it to a couple of contests (Nicholl, Page, got to really learn about development, production,
etc.) It did well and I got some bites off those, but and turn out a lot of scripts in my free time. After I
nothing really ended up materializing that felt right. had made a little bit of money from this, I decided
I then submitted it to the Black List website where to quit and write everyday until the money ran out
it received some really positive reviews and was (much to the thrill of my parents). I wrote Rosemary
selected as a “Feature Script” in November of 2015. and a couple of other scripts during this time. The
I had a couple of people reach out to me in the money then ran out, and I had to get another job as
aftermath of that and went with the fantastic guys an assistant until Rosemary was discovered.
who ended up being my managers: Allard Cantor
and Jarrod Murray at Epicenter – I signed with them RM: How did your time working as an assistant
on my birthday in January of ’16. They sent it out to to a literary manager impact your writing?
a few production companies – including a producer
named Greg Lessans at Weed Road. He is a saint The single good thing about working as an assistant
of a man who is really supportive of me. He then was that it was literally my job to read a wide
sent it to WME, and I signed with my awesome variety of scripts and then give my thoughts through
agents at WME in I believe March of ’16, after which coverage (this is when you write a summary and
the script’s attachments came a few weeks later. your thoughts about the script). I was constantly
In other words, a lot of waiting and patience for a exposed to different styles of screenwriting and
few months (not to mention the years of writing realized early on which were the types that I
and stack of scripts before that) followed by a real responded to and found most effective. This was
whirlwind of a situation. extremely important in terms of identifying and
articulating in a very analytical why a script worked
Spec Spotlight: Nick Yarborough 48
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

or didn’t – How did the script manage to evoke these

emotions? What techniques did the writer use? How Roe Moore
did this writer’s style impact the storytelling? – all Script Supervisor / Screenwriter
these kind of questions. And with these answers
in mind, I could then apply them to my own stuff. Originally from Aurora, CO, Roe Moore is a script
Writing criticism is one of the best exercises for supervisor, screenwriter, and emerging director based in
learning craft – I still do so after a book or movie Los Angeles, CA. She has worked on commercials, film,
makes a big impact on me to try and understand and television shows. Her favorite number is 2 and she
how it managed to evoke such a reaction. loves dachshunds.

RM: Another project of yours, The Secret Life of

Dr. James Miranda Barry, is also in the works. More can be found on her website:
www.RoeMoore.com
Yes, very excited about that. I think it is another
opportunity to create a unique biopic with an unusual
character at the forefront and a story that is very
relevant, though it is also very different than my
previous stuff and playing to different emotions than Screenwriting Tips
anything I have done previously…which is also why
I’m excited about it.
• You always have the ability and the tools to
RM: You seem to have a heavy hand in biopics, are generate new material. Both professional and
there other genres you would like to branch out? amateur screenwriters arrive at a blank page
with the same resources of effort, discipline, and
Absolutely. There are so, so many other genres I imagination.
hope to tackle. The irony is that I was actually writing
a lot of tough guy stuff before Rosemary – mostly in • Write criticism, even if it’s not published, to
crime, war, and horror. But after coming across her articulate in an analytical way why a story works
story and being so haunted by it, thought this might or doesn’t. Yarborough writes reviews of books
be an opportunity to hijack the biopic umbrella to try or films he likes and doesn’t like as an exercise to
and tell her story through other subgenres – as a understand why they’ve provoked such reactions
coming-of age-story, a dread-filled horror movie, and and pinpoint the techniques the writers used.
a family melodrama –which were all subgenres that I
loved and wanted to try. • Make sure that your choices serve the story.
Yarborough likes art that pushes an audience’s
I’m trying to apply this same overall approach and boundaries, but he doesn’t intentionally try to write
have a lot of ambitions with trying to find new angles something dark just for the sake of it. He’ll make a
to the genre in my upcoming biopics, but yes, very situation intense if that’s what the situation calls for.
much hoping to branch out into other genres that I’ve
always wanted to pursue after that very soon.

..........................................
Nick is currently represented by WME and Epicenter.
Spec Spotlight:
Sam Franco &
Evan Kilgore on
Keeper Of
The Diary
by Asmara Bhattacharya
 50
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Most people know of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager

who chronicled her two years hiding in an attic during
the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
The Frank family was subsequently discovered and sent
to concentration camps, where millions of people were
enslaved and slaughtered. Anne herself perished in the
Bergen-Belsen camp at the young age of sixteen.

The Diary of Anne Frank, the journal Anne wrote while in

hiding, is indisputably one of the most significant and widely
read books in the world, published in over sixty languages.
Yet 70 years ago, just after the end of the war, her father
Otto could not find a publisher willing to present Anne’s
historic document to the world. Keeper of the Diary, the spec
script writers Sam Franco and Evan Kilgore recently sold to
Fox Searchlight, recounts Otto Frank’s struggle to publish his
daughter’s diary.

One almost incidental line in a diary edition’s introduction

caught Sam’s eye: “Otto struggled to get the book
published.” Sam recalls “literally circling that. I still have a
copy of it.”

Evan observes, “You always hear about the diary, and you
hear about the circumstances in the attic. But you never hear
about how did the diary come to be in our hands today.”
“Be curious
They were fascinated by the idea that a book so many
people connect to emotionally could face an uphill battle to
about things
be published, just as so many less notable manuscripts do. and enthusiastic
“It’s always interesting to hear the path that something as
iconic as Diary of Anne Frank took,” Evan continues, “that about what
that would take the exact same process of fifty people
rejecting it.” you’re doing.”
Inconceivable though it may seem now, publishers at the
time overlooked the diary’s potential cultural impact because
they feared it was not commercial enough. Despite the
extraordinary power of Anne’s writings and observations,
“they were just looking at the bottom line,” Evan marvels.

