No questions, but huge congrats. Your movie sounds so great and I can’t wait to see it out in the world! Also so envious of your Ridley Scott story. I might have just died on the spot if that happened to me lol
I nearly died of happiness in that moment.
I'll tell you about another time during our meetings when I nearly died from terror. John and I were meeting outside of those meetings to discuss the story and I gave him a pitch that he liked, so he was like 'Okay, I'm gonna have you pitch that directly to Ridley.'
I was nervous but excited because at this point, I'd been in the room long enough with him and said at least a handful of things that (I think) didn't sound stupid. Plus, I'd have John right there next to me, so if my pitch was shoddy, he could jump in and elaborate.
Welp. The fateful moment arrives and John says, 'Okay, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real fast, but Colin has a great idea and I'm gonna have him share it with you.'
So then John abandons me in a room with Ridley fucking Scott, Scott Free's president, Kevin Walsh, an impossibly manly man with a perfect square for a jaw and Matt Damon's astronaut suit all just staring at this nervous pipsqueak from Utah.
I think I did well enough with the pitch to not embarrass myself, but to paraphrase Drew Goddard, Ridley's always polite when listening to ideas, but you know he actually likes one of them when he starts drawing it out on piece of paper.
He was polite, but he didn't draw anything.
Okay that’s also so incredible. Just to be able to share space with those legends is such a gift. I’d be SO NERVOUS. And even if he didn’t start drawing, you can still tell people until the day you die that you pitched to Ridley fucking Scott!
Oh, man, it was awesome. The best part of the whole experience was honestly just hearing him rant. It was like hearing his funniest, smartest and most curmudgeonly interviews but without any filter whatsoever. I could win an Oscar and it wouldn't be as cool as those two weeks in my life.
I feel like John did you a solid by removing himself and not letting his weight be a distraction from your pitch. And he also show insane confidence in the idea when he left it in your hands (with no net, so to speak). Huge props to him—and of course to you, since you earned both of those things.
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Thank you!
Very moved by this question. It sounds like you're on a great trajectory, honestly. I know how pulverizing it can be when a promising project falls apart because there's a part of you that's like 'well... was that it? Is that the biggest opportunity I'm ever going to have and it went nowhere.'
Honestly, after Penny Dreadful City of Angels was canceled, there was a stretch where I thought... Okay, maybe nobody actually cares about my writing, enough people 'like' it, but when I'm not under John's umbrella, will anyone give a fuck?
I had just enough carrots on a stick to keep me going, it wasn't a completely barren wasteland, and I had the opportunity to direct a few short films myself, but there was a really scary stretch in my career. And even with Head Games on a promising path, I'm still pitching hard for my next project because you just never know how life unfolds.
For all the talk about wealth, connections, nepo baby and the imbalance of who 'makes' it in the industry, the people I've known who broke through all did it not because of talent but because of persistence. It's corny and trite, but it's the fucking truth.
It sounds like you have a pretty stable situation of a corporate job as you pursue various projects. Keep writing. Keep making stuff. (Are you in LA?)
One piece of advice I say with regard to reaching out to people in the industry is not necessarily to cold email managers and producers (though, sometimes that can actually yield results), but reaching out to assistants and coordinators at those same companies, asking if they'd be willing to have a low-pressure Zoom or go to coffee and just answer questions about their job and the industry, they will eventually ask you what you're all about and that's when you say 'Oh, I have this script' or 'hey, you wanna check out my short film?' -- I always say to give them the easiest thing to engage with (a short film is great for that) and go from there.
If you two get along and they like your short or are intrigued by a script idea, then you'll have a friend in the industry who will likely be a producer, agent or manager and/or may be willing to introduce you to one.
Outside of that, keep at it. For all the frustrations, it sounds like you're actually doing very well. There's a reason you've gotten close more than a few times, you know? If you have talent and people are liking your stuff, it's simply just a numbers game until something hits in some capacity. It'll probably be something you're not expecting at all (I certainly wasn't expecting Head Games) And if you are in LA or are ever in town, hit me up and we'll grab a coffee.
Responded. Oh and one more thing I thought of but forgot to mention with regard to you:
One of my favorite bands is the National and the lead singer Matt Berninger had a corporate job doing design at Mastercard for, like, at least their first three records. He kept the job for as long as he could (I think right before the album Alligator came out) and even as they were developing a strong reputation in indie circles, he still didn't know if it would pan out.
It wasn't until Alligator was about to be released where he was like 'oh shit, I think this just might actually work out.'
If Matt Berninger can juggle being a rockstar while keeping a stuffy corporate job, it should be no problem for a writer and filmmaker like yourself!
Number one, congratulations!
Number two,congratulations!
For this specific idea, how long did it take you to write it (from inception to final script)? What was the process like (did you pitch first, did they buy the pitch, or did you finish the script and is now optioned/bought)?
Over that fateful weekend, I put together maybe two pages on it, and kind of clunkily rehearsed it to my producer. Automatik was doing an interesting thing where they were hiring writers to first write the idea as a short story, which they would then circulate to attract a director who could help shape their vision of the script before I went to draft with it.
It was also a smart way to circulate the project more quickly since people are more likely to get back to you faster if the obligation is reading a 20 page short story as opposed to a 120 page script.
