CLIVE BRADLEY
BAFTA Award winning writer. Work includes Baltasar Kormákur's critical acclaimed series Trapped and series Crossing Lines 2 starring William Fichtner, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Donald Sutherland.
YASEMIN YILMAZ
Writer and producer of series NCIS and Nickelodeon series The Astronauts.
SHAWN WINES
Writer of HBO Series Gordita Chronicles and upcoming movie Summer of Love starring Shawn Mendes.
BYRON WILLINGER
Writer of series Creepshow and the movie The Commuter starring Liam Neeson.
The Commuter, written by Byron Willinger
JAY
Thanks for your time. To start off with, do you consider any particular elements in screenwriting to be important?
YASEMIN
In the beginning, I focus on weaving story and character together. The elements mentioned above become essential in the rewrite process.
CLIVE
Absolutely the central thing is character – but it’s a character who serves a particular story (or visa-versa sometimes) and the story serves a theme, and the structure serves the story. In a sense, some of the time, you're isolating these elements - I guess you have to ask yourself: is this the story I meant to tell, is the theme the one I intended, is this structure working? And maybe, even: is this character as interesting as s/he should be? But all the elements work together. So I guess my answer is ‘in a combined fashion’.
BYRON
A bit of both. Some ideas lend themselves to starting with structure. Other ideas, character. At some point in development, each element informs the other, so they are usually developed together, organically.
SHAWN
I think you always have to consider them in connection to each other. You can't have themes without characters to experience them through, for example. You may be able to consider the structure of a story separately in the early stages, but once you're writing and getting into the
details, everything has to be told and experienced through your characters. That affects story,
structure, themes, everything. What about genre? When would you identify your screenplay with a particular type?
NCIS Episode "In the Spotlight" written by Yasemin Yilmaz
JAY
What do you consider as being important for a new screenplay?
SHAWN
You have to consider an audience as you decide the best way to tell that story, and depending where you are in your career, you may be weighing its marketing or sales potential. But everything comes back to telling a good story with good characters. If you can’t get that part right, then nothing else matters.
BYRON
I like finding something in a story that excites me, perhaps it's a moment, or a character I find interesting , or a thematic idea . Story overall is the most important thing for me, but it needs to have marketing potential. I think for studios, marketing potential is clearly the most important element, hence remakes, comic book adaptations, sequels, etc. As films become more expensive, marketing drives the business more than storytelling. Do production concerns (e.g. budget, a famous actor, a director of interest) come into mind when you write a screenplay?
CLIVE
In TV, especially early on, you’re often hired to work on an existing show, so you’re writing with an actor/s in mind. But with your own stuff, and certainly when it’s just something you’re developing, no. Of course you need to be aware if this is going to require Game of Thrones level CGI - which probably means, for a new writer, it will never be made. But even then, as a spec script to show what you can do and what you’re passionate about - why not?
YASEMIN
The story itself. Undeniably. The genre and marketing potential should not be trends a writer chases. Well-written stories are universal and timeless AND they are the only thing the writer has full control over.
Trapped (Ófærð ) series written by Clive Bradley
JAY
Outlines and Treatments before writing the screenplay. What are your thoughts?
BYRON
An outline is important to me, but a treatment isn’t at all. With outlines, I don’t get precious with them. They create story signposts for going into a draft but when I’ writing a draft it’s important for me to deviate from the outline. Every stage of writing is rewriting the previous stage.
SHAWN
An outline is important to me, but a treatment isn’t at all. With outlines, I don’t get precious with them. They create story signposts for going into a draft but when I’ writing a draft it’s important for me to deviate from the outline. Every stage of writing is rewriting the previous stage. I like to surprise myself while writing and not go into it with an extremely detailed roadmap. Often for jobs you have to outline things and have a defined plan that's met with everyone's approval before you start writing, but even then I like to deviate at times and discover things in the process. Other writers do the exact opposite and like to have really good and detailed plans, or else feel like they may get lost in the writing and waste a lot of time. It's different for everyone and a big part of your early career will probably be spent figuring out what works best for you.
YASEMIN
They are essential. I tend to find the character voices during the outlining process and will even include some lines of dialogue here and there, but I try to spend as little time as possible on the outline to keep the story fresh and my engagement at peak. I finish the outline and its revisions within 2-3 days and jump directly into script. If a writer wishes to direct their own work, do you think screenwriting ideas have to alter?
CLIVE
An outline for yourself is essential. I think it’s a very bad idea just to start writing the script without a pretty clear idea what’s going to happen, what the scenes are for, etc.
But a treatment is a selling document – that sort of thing is murder. Most writers hate writing them. Unfortunately, they’re a pretty essential part of what you have to do as a professional writer. They’re hard because their purpose is to persuade someone to give you money. That can focus the mind, of course: it means you have to be very clear what your story is and why you think it needs to be told. But it’s still murder.
Gordita Chronicles series written by Shawn Wines
JAY
Any final words?
YASEMIN
Figure out what kind of writer you are, what your strengths/weaknesses are and know that you will spend the rest of your life building on those strengths and improving those
weaknesses. And as long as you keep writing, you never stop growing.
SHAWN
I would say to trust my tastes and my voice, and try to write things that only I would write. We often write for other people and hope to sell things and get things made, and sometimes that pulls you away from your instincts. You can't only write in a bubble for yourself and still hope to have a career, but there can be a balance of those things.
I would tell myself that whatever is happening work-wise with jobs and opportunities, to try to make time to write one thing a year that's just for me. A pilot, a feature, anything. Sometimes they're hard to sell but make for great writing samples. Other times they may be the most inspired and interesting thing you'll write in a long time. So I would encourage myself to always do that and not just jump at outside opportunities.
BYRON
Keep rewriting. Accept feedback. Never be too precious with your words. When
struggling, be willing to set aside a project and move onto another script with an idea of
coming back to the first project later. Some times distance helps in getting the script
right. Also, accept that at some point in your development you are going to think your script is the worst thing ever. It's crucial to know that that is a normal part of the process. Getting a writing partner or joining a writers' group can help.
CLIVE
Go back to what you loved about the idea in the first place. Work out more clearly what it’s about - in the simplest possible terms. You don’t have to write the scenes in order - so write a scene you really want to write. Think more about your main characters - what do you love/hate about them? Why are they like they are? Write their backstory in detail. Everything about them. Often your characters will tell you the answer to the problem you’re facing.
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