Publishers also worried that, so soon after the war, readers

would shy away from such a heart-rending story. Sam,
whose wife lost family in the Holocaust, does not take
the horrors of this war lightly. But “we made a conscious
decision to not go into the concentration camps or really
51 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

even show Anne herself,” he explains. “We didn’t The pair have reams of ideas, and when an idea
want to take away from what this story was about.” sparks to both of them, they go after it. They’re
obsessive about research and meticulous about
Evan elaborates, “What really drew me close to her detail, and they take notes by hand. According to
story, and also to the story behind the diary, is that Sam, “There’s a lot of divide and conquer. We very
this is a fresh perspective that takes us away from often find different things and bring different things
the atrocities and really helps us examine it from a to the table, in terms of whether it’s a story idea or a
perspective of hope.” character element.”

They’re drawn to history, politics, espionage, thrillers.

“Don’t let
Projects in development include Mayday 109, about
a young JFK saving his crew when their ship is
destroyed, and Undefeated: The Rocky Marciano

the fear of Story, about the heavyweight boxing champion.

They’re also working on a dark fictional thriller. “It
doesn’t have to be a true story, but it has to feel real

someone to both of us,” says Evan.

stealing your
Sam’s background includes film marketing and
producing. His experiences drive him to analyze
things like film successes and failures and potential

idea prevent audience appeal when considering projects. “That’s

the purpose of these movies, to inform and educate
and inspire and get people to see it.”

you from Evan started writing in kindergarten, completing his

first novel in middle school, and got his first book
publishing deal in college. While he would never

reaching out in forego either prose or scripts, right now he’s in

screenwriting mode. “That’s where my head is, and

the first place.”

that’s where all my thoughts will be dedicated. And
it is hard to switch back in the middle.” He credits
Sam’s eye toward production, connections, and
marketing with elevating them to a different level.
“It’s easy to just get shut in a fictional world and not
The birth of Evan and Sam’s partnership is a tale of think of all those things.”
breaking the rules. After Sam submitted a script to an
agency and heard nothing but crickets, he convinced Keeper of the Diary leapfrogged the usual protracted
an assistant to forward him the coverage, “which, marketing process, ending up in a bidding war that
as you know, is not something that’s usually done,” lasted barely thirty-six hours. Before the team knew
Sam laughs. The notes were great and, surprisingly, it, an offer came in with a 60-minute clock on it,
had Evan’s name on them. So Sam called the story then another with a 30-minute clock. When the deal
department and spoke to him. “And we lived happily closed, “there were tears,” Sam admits. “It was
ever after,” intones Sam. “I guess it’s a lesson to really emotional to kind of get that validation.”
never take no for an answer.”
Spec Spotlight: Sam Franco & Evan Kilgore 52
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

“We one hundred percent have our team to thank,”

Evan jumps in, rattling off an army of reps: Jeff Asmara Bhattacharya
Portnoy, Mia Chang, David Boxerbaum, Valarie Screenwriter / Playwright / Script Reader
Phillips, Eric Feig, Matthew Jacobs. “They knocked it
out of the park on this.” Asmara Bhattacharya is a produced screenwriter/
playwright, script reader, and festival screener, with
Sam struggles to balance work with two small multiple placements at Final Draft, Nicholl, Austin Film
children at home. “Headphones are great,” he Festival, and other competitions. A trusted sounding
laughs. Oddly, he and Evan work on opposite board and consultant for industry professionals,
schedules. Sam stays up till all hours to write while dedicated fans also caught her in Independence Day:
the kids are asleep, and Evan wakes up at four-thirty Resurgence and NBC’s The Night Shift – for one glorious
every morning to get his writing in. half-second each.

“We’re both striving for the same thing,” Evan asserts,

“which is carving out a little time for ourselves when More can be found on her website:
no one else in the world can get to you.” www.dickflicks.net
or follow her on Twitter: @hotpinkstreak
The duo recommends that writers be
entrepreneurial. Sam advises, “When you have
the opportunity to meet people that can potentially
assist you, you don’t have to hold on to things
Screenwriting Tips
so tightly.” In other words, don’t let the fear of
someone stealing your idea prevent you from
reaching out in the first place.
• Be entrepreneurial. If you have an opportunity to
meet people who can assist you, don’t let the fear
“Don’t think about being a writer,” Evan emphasizes.
of someone stealing your idea prevent you from
“Actually just sit down and write every single day,
reaching out for a connection.
whether you’re hating it right now, whether it’s
working or not.” Also, don’t give yourself a time limit.
• Don’t think about being a writer to the point
“You’ve got to be dedicated enough to say, ‘I don’t
that you give yourself a time limit to break in or be
care how long it takes. This is in my blood and I can’t
discovered. Just sit down and write every day, even
help doing it every single day of my life.’”
on days when you hate it. Your work will improve
through that dedication, and your curiosity and
“Have a passion for things. Be curious about things
enthusiasm will propel you forward.
and enthusiastic about what you’re doing. If you can
put those things together, you’ll succeed.”
• It can be a struggle to carve out writing time,
especially when juggling family needs. Try
headphones, or write before your kids awaken or
after they go to sleep—anything to carve out time for
yourself.
Spec Spotlight:
Pete Barry
discusses
Marian
by Roe Moore
 54
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

From playwrighting to the big screen, Pete Barry has been

involved in creating stories and telling them in various
mediums for a long time. With his recent script, he takes a
twist on the character Marian from the original Robin Hood.
The project has Margot Robbie attached to play Marian
and is quickly moving along in the process. Pete shares his
experience as well as how he came to being the hot up-and-
coming screenwriter.