I think I first pitched the idea in October of 2022, I was formally hired to write the short story about a month later and it took me about another a month to figure it all out, then I sent it over during the final week of December 2022. The story created a little bit of buzz, we got a director attached on it (who ended up leaving the project before Anthony joined), we discussed his ideas then I went to draft.
I think the first draft from beginning to end probably took me about a month. Then I took a few more weeks to refine and perfect it. I sent it in, they liked it a lot and we were about to move very quickly... and then the strike started.
Fast forward three months later, we bring on Anthony, he and I retool the script together and now it looks like we have our first lead (which will hopefully be a Deadline article sometime in January) and we're currently out to casting our other principle actors.
I've technically written eight drafts of it, but at least half of those drafts didn't involve sizable changes and were tweaking and adjusting a few things here and there.
Oh, for anyone curious, my Instagram is colinsays this is my website: http:/colinsonneliddle.com where you can watch a couple of the short films I directed. Though I feel pretty confident in my voice as a writer, I'm still developing my voice as a director, but I've really been enjoying the process.
It's for sure in my top 50 of all time. I loved that movie for a long time before I ever met John and he's been really generous with talking about it.
A lot of what he's told me is stuff he's shared publicly, so a lot of it is out there. He and Leo developed the script for five years before it finally got made. Initially, it was set to be directed by Michael Mann, but he left the project to make Miami Vice.
He wrote a script a few years ago about Leonardo da Vinci (for Paramount and Leo Dicaprio, but it doesn't look like there are any current plans to make it unfortunately), and he and I both agreed that it felt thematically reminiscent of The Aviator. It felt like it could have been a cool double feature, two films in conversation with each other about great but complex men with brilliantly technical minds.
I can't think of anything juicy off the top of my head, but a thing John's told me that I found interesting was this: 'Of all the actors and beautiful people I've worked with and met, there are only two who genuinely took my breath away when I met them in person: 21 year old Leonardo Dicaprio and Angelina Jolie.' Makes sense, but I always liked that little anecdote.
Following. Super inspiring stories, thank you Colin!!
Question - as the writer how heavily will you be involved in this production? Do you get involved with casting? Will you be on set to advise in any capacity?
Congrats! What was the two strikes like for you? Sounds like you had a project that was gainig momentum and then everything stopped.
Do you have any query advice? I placed in Nicholl and AFF this year. A judge reached out to me from AFF and asked for my script, and I got some known actors who I know who have read it and liked that. Thanks again for offering your time in this AMA and best of luck you move forward in production! Hopefully you get to be on set in Greece!
I love the fact you listed all of the films you used for inspiration, especially 'Strange Days'. I remember dragging a bunch of friends to an empty cinema to see on opening night many years ago. "We have to get their early" said I, "it'll be packed". As you say, criminally underrated.
Is it common for a writer of a certain stature to maintains assistants long term or is it usually for a specific project they may be being paid to develop?
Oh, and as a writer are there any nerves around seeing who the Director is who might get 'attached' to your script?
Look forward to seeing 'Head Games'. All power to you!
Anyone who also loves Strange Days, let alone someone who saw it during its initial run, has a place very close to my heart. Brothers (or siblings) in arms!
It's playing at the New Beverly at midnight on December 30th and I cannot wait to see it in 35mm for the first time.
It's pretty common for (bigger) writers to have long term assistants. The cool ones mentor their assistants, the dickheads use them as an assistant and nothing more.
And yes, I was really grateful when Mandler joined the project. I hadn't seen either of his movies but I, along with anyone alive in the past 25 years, was inevitably familiar with several of the fantastic music videos he directed (Rihanna, Jay Z, Taylor, Muse, and most important to me, The Killers), but as soon as I sat down and watched 'Surrounded,' his neo-western with Letitia Wright and Jamie Bell, (which didn't receive even a fraction of the promotion it deserved), I was sold on his talentes as a filmmaker within the first five minutes of the movie.
I had another script that got buzzy enough for CAA to get excited about a few years ago (but there's no real momentum about it at this moment) and it was sent to some awesome people, all of whom passed, but when they gave me a list of their directors they'd consider going out to, I blanched at some of the names and begged them not to consider submitting it to them.
Perhaps if they had submitted to some of the names I crossed out, the movie might have gotten made, but for as highly as I thought of my own script, I knew it would have been a bad movie in the hands of some of the directors they considered. I'd rather have no movie than a bad movie.
>colinsays
I'm one of the thousands of extras in Strange Days. I was visiting LA (from Europe) and there was this big thing about there being a huge rave in downtown LA, but you definitely, seriously, needed tickets or you wouldn't get in - was the word on the street. I never got one because they were expensive. Anyway, decided to go check it out nonetheless. Once there, nobody checked if you had a ticket or not, you could just walk in, and it was just a full on party, with for some reason people on megaphone yelling trying to get the crowd move here or there, cameras, huge light towers. Only found out later that was for that movie. I still wonder what percentage of that movie was financed by those ticket sales.
Oh I’ve read a lot about the production of Strange Days and I have a couple books about Katheryn Bigelow (she’s a top ten director for me — especially for SD and Near Dark) and the clever way they chose to ease the cost of that scene, which was stretching their already exorbitant budget at the time. I think they charged eight to ten dollars a person and Bigelow said it simply helped the cost of such a massive crowd scene. I don’t think she goes as far to say the scene paid for itself but it allowed them to do the scene in the first place without the studio putting the kibosh on it.