Q: How did you become part of the film industry as a

screenwriter?

Pete: The first project I worked on was a short film that

was a modernized version of Edgar Allen Poe stories.
Strangely both projects started in the same place. It was a
“I do like twists
community online called MoviePoet – which is now sadly on already
defunct – but I got hooked on it. It was a place where
people used to come and write a lot of short scripts. There established
was a contest every month and I got hooked up with a
filmmaker there. Marian also sort of came out of that stuff. That is
community where there was a feature contest at one point.
I started working on it back then. something
Q: What got you started as a writer? that I’ve
Pete: I think when I was about five years old and wrote
always found
my first comic strip – I wish I still had that, but I think it’s
been lost to the ravages of time – it was always something
interesting.”
that I was doing. When I was about eight, the local paper
published one of little short stories and I think it was about
a little boy who hits a baseball into a neighboring house. So,
I was always writing. I was always doing a myriad of things
like as a kid, my brothers and I would make little movies
and whatnot. I got into theater. Did I ever sit down and say,
“Hey, I wanna be a writer when I grow up?” I don’t think
that ever occurred to me until…maybe two weeks ago – no.
(LAUGHS). I’m not sure there was a point where I said, “Yes,
I think I’m gonna be a writer. I think it was something I was
doing along with other creative things like acting and playing
music and songwriting.