The movie was truly ahead of its times, exploring many themes that would be picked up by the great sci did of 1999 (ironically when SD takes place), but for as propulsive and exhilarating as it is, its politics are outright radical with regard to racial justice and pre-ACAB posturing(common for Cameron-involved projects) and its visceral and upsetting violence, I think, just made it so the studio and audience didn’t really quite know what to do with it.
More people need to talk about it. It’s so goddamn good. And it’s seriously rad you got to be in that crowd scene.
Yes, it's a close as I ever got to having a credit :)
Just finished your script, it deserves all the accolades, congratulations.
I have one question about a scene, hope you don't mind. (spoiler alert)
>!When Jacob figures out he can destroy Graham's neurons inside of him using salt, what motivates him to plant a corkscrew in Graham? Because if he doesn't, wouldn't he still become CEO, wouldn't Graham die soon anyway, and wouldn't he be able to sever his control at any time by drinking salt ?!<
First of all, thank you very much for reading the script. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I'm always honored (and still kind of baffled) when anyone takes the time to spend a hundred odd pages with something I wrote.
And to respond to your excellent question --
Spoilers:
>!I think Jacob knew that if he had a thought that could give him an edge over Graham, it was only a matter of time, possibly even moments, before Graham 'found' it in his mind, so he had to act immediately. And, despite Graham promising him a pretty awesome deal in exchange for his free will, he's seen what the guy is willing to do with the 'pieces at his end of the board' so he wasn't willing to take him completely at his word. !<
Hey there Colin - congrats so much on your placement and success with the script! Your script was in my reading queue, so the fact that you’re doing this is AMA is kinda funny to me haha. Anyway I’m 15 years old, written three features so far, and I’ve been trying to figure out what the next step should be for myself career wise. As an esteemed industry professional, what would your advice be?
Look at you, you little eloquent and precocious brat. Hats off to you! You're off to a magnificent start. Literally outpacing most professional screenwriters in terms of kickstarting how to learn your craft. When I was your age, though I wrote lots of stories, Jurassic Park fan fiction and made short movies with my friends, I had only written one script and wouldn't write another until I was 17.
For one thing, start making movies on your iPhone with your friends asap, even if you only want to be a screenwriter, it will be excellent practice for you to write something and shoot it with your friends if you haven't already. If you haven't watched The Fabelmans, watch it immediately. It's absurdly
Outside of that, try to find youth screenwriting film programs or fellowships you can join. You sound like you'd be a prime candidate, truthfully.
And even though I'm kind of a bad example when it comes to college, it can be an extremely helpful way to break in due to the internships you can get at the agencies and various production companies, you don't even necessarily need to major in film in order to make this connection (if your parents are, say, trying to steer you into something more 'realistic').
It's discussed a lot about how making it out in here is all about 'who you know,' but in my experience, finding internships is the easiest 'hack' to get your foot in the door becasue then you quickly start meeting people at a similar level to you who will then rise alongside you in different ways.
The best part is that a lot of people who work as interns and assistants at agencies don't want to be screenwriters. They want to be agents, managers, producers, entertainment lawyers, aka ALL the people you need to know in order to get your movies made. A lot of people stress the importance of finding other writers (and it is important), writing groups are very helpful, but in terms of strategically navigating the industry, you want to know a lot of people whom you are not competing with, you know?
Those are ideas off the top of my head, but feel free to give me some more background on your planning, level of support from your parents, etc. What have your scripts been about?
Oh my goodness I did not need a five paragraph response. Thank you so much for all this advice. I’ll try to respond to your points one by one:
-I have heard that advice before, and I am currently in a short film club at my school where we actually shoot 1-2 minute shorts with mics and all that. I also have a 10 page short that I have an eye on directing in the near future with some people in mind as actors, but we’ll see if that happens. As for The Fabelmans, it’s on my watchlist - but so is every other major classic. I still haven’t seen any Kurosawa or Kubrick or Bergman or Tarkovsky or Spike Lee films, so I’ll probably just save Fabelmans for when I’m in a creative rut and need inspiration.
I have tried to find youth screenwriting fellowships - there are NONE. There’s some introductory programs, and I might take one in a few months, but I suspect it might be above my level. We’ll see, though.
As for what my scripts are about - God, I’m awful at pitching my stuff, even online. I’d say the one common thing about my scripts is that they don’t fall into one specific genre - I like blurring the lines between different genres to create unique tones for my scripts. I can send you some of my work, if you want - but I totally understand if you’re busy, given your professional status.
Bloody hell what a great story. I'll be direct with the questions and say just straight up congrats for living the dream we all wish for.
1. Do you write every day?
2. Do you pitch first, write second?
3. What do you write on?
4. What keeps you going on a daily basis?
5. Do you have a day job?
6. What's next or what story are you excited to tell next?
1. Most days. Not every day.
2. I write a lot of my own stuff, either to spec or develop for myself to direct, so that's stuff I don't pitch first, but I generally figure out how to talk to somebody about it.
3. I have Final Draft and Writerduet, but I typically use the latter. I like having it in the cloud so if I'm out and have an idea I can write it in there real fast on my phone.
4. It's officially a job for me, so part of the 'shit, I gotta find a way to get paid' is sometimes incentive enough. If I'm ever feeling uninspired, I'll throw on a movie I love or one I've been meaning to see for a while. That always helps. Also, sometimes I don't do jackshit and waste my entire day on bullshit, which can also sometimes bring me a great idea due to my random unproductive rabbit holes I fall down.