Q: Well, writing is leading the way for you creatively. Is

it something that you hope to continue pursuing or do
you anticipate leaning into your other creative outlets as
well?
55 How to Sell a Script
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Pete: My general philosophy is see where life takes of my short plays accepted into the Samuel French
me; although, right now, life is sort of pulling me in Off-Off Broadway Short Festival a couple years back
a very strong direction. I think if I can make a career and I got to act in my own play. And the best thing
out of this – which hopefully this is the first step was although it was an Off-Off Broadway festival,
towards – that would be great. I don’t see myself but the house they had with Playwrights Horizons,
abandoning smaller projects. I’m also a published the play extended its run. So, they bumped us up to
playwright; I’m not gonna stop writing plays. I’ll an Off-Broadway theater. So technically, I played an
probably still write songs or whatever. I’ll probably Off-Broadway house in my own one-man play. And
keep writing various things. A lot of playwrights do it was the most amazing thing until Margot Robbie
end up in television or film because they…money walked into my life.
among other things. But no, I mean – a lot of artists
like to play with different mediums so if you have Q: What makes a success in your opinion?
those things, it’s hard to give one up. That being said,
you know, when something hits like this, then you Pete: I do feel extremely lucky. There’s all kinds of
want to pursue that avenue and that’s where career things that go into your success I think. And you
comes in and the other things start taking a backseat cannot discount the luck part of it. But you also
maybe for a little while. can’t discount the work part of it. I’ve been writing
basically for my whole life. I don’t have quite the
Q: How have the other creative outlets impacted output as some writers, but I do write quite a bit
or influenced your writing? and I’ve worked at it. I have quite a volume. I think
every writer works differently and at their own pace
Pete: I went to school for theater and at the time and at their own learning speed. But it really helps
the school I was doing it was not – that was the to generate mounds and mounds of garbage to get
only track you could do. You could do the tech track. to the gems that you’ll eventually create once you
Basically, if you were a theater major, you were and take an honest look at yourself and evaluate it. And
an actor. I wrote short stories and wrote fiction and then you need the luck that somebody wants to
I said, “I’ll take a hand in a play because then I can do that thing that you’re doing. With Marian, I got
act in the thing that I wrote.” Essentially, I write with very fortunate that many people were looking for
a partner sometimes. We had a couple plays that something like that at that time. I’m super happy that
went up in New York in the National Fringe Festival this was a script that got accepted. It’s one of the
and got a little bit of a buzz. I think he and I had the multitudes of things that I’ve written in my life. I’m
opposite of things: I was always writing and thought very proud of the script.
I can always be the person on the stage, that way
my writing will be done right; he was an actor who Q: What was the inspiration for Marian?
eventually said, “I need a part for myself, so I’ll just
write it and then I’ll do it.” I think these different Pete: Growing up, I loved Disney’s animated Robin
paths lead you to writing in different ways. In my Hood with the foxes. My daughter was about four
case, I think the writing was always there. years old, and I was like, “Oh, you gotta watch this
thing.” And she saw it, she loved it. And I was like,
Q: What are some highlights from your career “Wonderful. I’ve passed it on to my daughter.”
so far? And she says, “Daddy, can we go outside and play
Robin Hood?” “Absolutely.” We went out to play
Pete: Like I said, I’m a trained actor. The last most Robin Hood. She’s like, “You’ll be Robin Hood. And
exciting thing that happened to me was I got one I’ll be Maid Marian.” And I said, “Wonderful. What
Spec Spotlight: Pete Barry 56
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are we doing?” She says, “You – here’s a stick, you kind of bow and arrow do they use in the twelfth
fight the bad guys.” I said, “Great. And what will century? So, that can be a thing to watch out for.
you do?” She says, “I’ll watch. I’ll watch you fight Make sure you’re not drowning in research.
the bad guys.” And I asked her don’t you want to
fight the bad guys too? She said, “In the movie, Q: Speaking of which, how much did you
Maid Marian just watches.” I thought maybe we research for Marian?
should do something about that. So, I credit it to my
daughter. When I started Marian, I did some actual Pete: I did do a lot of research for writing Marian.
research and in the original ballad of Robin Hood, Marian was a very quick write. Once I had the
there are many of them and it’s a lot of oral history knowledge in my head, it was like, boom. It’ just
so they all contradict each other. There are various came out. In a sense, research can help you but
forms of it. But here’s the funny thing: in one of the you gotta watch out that you’re not just reading and
earliest ballads, Marian shows up as a page boy and ignoring writing.
whoops Robin’s ass. She wasn’t just a demure fox.
She was actually the only person who could beat Q: What was the process to getting representation?
Robin Hood. So, I thought clearly that’s the Marian I
want to write about. Pete: So, once again, I chop this up to luck. It was
a solid decision that led to a cascade of events.
Q: What is it about writing new twists on old Essentially, I put the script into a few contests. I
stories that interests you? only submitted it to the Nicholl’s Fellowship and they
didn’t want it. Then, I submitted it to the Tracking
Pete: I do like twists on already established stuff. Board Launchpad. If my story is any indication of
That is something that I’ve always found interesting. what they can do, I would recommend it to every
I think I have a Sherlock Holmes somewhere. I’m person. It was a great experience. Marian made the
probably not alone, but when you’re steeped in first-round cut. Almost immediately, Chris Contreras
pop culture and you’re steeped in literature, there’s (who runs the contest) got in touch with me. Once
something about you want to make up your own you make that cut, then you are part of their family
stories with these characters. And so, saying, taking and they’re gonna try to get your stuff out to the
a twist on something that exists does call for me. people who need to see it. He put me in touch with
The last play we put up in the New York Fringe the producer Ron who knew David Boxerbaum at
Festival was exactly that. We did a twist on Antony Paradigm. It was basically once I made that cut, it
and Cleopatra which, at the time we wrote it, it was went from Chris to Ron to David to Margot – it was
2011 in the middle of the Egyptian revolution, so an amazingly fast chain reaction. Once it got noticed
we combined Cleopatra with the Arab Spring. Like by the right people, that’s basically what happened.
I said, it is something that calls to me; however,
having said that, I do also enjoy making things up Q: That’s extraordinary!
off the cloth. When you do these pieces which are
twists or interpretations or an already existing story, Pete: Yeah. And I think if a writer were wondering
one of the things you get is a lot of procrastination. how does that happen, again, this just happened to
You could go research forever and just say, “Okay, I me. I’m not an industry insider by any stretch of the
don’t need to write. I’m reading twelve books on my imagination. But I think it genuinely is a combination
nightstand. I gotta get through these books before I of I worked really hard on the script and it really
put anything on paper.” Are you going and doing solid sings. So, it was the culmination of all the years of
research or are you surfing and Googling like what work and attention to the script to make it as iconic.
57 How to Sell a Script
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And it was the fortune of the right person saw it and may stand alone on that. You can agree or not agree
loved it, and gave it to the hands of the right people with me but you must have heart in your writing. You
for it. And I will say that Marian, it is right for this never know where that market is going to go next.
time. Right now, with Wonder Woman coming out in
the summer and we got Rey [from Star Wars] up on Q: What is it that makes things stand out?
the screen. Women are rising in the cinema as well
they should. And a funny thing, I went on IMDB the Pete: That brings it back to how did this happen.
day the news broke, and I already got haters. People Eventually — and weirdly and not always – the cream
are like, “Hollywood putting out more of this trash.” rises to the top. When you make something that is
And again, it’s funny because I can understand their professional level and then put it out in the world,
point-of-view. I am very proud, and I think it’s going people are gonna notice it and be like, “Wow. That is
to be an amazing movie. But I can see the point-of- something that I want to see, and I want to do, and I
view of like, “Well, this is Hollywood just cashing in.” want to be a part of it.”
I wrote this five-six years ago when there was no
trend. I don’t deny that I hit a nerve on the zeitgeist Q: I saw you are part of a community called The
right now. And that is a happy accident. I would Porch Room.
suggest honing your craft is the utmost important
and write stories that mean to you. I will go against Pete: The Porch Room is theater-based with a little
some people who advise me to say you have to look bit of film group. We don’t have a space; we used to
at the market. Yes, you can look at the market. I’m call us a homeless theater company. But we seek
not saying don’t look at the market. But I don’t think I out the spaces that we produce our stuff in and then
could’ve thought this one through. I got lucky in that we write, direct, act and whatever. It’s very much
sense. Now, the next piece I will take the market the model of what I grew up in. In my heart, it’s
into consideration. I’ll say, “Alright, now that I’m in what making art is. I went to Muhlenberg College
a place where this is my job that I can do, then yes. in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Porch Room is a
Absolutely. I’ll take it into consideration.” That’s part reference to a theater house that I was in before they
of your job now. tore it down. A lot of those people in this theater
house came out at a very specific time where they
Q: Sure. I mean, there’s no linear or scientific way sort of had this mentality of forming communities.
to make a career happen in Hollywood. There’s a group of people who eventually formed the
company called Broken Umbrella Theater Company.
Pete: Right. I think the agent who’s repping me now, They put on theater themselves; they’re all the actors
he just has a taste and he has to know that his taste and the producers and the writers and the directors.
works because as soon as it’s gone, then he’s in the And they found a niche making art in this community.
water. He can’t sell something. He doesn’t just have They all became artists all on their own terms. One
the taste to know what he likes. And I think part of of our theater professors, Charles Richter, he loved
that is having his finger on the pulse of the town the age bracket of his kids. They may not be – by
and the industry. There’s some undefinable quality the standards of are they on Broadway? Are they in
that he may be looking for and that’s very hard to Hollywood – well, now one of them is Charlie. But
second guess. You can do it, I’m sure. But it’s hard. are they super rich recording stars? No. But they are
You have to buckle down and get that sixth sense of making art in their own communities surrounded
what that market’s going to be. If you’re a writer and by loved ones who love to do that art and making
don’t have that, I think I would advise you to pursue it happen. And they make a difference. They’re an
your passion rather than to pursue the market. I artistic fundamental part of that community now.
Spec Spotlight: Pete Barry 58
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And thinking about that makes me smile because