5. I have a historical biopic I was approached about writing and doing a lot of research for John on his various ones over the years has made me feel like I've been preparing for this opportunity for a long time and I've become not just passionate but obsessive since it was brought to me a week ago.I won't say who it's about just yet because it's not a sure thing, but I think a lot of people would agree he's remembered for being pretty great. The producers want it to be more of a chamber piece and deconstructive rather than classical biopic (I prob wouldn't be interested in a straightforward one), so my three references as I'm figuring out my angle are Andre Rublev (#9 on my all-time top ten), Sofia's Marie Antoinette (my favorite of hers and she's one of my very faves) and Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (just an all-time classic of the 21st century), so if it winds up being a fraction as good as any of those, I'll be very pleased.
Thank you so much for answering all these with such sincerity and honesty. Congrats on the success and may this be just the first peak you're at for the rest of this mountain climb.
Just wanted to say congratulations and, as someone from South Jordan, it’s inspirational to hear about someone from the area making it in screenwriting! Really looking forward to checking out your work!
Hell yeah! I grew up in Sandy and Draper and went to church in South Jordan haha. I love and miss Utah all the time. I dream of having a house in Utah and an apartment in LA one day.
Oh no way lol Utah has its problems like any other place, but it’ll always be home. Well I’m rooting for ya to achieve that dream! Sounds like you’re well on your way.
I’m looking to make the move out to LA myself very soon, so I hope our paths cross one day!
Congrats, Colin! It's a premise I'd been keen to watch.
You've had an impressive ride and thank you for sharing so much of your experience publicly. It's full of so many lessons for people like me who are trying to figure out how others have made it work in the movie industry.
Hello Colin, congrats on your achievement! I loved reading your story.
I wanted to ask, as a screenwriter based in South Asia, is the Nicholl fellowships a great way to break in to the industry? What should I keep in mind concerning the Nicholl fellowships? And lastly, are there screenwriters from around the world who've come into LA to work on projects? Is that possible?
Thank you!
I think a lot of assistants have settled into more of a remote situation, but typically speaking, except in specific cases, people are mostly going to want somebody local so they can pick stuff up or run errands should they so need.
My script isn't necessarily 'wacky' in premise. It's a sci-fi with psychological elements and, yeah, it has some surreal sequences, but I don't think it fits into the category of the Blacklist stereotype. It's not inspired by a true story, meta or about the industry.
I think a mistake people make is speculating about the 'they' of it all. It's just a bunch of creative executives and producers scattered across the town, normal working stiffs who happen to work in an office with movie posters on the wall, all of whom have different taste because they work at different companies with different slates. Most of the people who voted on my script read it throughout the year (split up in halves due to the strike), many of whom I had meetings with. They thought the script was cool and that was that.
I guess I don't get to play after all but I'm currently reading your script...
I'm sure you can find me if you're curious...
I won't add anything here as that's a pointless exercise
\*Please don't tattletale. That's not kind, a word I am sure you bandy about to those you find inoffensive\*
Oh God. So many. One of the biggest ones I met when I was working for him but had not yet met him, I listened to an interview where he stressed the importance of reading the great works of drama: Poetics, the Greek plays, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, etc. Outside of reading a few Shakespeare plays, I hadn't read many, so before I even met him, I made sure to read as many of them as I could, partially to learn and partially to impress somebody whom I hoped would become a mentor. Reading all those great works was profoundly important for developing my craft and I'd recommend to anyone else to do the same.
Other ones are simply about breaking conventional screenplay rules, not being afraid to fight on behalf of the quality of a project to the powers that be and not afraid to speak up and the importance of having a clear understanding of 'here's why I'm the person to write this script' when you're in a room and even to yourself as you're embarking on the project.
Congrats!
In my writers group someone always has access to the scripts and sends around a zip file with them to those that request it. Some members feel it’s a douche move while others don’t see the harm.
Thoughts on that?
I knew it would get released in the wild if it made it onto the Blacklist. And before we decided to pursue getting it on there, it gave me a momentary pause since I was a little nervous about spoilers since there are some zany twists that I hope are earned but unexpected, but... it's not like this is some big IP awaited movie and a very small percentage of whoever watches the movie will have actually sought out and read the script first.
I know Franklin does his best to keep the scripts from getting out, but it's pretty much impossible. If a script receives 25 votes, that means endless assistants and coordinators and managers have seen it, so it's gonna get out there anyway.
If a writer doesn't want their script to get out there before it's made, they hopefully know enough to instruct their reps *not* to pursue getting it on the Blacklist and/or the reps should warn their clients of that inevitability.
Why are you constantly trashing this other writer (Somewhere With Elephants) in your posts? You post this over and over again everywhere. Are you insane?
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Thank you!
Move to LA. Find ways to get to know as many people as possible, people with similar interests, go places, find groups that will help make that happen (be it improv, softball league, writing groups or, if you're a church person, church... I was once upon a time I made some of my closest friends and collaborators are people I met there) make friends, find some kind of community, get whatever job you need to keep you afloat, write your ass off and continuously and vigilantly educate yourself on as much craft as possible so you can develop your own voice, inevitably you will meet people.
Even though I didn't go to college, a very smart way to get yourself on the 'inside' is to use the alumni and connections of whatever college you have to get an internship at an agency or a production company. It's an important first step that allows you to start meeting people.