they were able to do that. The Porch Room, now, the Roe Moore
artists involved have, in various times, moved and Script Supervisor / Screenwriter
scattered to the wind. We are all on the East Coast.
But we mostly do our work by phone, by email, by Originally from Aurora, CO, Roe Moore is a script
internet. And we find a place locally and submitted to supervisor, screenwriter, and emerging director based in
the New York International Fringe Festival. Los Angeles, CA. She has worked on commercials, film,
and television shows. Her favorite number is 2 and she
Q: It seems like having an artistic community is loves dachshunds.
very helpful.

Pete: If you’re just a writer, that can be difficult. More can be found on her website:
There are writing groups everywhere. Even where www.RoeMoore.com
I live, there’s a local writing group where I can go
and write with those people. Writing can be kind
of a solitary thing. I understand that can be a little
difficult. But, if you are a dramatic writer, a fiction
writer, then I think it behooves you to go check out Screenwriting Tips
your community theaters, go check out all those
artists and say, “How can I find a community of
likeminded people who aren’t just ‘I’m gonna write • Although luck plays a part in success, you also
a play and ship it off to regional theaters and hope need to do the work. Writers work at their own
that they do it’” – which is a good idea – but “I’m pace and their own learning speed, so even if you
gonna write a play and I’m gonna be in it down at don’t have the output of other writers, it helps to
the park.” “I’m gonna go put this up in my garage “generate mounds and mounds of garbage to get to
and invite the neighborhood kids over to see it.” With the gems,” Barry says.
YouTube, you can make your own TV show right now.
You can get out your camera, get all your friends, and • Listen for ideas in your own life. Barry was inspired
go make content. This will also teach you something to write Marian, with Maid Marian as a proactive
that’s hard for as a writer which is how to take character, after his young daughter suggested they
criticism. It’ll teach you to be like, “What you wrote play Robin Hood but just wanted to watch him fight
is not perfect. And maybe someone has a vision that the bad guys; that was all she knew the character of
can make it grow and not just let it hit a brick wall.” Marian did.
I would say yes, finding a community of likeminded
people is vital to growing and you can put up your • Surround yourself with an artistic community.
work in a certain capacity. That can certainly help Writing can be solitary, so check out community
you. It’s a lot of fun. theaters and other outlets, such as writing groups
or YouTube, where you can produce what you write
.......................................... and learn how to take criticism. Finding a community
of like-minded people is vital to your growth as a
Marian is currently in development. Barry is screenwriter.
represented by David Boxerbaum at Paradigm
and Andrea Dimity of Pannon Entertainment.
Spec Spotlight:
Liz Hannah,
Writer of
The Post
by Asmara Bhattacharya
 60
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

The publishing of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 represents

a crucial turning point in modern U.S. history. So it’s
no surprise that Pascal Pictures was eager to acquire
Liz Hannah’s spec script The Post, which explores the
Washington Post’s role in exposing the secret Department
of Defense study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and editor
Ben Bradlee fought the government in court for the right
to publish the Pentagon Papers in what is now the seminal
legal case concerning freedom of the press.

But for Hannah, this monumental event—which paved the

way for Watergate—wasn’t the main attraction. She was
hooked by the remarkable story of Katharine Graham. ”I
really come at every project through characters. I’m not “Constantly
somebody who can look at a plot and figure out all the
twists and turns. I’m never going to write Independence keep writing.
Day, although my agents would probably love me to do
that. But I come at things through character, and Katharine
It’s the only
Graham is an amazing woman and an amazing character
for me to explore. And not just her, but Ben Bradlee is also
thing you have
stunning on his own and had his own incredible life.” control over.”
Cradle-to-grave biopics, in Hannah’s experience, don’t pack
as much power as spotlights on a pivotal window of time in
someone’s life. Graham led an incredible life, but publishing
the Pentagon Papers was monumental in shaping not
only U.S. history, but Graham’s own identity. “She was
a woman who had a voice,” marvels Hannah, her voice
lighting up whenever she speaks of Graham. “She stepped
up and became the kind of person she would be for the
rest of her life.

“Really, the movie is not a whistleblower film,” Hannah

asserts. “The movie is not about, necessarily, the Pentagon
Papers. It’s about this woman and how this event ended up
being what changed her.”

Hannah views The Post as a kind of coming-of-age film.

“The time that the movie takes place, she’s in her mid-
50s, and that time in a woman’s life is really fundamental,
regardless of if you’re the head of a newspaper or if you’re a
stay-at-home mom. And I think that time in a woman’s life is
not talked about a lot.”
61 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

As one might expect, an enormous amount of “At that point, The Post was out to a couple of
research went into this script. Hannah watched studios and was starting to get a buzz. Suddenly
every documentary and read every book and people knew what my name was, which, three
memoir she could get her hands on, including a weeks earlier, nobody had ever heard of me.”
good portion of the Pentagon Papers’ 7,000 pages.
But the development process for The Post was Production and development work early in Hannah’s
quite different from that of most specs. She pitched career offered ample opportunity to read scripts
her original idea to Star Thrower Entertainment, and mold her tastes. It’s important to “constantly
who then helped develop the concept with her but be reading and constantly know what’s out there,
also gave her plenty of latitude to shape and write good and bad,” she advises. Hannah has also been
the screenplay on her own. The script went out in fortunate to be surrounded by strong female role
October and was picked up on Halloween. models and supporters. “The first three years that
I was there it was all women in the office, which
was awesome. Super, badass women.” Such strong
women in her professional and personal life naturally