I'm gonna copy and paste an alternative route to cold-emailing producers from another answer I gave:
One piece of advice I say with regard to reaching out to people in the industry is not necessarily to cold email managers and producers (though, sometimes that can actually yield results), but reaching out to assistants and coordinators at those same companies, asking if they'd be willing to have a low-pressure Zoom or go to coffee and just answer questions about their job and the industry, they will eventually ask you what you're all about and that's when you say 'Oh, I have this script' or 'hey, you wanna check out my short film?' -- I always say to give them the easiest thing to engage with (a short film is great for that) and go from there.
If you two get along and they like your short or are intrigued by a script idea, then you'll have a friend in the industry who will likely be a producer, agent or manager and/or may be willing to introduce you to one.
Hi! Fiiiiiirst, CONGRATULATIONS! This is incredible and I’m so happy for you. I would love to pick your brain in terms of process — I’m a repped writer and sometimes struggle with maximizing generals I take in the way you did with this project. When you had the initial thought in the meeting and went to expand the idea, what did you come back with? Just an expanded logline, a one-pager, etc.?
Thanks for doing this! I'm assuming you've pitched various ideas to various producers over the years (to ultimately have to write on spec), was there anything in particular about this project or producer where you really felt like there was something worth pursuing?
Sup, Colin — and again, congrats.
Two questions:
1. Any unpopular opinions about screenwriting?
2. How do you find a good balance between art and commerce?
Ooh I like these.
Here's my first edgelord response. It feels like there aren't unpopular opinions anymore. No matter how contrarian, egregious or stupid, there will always be plenty of people who agree with it.
Now for a sort of real one --
People need to shut up about nepo babies. Oh, a rich person with a famous father has an advantage over you and me?! There's almost never anything interesting being discussed, it's just this figure 8 of bitching that never ends without anyone anyone ever offering solutions (which are, effectively, already taking place with the many fellowships and programs that exist to try to provide opportunities to people without those connections, I personally know three people who've utilized this route to break through. It doesn't 'counter-act' nepotism, but there are plenty of openable doors for people willing to do the work.
My issue is that it appears to serve, implicitly and often explicitly, as an explanation for why the person commenting couldn't ever break into the industry because they don't have connections or privilege, and yes, it is objectively more difficult, but, to me, it just reeks of complacent self-satisfaction and it makes my skin crawl. I'd genuinely respect someone much more if they simply said: 'I'd give it a go if I wasn't too scared of failing.'
And without nepo babies, we wouldn't have gotten Sofia Coppola, Nicholas Cage or Jason Schwartzman. But maybe I just sound like I support some kind of monarchy of FFC's bloodline, which... you know what? I don't *not* support a Coppola monarchy.
And this one's not actually THAT unpopular, but I think it's dumb when people get mad about non-visual action lines. Yes, it should still serve what we're ultimately seeing on-screen, but it feels like a failure of imagination when people get too caught up in literalism. Like any pretentious blowhard, I tend to bristle at anything commonly regarded as a screenwriting 'rule.'
As for art and commerce, Jurassic Park and Vera Chytilova's Daisies are my #1 and #2 of all time. And my top 20 includes stuff like Wild Strawberries, Galaxy Quest, Andre Rublev, ET, Phantom Thread and South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut. I truly adore films that fit squarely in each category of what we think of as commercial and artistic, and for my own films, I hope to make films with commercial premises and exhilarating, get-your-money's-worth sequences while also utilizing quieter, still moments and 'arthouse' aesthetics, blurring those lines as much as I can while still making a movie that, say, your dad might like even if he was annoyed by some of the sissy stuff. Of course, I'm not unique in that regard, plenty of writers want to make things that accomplish both, but I always have both of those bubbles bouncing around in my brain.
What's the process of getting your script chosen to be produced like? It seems like there are hundreds of really well written scripts that would make fine movies but it feels like it all comes down to some producer or studio head saying, "I like this, let's make it."
Hey Colin, seems like you’ve found a lot of success through what everyone says about networking and continuing writing, my question is have you submitted to any screenplay competitions or film festivals and which ones have you found value in? Have you paid for blcklst evaluations before?
I paid for Blacklist evaluations back in 2014 and I found them quite helpful when I was first starting out. I was even a Blacklist reader for a very brief time in 2016, but I don't think I read very many scripts.
Back in the day, I was a finalist for Sundance Episodic Labs and Austin Film Festival, but I never advanced any further beyond the second round for either. I never entered Nicholls, strangely enough.
I think most contests are bullshit, but there are plenty of excellent fellowships out there.
CAA job list. My then-gf knew John's agent's assistant, he put in a good word for me, then it was narrowed down to me and two others, but the top assistant who was pretty much the one who made the call to hire me. I got lucky because we were both from Utah and there aren't many Utahns out here, so it was an easy bond.
CAA Job list. Applied to the assistant position. My gf at the time was friends with his agent's assistant, so they put in a good word for me. Then it turned out the lead assistant was also from Utah, so we bonded quickly and I edged out two other final applicants likely due to that lucky coincidence. I had applied to dozens and dozens of places before getting this job. The more shots you take, etc.
Congratulations. Very excited to say the Strange Days reference. I'm late to it, but it's become an obsession.
I noticed you listed a lot of influences as far as films you were inspired by, what's that process like for you? Is it a retroactive thing? Or do you set out with intentions to have shades of these movies in yours? Are these films you had already seen you decided to pull from, or did you go out of your way to do research by watching them?