“I really come lead Hannah toward stories centering on dynamic

female characters.

at every Production taught her the practical side of

filmmaking as well. “It’s nice to be able to walk on

project through
a set and know what everyone’s job is and not be
intimidated by a budget, or understand how a DP
works and a grip works. It’s unfortunate, Hannah

characters. I’m laments, that so many writers never get the chance
to walk onto a set until their first production, often
years after actually writing the script. “As a writer,

not somebody it’s so important to just try and get there because
it’s also really easy to just sit and stare at your
computer and not know what it all looks like or what

who can look goes into making it.”

at a plot and
Hannah is still interested in producing,
acknowledging the benefits to maintaining greater
control over one’s projects as a producer. But she

figure out all cautions newer writers with little experience not
to take on too much. “That’s a lot of weight to put
on your shoulders and a lot of job titles to fully

the twists and deal with right from the get-go.” For herself, she’s
focusing on writing for the time being and will add

turns.”
directing somewhere down the line.

Her advice to other screenwriters? “Constantly keep

writing. It’s the only thing you have control over.
It’s really, really easy to get overwhelmed by not
Spec Spotlight: Liz Hannah 62
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selling something, or by things not working out the

way that you thought they would. Writing is the only
thing you have control over. And it’s a powerful thing Screenwriting Tips
to have control over because, at the end of the day,
material really does stand out.”
• Tackle your script by focusing on a character.

Hannah adds, “Find a group of people who will Hannah says she’s not somebody “who can look at

listen to you when you didn’t make that sale. Get a plot and figure out all the twists and turns,” but

people that you trust, who are going to be honest she loves exploring characters.

with you, and who make you a better writer. It’s

really easy to just sit in your own bubble and stare at • Just keep writing. It’s easy to become

a computer all day.” overwhelmed by not selling a project or by things not

working out the way that you thought they would.

For now, Liz Hannah is staring down another Writing is the only thing you have control over.

massive stack of books and government papers as

she digs into another momentous true story. “It’s • Nurture a supportive network. Surround yourself

really important to look at history and look at things with people who will listen to you when you didn’t

that maybe we don’t want to be repeated. Not make a sale, or when you’re struggling with your

necessarily historic stories, but important stories are work in other ways. You want people you trust who

what I feel like I should be doing right now.” will be constructive but honest, which makes you
a better writer. It’s hard to improve when you’re in
your own bubble.

Asmara Bhattacharya
Screenwriter / Playwright / Script Reader

Asmara Bhattacharya is a produced screenwriter/

playwright, script reader, and festival screener, with
multiple placements at Final Draft, Nicholl, Austin Film
Festival, and other competitions. A trusted sounding
board and consultant for industry professionals,
dedicated fans also caught her in Independence Day:
Resurgence and NBC’s The Night Shift – for one glorious
half-second each.

More can be found on her website:

www.dickflicks.net
or follow her on Twitter: @hotpinkstreak
Spec Spotlight:
Joe Ballarini,
Writer of Skyward
(Part I)

by Asmara Bhattacharya
 64
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Joe Ballarini has sold a lot of spec scripts. But Skyward, the
spec he sold recently to Fox, may be the most consequential
one yet. Every writer has that “one special story that you
keep in your heart,” says Ballarini. “And this is one of them.”

Based on a true story, Skyward tells the incredible tale of

two East German families who escaped over the Berlin Wall
by building a hot-air balloon in their garage. Ballarini fell in
love with “this remarkable story of escape and rebellion and
the search for freedom without the use of weapons.”

Constructing a hot-air balloon is harder than it might seem.

To see one inflate up-close is to witness an eight-story-
high behemoth rise from the ground and take flight. The
families had to acquire enough fabric to cover two-and-a-half “A big plus
basketball courts. “They didn’t want to be found out,” Ballarini
reminds us. “You couldn’t exactly just go and grab these about writing
miles of clothing that were required for it. So they had to go
and get different clothes from different department stores.”
fantasy, is the
Add to this the fact that there were no hot-air balloons or
ability to hide.”
balloon companies in East Germany. The two families—led
by electrician Peter Strelzyk and bricklayer Gunter Wetzel—
learned about propulsion systems, aerodynamics, and viable
materials by trial and error. Some of the errors forced them
to start over with a new balloon.

“It’s pretty incredible for them to have done this without ever
actually seeing one in person, without ever actually having
flown in one.” Their courage moved Ballarini profoundly; their
anger at their government’s intrusion on freedom and privacy,
their yearning for a better life. On the flip side, Ballarini could
also relate to the families’ nagging worry that their situation
wasn’t worth the risk. “I think I’m brave writing a spec
screenplay. They’re making a spec hot-air balloon.”

If a script centering on a border wall seems well-timed, it’s

because it was not an accident. Ballarini began looking into
East German escape stories “about a year-and-a-half ago,
when the election started rising and there was mention of a
wall.” Though he was excited by the story, work and life took
over, and the screenplay sat unfinished for most of the year.

But during the annual Hollywood lull around Christmas, and

with a newborn at home, Ballarini rediscovered Skyward
with a more urgent perspective … a father’s perspective. “I
65 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

connected to this story on a visceral level of wanting Pony) or paranormal scripts (Dance of the Dead, The
to protect your family and going to such great Residence), Ballarini is not keen on message films.
lengths to protect them.” “It feels very medicinal, to use my producer Karen
Rosenfelt’s words,” he explains. And a recounting
Halfway through the script, Ballarini realized that of a historic event can easily fall flat emotionally,
Disney had made a similar film starring John Hurt zeroing in on facts and timelines and neglecting the
and Beau Bridges over 30 years ago, Night Crossing. spiritual center.
Nearly every writer has experienced that particular
panic upon discovering that someone else had the
same idea. But Ballarini’s lawyers assured him that,
because it is a true story, he was in the clear, and the
writer forged ahead. “Every writer
Dramatizing a true story is tricky business, especially
when one doesn’t have the opportunity to get to
has that one
special story
know the people who lived it. Ballarini strove to be
true to their spirits, looking for goalposts along the
way to inform him of where his characters might
have found themselves emotionally. For instance, a
footnote that Peter’s son had to take over and help that you keep
build the rig let Ballarini know that the children, for
their own safety, had been kept in the dark. “That
moment when he says ‘I need your help’ is a great
in your heart.”
father-son moment.”

Don’t expect Peter and Gunter’s wives to be

hovering ineffectually in the shadows. “I didn’t want
this to be, ‘It’s two men doing daring things, and But with Skyward, the scribe found a voice he has
their wives were terrified the entire time.’ The only never been comfortable expressing before, one he
way you could pull something like this off is to have realizes now has been lurking within him for some
an incredible life partner.” time. It’s a voice that is “a lot angrier, a lot more
urgent, a lot more paranoid, but couched with a need
The writer’s relationship with his own wife, and the and a desire for freedom, hope and inspiration.
strength he witnessed in her through pregnancy and
childbirth, strongly influenced his depiction of Doris “I said some things in this script that I don’t normally
Strelzyk. Doris partners with husband Peter in the say.” When Skyward went out, Ballarini worried
risk and responsibility, double-checking calculations that this newfound rawness might spark negative
and doing quality control. Ballarini didn’t want the reactions. A big plus about writing fantasy, he
wives to “just be the wives. I wanted them to really muses, is the ability to hide: “‘That’s not the way I
be the companions and the ones who were also feel. That’s the way a blue orc feels … Oh, no, I’m
driving this train … in a fun way, they’re fighting to not talking about that, I’m actually just talking about
be the main characters themselves.” the politics of being a pixie.’”

Known more for writing family adventures (My Little In the end, though, Skyward was a story that simply
Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini 66
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

would not let him go. And, judging from the ardent
response so far, Ballarini’s impassioned rendering of Asmara Bhattacharya
it will connect deeply to many. Screenwriter / Playwright / Script Reader

.......................................... Asmara Bhattacharya is a produced screenwriter/

playwright, script reader, and festival screener, with
In Part II, we’ll talk more with Joe Ballarini about multiple placements at Final Draft, Nicholl, Austin Film
his career, the business, and his views on the craft. Festival, and other competitions. A trusted sounding
board and consultant for industry professionals,
dedicated fans also caught her in Independence Day:
Resurgence and NBC’s The Night Shift – for one glorious
half-second each.
Screenwriting Tips

More can be found on her website:

• Quips and quirks alone don’t enchant audiences.
www.dickflicks.net
Even if you’re writing a fun family adventure, aim
or follow her on Twitter: @hotpinkstreak
for it to be relevant to the time period of the story
or the market. Understanding the characters’
mindset elevates the emotional experience.

• Vary what you write to expand and exercise

different muscles in your writing toolbox. If you
have one “zombie tool” that you use all the time,
Ballarini says, you’re just going to keep using it
instead of stretching yourself.

• Don’t let fear, procrastination, or ego stop you.

Start writing with the knowledge that you’ll have
to rewrite it and likely rewrite it again. Or as
Ballarini says, “So get over it, get used to it, and
get to work because it’s a process of constantly
reworking your stuff.”
Spec Spotlight:
Joe Ballarini,
Writer of Skyward
(Part II)

by Asmara Bhattacharya
 68
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

“For every spec you see that I have sold, I have not sold a lot
of stuff. I’ve written a ton of things that weren’t that good,
which was me chasing the spec market.”

In Part I, we talked with Joe Ballarini about Skyward, his

script about two families escaping over the Berlin Wall and
his most recent spec to sell. Here, we’ll cover more about
the craft and the industry.

With his first spec sale, Ballarini consciously wrote in

things like catchphrases and a bit with a dog. But the writer
cautions that quips and quirks alone won’t suck people in
on a deeper level. “I do write big, fun, fancy movies and
big, fun family adventure films, but I always try to have “Stop
them be slightly relevant to the time that they’re in.” Inviting
the audience into the characters’ mindset will elevate their procrastinating
emotional experience, even in a spy comedy.
and start
For Skyward, Ballarini “put the popcorn aside for a moment
and put some steak and potatoes out there.” His previous writing because
historical dramas include Saigon A Go-Go, a spec about
American entertainers in the Vietnam War, and The Nativity
you’re going to
for New Regency. “I always want to keep pushing and keep
expanding and exercise different muscles in my toolbox. If
have to rewrite
you have one zombie tool in your toolbox, you’re going to just it, and then
do it over and over again.”
you’re going to
Ballarini’s first love was, and is, directing. “I’m always writing
with a director’s hat on and trying to make it as visual, as have to rewrite
cinematic as possible.” In Skyward, in which an article about
the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta sparks the it again.”
idea for escape, the writer painted a visual by having the
protagonists pin blueprints for their makeshift hot-air balloon
around the magazine photo of balloons flooding the sky.