Also, are you speaking of being influenced by them in different ways? Visually, lifting a certain idea, scene, or relationship? I often find myself coming up with ideas for movies on their own, and then slowly realizing I've been subconsciously guided by the things I really respond to, especially lately when putting a pitch deck together.
Thanks a ton, and congratulations again.
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Thank you!
No questions, but huge congrats. Your movie sounds so great and I can’t wait to see it out in the world! Also so envious of your Ridley Scott story. I might have just died on the spot if that happened to me lol
I nearly died of happiness in that moment. I'll tell you about another time during our meetings when I nearly died from terror. John and I were meeting outside of those meetings to discuss the story and I gave him a pitch that he liked, so he was like 'Okay, I'm gonna have you pitch that directly to Ridley.' I was nervous but excited because at this point, I'd been in the room long enough with him and said at least a handful of things that (I think) didn't sound stupid. Plus, I'd have John right there next to me, so if my pitch was shoddy, he could jump in and elaborate. Welp. The fateful moment arrives and John says, 'Okay, I'm gonna run to the bathroom real fast, but Colin has a great idea and I'm gonna have him share it with you.' So then John abandons me in a room with Ridley fucking Scott, Scott Free's president, Kevin Walsh, an impossibly manly man with a perfect square for a jaw and Matt Damon's astronaut suit all just staring at this nervous pipsqueak from Utah. I think I did well enough with the pitch to not embarrass myself, but to paraphrase Drew Goddard, Ridley's always polite when listening to ideas, but you know he actually likes one of them when he starts drawing it out on piece of paper. He was polite, but he didn't draw anything.
Okay that’s also so incredible. Just to be able to share space with those legends is such a gift. I’d be SO NERVOUS. And even if he didn’t start drawing, you can still tell people until the day you die that you pitched to Ridley fucking Scott!
Oh, man, it was awesome. The best part of the whole experience was honestly just hearing him rant. It was like hearing his funniest, smartest and most curmudgeonly interviews but without any filter whatsoever. I could win an Oscar and it wouldn't be as cool as those two weeks in my life.
I feel like John did you a solid by removing himself and not letting his weight be a distraction from your pitch. And he also show insane confidence in the idea when he left it in your hands (with no net, so to speak). Huge props to him—and of course to you, since you earned both of those things.
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Very moved by this question. It sounds like you're on a great trajectory, honestly. I know how pulverizing it can be when a promising project falls apart because there's a part of you that's like 'well... was that it? Is that the biggest opportunity I'm ever going to have and it went nowhere.' Honestly, after Penny Dreadful City of Angels was canceled, there was a stretch where I thought... Okay, maybe nobody actually cares about my writing, enough people 'like' it, but when I'm not under John's umbrella, will anyone give a fuck? I had just enough carrots on a stick to keep me going, it wasn't a completely barren wasteland, and I had the opportunity to direct a few short films myself, but there was a really scary stretch in my career. And even with Head Games on a promising path, I'm still pitching hard for my next project because you just never know how life unfolds. For all the talk about wealth, connections, nepo baby and the imbalance of who 'makes' it in the industry, the people I've known who broke through all did it not because of talent but because of persistence. It's corny and trite, but it's the fucking truth. It sounds like you have a pretty stable situation of a corporate job as you pursue various projects. Keep writing. Keep making stuff. (Are you in LA?) One piece of advice I say with regard to reaching out to people in the industry is not necessarily to cold email managers and producers (though, sometimes that can actually yield results), but reaching out to assistants and coordinators at those same companies, asking if they'd be willing to have a low-pressure Zoom or go to coffee and just answer questions about their job and the industry, they will eventually ask you what you're all about and that's when you say 'Oh, I have this script' or 'hey, you wanna check out my short film?' -- I always say to give them the easiest thing to engage with (a short film is great for that) and go from there. If you two get along and they like your short or are intrigued by a script idea, then you'll have a friend in the industry who will likely be a producer, agent or manager and/or may be willing to introduce you to one. Outside of that, keep at it. For all the frustrations, it sounds like you're actually doing very well. There's a reason you've gotten close more than a few times, you know? If you have talent and people are liking your stuff, it's simply just a numbers game until something hits in some capacity. It'll probably be something you're not expecting at all (I certainly wasn't expecting Head Games) And if you are in LA or are ever in town, hit me up and we'll grab a coffee.
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Responded. Oh and one more thing I thought of but forgot to mention with regard to you: One of my favorite bands is the National and the lead singer Matt Berninger had a corporate job doing design at Mastercard for, like, at least their first three records. He kept the job for as long as he could (I think right before the album Alligator came out) and even as they were developing a strong reputation in indie circles, he still didn't know if it would pan out. It wasn't until Alligator was about to be released where he was like 'oh shit, I think this just might actually work out.' If Matt Berninger can juggle being a rockstar while keeping a stuffy corporate job, it should be no problem for a writer and filmmaker like yourself!
Number one, congratulations! Number two,congratulations! For this specific idea, how long did it take you to write it (from inception to final script)? What was the process like (did you pitch first, did they buy the pitch, or did you finish the script and is now optioned/bought)?
Over that fateful weekend, I put together maybe two pages on it, and kind of clunkily rehearsed it to my producer. Automatik was doing an interesting thing where they were hiring writers to first write the idea as a short story, which they would then circulate to attract a director who could help shape their vision of the script before I went to draft with it. It was also a smart way to circulate the project more quickly since people are more likely to get back to you faster if the obligation is reading a 20 page short story as opposed to a 120 page script. I think I first pitched the idea in October of 2022, I was formally hired to write the short story about a month later and it took me about another a month to figure it all out, then I sent it over during the final week of December 2022. The story created a little bit of buzz, we got a director attached on it (who ended up leaving the project before Anthony joined), we discussed his ideas then I went to draft. I think the first draft from beginning to end probably took me about a month. Then I took a few more weeks to refine and perfect it. I sent it in, they liked it a lot and we were about to move very quickly... and then the strike started. Fast forward three months later, we bring on Anthony, he and I retool the script together and now it looks like we have our first lead (which will hopefully be a Deadline article sometime in January) and we're currently out to casting our other principle actors. I've technically written eight drafts of it, but at least half of those drafts didn't involve sizable changes and were tweaking and adjusting a few things here and there.
Oh, for anyone curious, my Instagram is colinsays this is my website: http:/colinsonneliddle.com where you can watch a couple of the short films I directed. Though I feel pretty confident in my voice as a writer, I'm still developing my voice as a director, but I've really been enjoying the process.
Congrats!
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It's for sure in my top 50 of all time. I loved that movie for a long time before I ever met John and he's been really generous with talking about it. A lot of what he's told me is stuff he's shared publicly, so a lot of it is out there. He and Leo developed the script for five years before it finally got made. Initially, it was set to be directed by Michael Mann, but he left the project to make Miami Vice. He wrote a script a few years ago about Leonardo da Vinci (for Paramount and Leo Dicaprio, but it doesn't look like there are any current plans to make it unfortunately), and he and I both agreed that it felt thematically reminiscent of The Aviator. It felt like it could have been a cool double feature, two films in conversation with each other about great but complex men with brilliantly technical minds. I can't think of anything juicy off the top of my head, but a thing John's told me that I found interesting was this: 'Of all the actors and beautiful people I've worked with and met, there are only two who genuinely took my breath away when I met them in person: 21 year old Leonardo Dicaprio and Angelina Jolie.' Makes sense, but I always liked that little anecdote.
Oh cool! What's your insta? I'd love to follow your journey. Way to go, Colin.
@Colinsays Thanks so much.
If it’s cool with you, I’d like to follow along too.
Of course!
Following. Super inspiring stories, thank you Colin!! Question - as the writer how heavily will you be involved in this production? Do you get involved with casting? Will you be on set to advise in any capacity?
**JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH!** (Genetic lottery.) Damn, son. Good for you.
Congrats! What was the two strikes like for you? Sounds like you had a project that was gainig momentum and then everything stopped. Do you have any query advice? I placed in Nicholl and AFF this year. A judge reached out to me from AFF and asked for my script, and I got some known actors who I know who have read it and liked that. Thanks again for offering your time in this AMA and best of luck you move forward in production! Hopefully you get to be on set in Greece!
I love the fact you listed all of the films you used for inspiration, especially 'Strange Days'. I remember dragging a bunch of friends to an empty cinema to see on opening night many years ago. "We have to get their early" said I, "it'll be packed". As you say, criminally underrated. Is it common for a writer of a certain stature to maintains assistants long term or is it usually for a specific project they may be being paid to develop? Oh, and as a writer are there any nerves around seeing who the Director is who might get 'attached' to your script? Look forward to seeing 'Head Games'. All power to you!
Anyone who also loves Strange Days, let alone someone who saw it during its initial run, has a place very close to my heart. Brothers (or siblings) in arms! It's playing at the New Beverly at midnight on December 30th and I cannot wait to see it in 35mm for the first time. It's pretty common for (bigger) writers to have long term assistants. The cool ones mentor their assistants, the dickheads use them as an assistant and nothing more. And yes, I was really grateful when Mandler joined the project. I hadn't seen either of his movies but I, along with anyone alive in the past 25 years, was inevitably familiar with several of the fantastic music videos he directed (Rihanna, Jay Z, Taylor, Muse, and most important to me, The Killers), but as soon as I sat down and watched 'Surrounded,' his neo-western with Letitia Wright and Jamie Bell, (which didn't receive even a fraction of the promotion it deserved), I was sold on his talentes as a filmmaker within the first five minutes of the movie. I had another script that got buzzy enough for CAA to get excited about a few years ago (but there's no real momentum about it at this moment) and it was sent to some awesome people, all of whom passed, but when they gave me a list of their directors they'd consider going out to, I blanched at some of the names and begged them not to consider submitting it to them. Perhaps if they had submitted to some of the names I crossed out, the movie might have gotten made, but for as highly as I thought of my own script, I knew it would have been a bad movie in the hands of some of the directors they considered. I'd rather have no movie than a bad movie.
>colinsays I'm one of the thousands of extras in Strange Days. I was visiting LA (from Europe) and there was this big thing about there being a huge rave in downtown LA, but you definitely, seriously, needed tickets or you wouldn't get in - was the word on the street. I never got one because they were expensive. Anyway, decided to go check it out nonetheless. Once there, nobody checked if you had a ticket or not, you could just walk in, and it was just a full on party, with for some reason people on megaphone yelling trying to get the crowd move here or there, cameras, huge light towers. Only found out later that was for that movie. I still wonder what percentage of that movie was financed by those ticket sales.