Ballarini does at least one short a year to maintain his

directing chops. But he keeps writing features with bigger
budgets than a first-timer would be granted. He actually
began Skyward with the intention of directing, but soon
realized it would be too expensive for an indie. Over time,
Ballarini’s learned that writing with the mindset that the
writer alone will direct can stop a project that might have
gone further. That said, he helmed an indie-comedy feature,
Father Vs. Son, a few years ago and is developing something
to get him back in the director’s chair.
65 How to Sell a Script
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

But the scribe considers himself lucky to be a The writer’s first children’s book series debuts in
working writer. “My job is actually to entertain June: A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting,
children and inspire people.” People want to believe about a secret society of babysitters protecting
in monsters under the bed, and Ballarini has found a the world against the forces of darkness. “It was
way to play all day and build worlds for a living. “You my chance to be director, writer, actor, composer,
do really have to immerse the audience, even if it’s costume designer, set builder … just everything.” A
an enchanted forest or if it’s East Germany in 1978. health scare and a frustration with development hell
You have to create that entire world. And I do like triggered the revelation that Ballarini wanted to write
creating fun worlds and exploring them.” a kid’s book. “What if you kept cooking meals and no
one was there to eat them?” he groans. “I just want
As a storyteller whose tales tend to revolve around to see something get made that I can give to my
children, teens or women, Ballarini was conscious in grandchildren.”
Skyward of writing a 30-something-year-old guy as the
lead, possibly for the first time. He himself responds
well to strong female characters or, more accurately,
“just strong characters that are so much more.”
“Just write stuff
He enjoys writing females partly because it is
acceptable to explore their vulnerability, their
emotional honesty, without portraying it as
that you actually
genuinely love,
weakness. “I don’t know if we’ve seen that guy yet
who can encapsulate the complexes of everything
inside of you.” Ballarini infused his Skyward leads
with this vulnerability, making them “as expressive
as possible while being 36-year-old German men.” not stuff you think
While he longs for the day when audiences just
see an amazing human being onscreen rather than
is going to sell.
a groundbreaking African-American character or an
unorthodox female character, Ballarini recognizes that
we’re not there yet. “I think, especially in this time,
Take the pulse of
what people are
it’s super-important to represent intelligent females—
intelligent female characters that are powerful, not
just because you put a sword in their hand.”

Ballarini’s penchant for fantastic adventure and responding to,

kid protagonists shines in his upcoming projects.
Greenglass House, based on Kate Milford’s novel,
follows two children unraveling the mysteries of
but don’t obsess
over it.”
their smugglers’ inn as peculiar guests show up.
And the graphic-novel adaptation Imagine Agents,
with Michael Keaton attached to produce and star,
is “essentially police rescuing kids from these crazy
imaginary friends.”
Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini 66
A Cast & Crew Entertainment Company

Certain that no one would ever want to make Also, be aware of the human tendency to reject
the story into a movie, he went after a publishing any notes out of hand. “There’s a big part of us that
deal instead. But intellectual property is king, and says, ‘They’re wrong! How dare they do that?’” Ego
“As soon as we got a publisher, now studios are can block writers from making changes that improve
interested in it.” Walden and Montecito snapped up the story. Ballarini encourages writers to instead
Ballarini’s as-yet-unpublished books, with the writer view others as allies who want to make the movie
slated to adapt them. with them.

The need in the novel form to explore and express Be fearless, and strive for a high degree of
more of the character’s inner journey has freed up professionalism. “Seek the people you want to
the scribe’s screenwriting. A prose writer can’t get work with and try to get in touch with them,” he
away with a sidelong glance and a beat. “In a book, encourages writers. “If you do have people that
that better be a paragraph. That better be a page.” acknowledge your work and really like your work,
In Skyward, for instance, Ballarini physicalizes a be true to them. Be good to them because they’re
character’s discomfort by having him scratch his neck your allies.
and light a cigarette, offering meaningful insight that
a “beat” would not. “Prose writing invited me to be “Just write stuff that you actually genuinely love,
a little bit more messy and a little bit more mushy, not stuff you think is going to sell.” Take the pulse
more descriptive, a little bit more human.” of what people are responding to, Ballarini says, but
don’t obsess over it. “However you feel after taking
Meanwhile, Ballarini is learning how to work with a your read of the world, go write that. Then do it
newborn at home. “I drink a lot more coffee than I again. And then do it again. When it doesn’t work, do
used to,” he laughs. On a serious note, he says that it again. My hard drive is full of projects that haven’t
“It’s very difficult because there’s the temptation happened or are about to happen. And you just can’t
to half be with your kid, like, ‘I’m writing, but you’re give up. You can’t give up.”
also right here with me.’ And I want to be able to give
him my full attention.” And the writer can’t speak
highly enough of his wife, who has pushed him back Asmara Bhattacharya
to work in his downstairs office while she cares for Screenwriter / Playwright / Script Reader
their child upstairs. “She’s just been incredible.”
Asmara Bhattacharya is a produced screenwriter/
Having precious, little spare time forces Ballarini to playwright, script reader, and festival screener, with
prioritize baby and work over notorious time-stealers multiple placements at Final Draft, Nicholl, Austin Film
like Twitter wars. “It focuses you like never before Festival, and other competitions. A trusted sounding
and also opens your heart up like never before, too.” board and consultant for industry professionals,
dedicated fans also caught her in Independence Day:
With such a varied and successful background, Resurgence and NBC’s The Night Shift – for one glorious
Ballarini has a lot of valuable advice for writers. “Stop half-second each.
procrastinating and start writing because you’re
going to have to rewrite it, and then you’re going to
have to rewrite it again. So get over it, get used to it, More can be found on her website:
and get to work because it’s a process of constantly www.dickflicks.net
reworking your stuff.” or follow her on Twitter: @hotpinkstreak
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