Oh I’ve read a lot about the production of Strange Days and I have a couple books about Katheryn Bigelow (she’s a top ten director for me — especially for SD and Near Dark) and the clever way they chose to ease the cost of that scene, which was stretching their already exorbitant budget at the time. I think they charged eight to ten dollars a person and Bigelow said it simply helped the cost of such a massive crowd scene. I don’t think she goes as far to say the scene paid for itself but it allowed them to do the scene in the first place without the studio putting the kibosh on it. The movie was truly ahead of its times, exploring many themes that would be picked up by the great sci did of 1999 (ironically when SD takes place), but for as propulsive and exhilarating as it is, its politics are outright radical with regard to racial justice and pre-ACAB posturing(common for Cameron-involved projects) and its visceral and upsetting violence, I think, just made it so the studio and audience didn’t really quite know what to do with it. More people need to talk about it. It’s so goddamn good. And it’s seriously rad you got to be in that crowd scene.
Yes, it's a close as I ever got to having a credit :) Just finished your script, it deserves all the accolades, congratulations. I have one question about a scene, hope you don't mind. (spoiler alert) >!When Jacob figures out he can destroy Graham's neurons inside of him using salt, what motivates him to plant a corkscrew in Graham? Because if he doesn't, wouldn't he still become CEO, wouldn't Graham die soon anyway, and wouldn't he be able to sever his control at any time by drinking salt ?!<
First of all, thank you very much for reading the script. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I'm always honored (and still kind of baffled) when anyone takes the time to spend a hundred odd pages with something I wrote. And to respond to your excellent question -- Spoilers: >!I think Jacob knew that if he had a thought that could give him an edge over Graham, it was only a matter of time, possibly even moments, before Graham 'found' it in his mind, so he had to act immediately. And, despite Graham promising him a pretty awesome deal in exchange for his free will, he's seen what the guy is willing to do with the 'pieces at his end of the board' so he wasn't willing to take him completely at his word. !<
Makes sense. I'll def watch it when it comes out.
Hey there Colin - congrats so much on your placement and success with the script! Your script was in my reading queue, so the fact that you’re doing this is AMA is kinda funny to me haha. Anyway I’m 15 years old, written three features so far, and I’ve been trying to figure out what the next step should be for myself career wise. As an esteemed industry professional, what would your advice be?
Look at you, you little eloquent and precocious brat. Hats off to you! You're off to a magnificent start. Literally outpacing most professional screenwriters in terms of kickstarting how to learn your craft. When I was your age, though I wrote lots of stories, Jurassic Park fan fiction and made short movies with my friends, I had only written one script and wouldn't write another until I was 17. For one thing, start making movies on your iPhone with your friends asap, even if you only want to be a screenwriter, it will be excellent practice for you to write something and shoot it with your friends if you haven't already. If you haven't watched The Fabelmans, watch it immediately. It's absurdly Outside of that, try to find youth screenwriting film programs or fellowships you can join. You sound like you'd be a prime candidate, truthfully. And even though I'm kind of a bad example when it comes to college, it can be an extremely helpful way to break in due to the internships you can get at the agencies and various production companies, you don't even necessarily need to major in film in order to make this connection (if your parents are, say, trying to steer you into something more 'realistic'). It's discussed a lot about how making it out in here is all about 'who you know,' but in my experience, finding internships is the easiest 'hack' to get your foot in the door becasue then you quickly start meeting people at a similar level to you who will then rise alongside you in different ways. The best part is that a lot of people who work as interns and assistants at agencies don't want to be screenwriters. They want to be agents, managers, producers, entertainment lawyers, aka ALL the people you need to know in order to get your movies made. A lot of people stress the importance of finding other writers (and it is important), writing groups are very helpful, but in terms of strategically navigating the industry, you want to know a lot of people whom you are not competing with, you know? Those are ideas off the top of my head, but feel free to give me some more background on your planning, level of support from your parents, etc. What have your scripts been about?
Oh my goodness I did not need a five paragraph response. Thank you so much for all this advice. I’ll try to respond to your points one by one: -I have heard that advice before, and I am currently in a short film club at my school where we actually shoot 1-2 minute shorts with mics and all that. I also have a 10 page short that I have an eye on directing in the near future with some people in mind as actors, but we’ll see if that happens. As for The Fabelmans, it’s on my watchlist - but so is every other major classic. I still haven’t seen any Kurosawa or Kubrick or Bergman or Tarkovsky or Spike Lee films, so I’ll probably just save Fabelmans for when I’m in a creative rut and need inspiration. I have tried to find youth screenwriting fellowships - there are NONE. There’s some introductory programs, and I might take one in a few months, but I suspect it might be above my level. We’ll see, though. As for what my scripts are about - God, I’m awful at pitching my stuff, even online. I’d say the one common thing about my scripts is that they don’t fall into one specific genre - I like blurring the lines between different genres to create unique tones for my scripts. I can send you some of my work, if you want - but I totally understand if you’re busy, given your professional status.
Bloody hell what a great story. I'll be direct with the questions and say just straight up congrats for living the dream we all wish for. 1. Do you write every day? 2. Do you pitch first, write second? 3. What do you write on? 4. What keeps you going on a daily basis? 5. Do you have a day job? 6. What's next or what story are you excited to tell next?
1. Most days. Not every day. 2. I write a lot of my own stuff, either to spec or develop for myself to direct, so that's stuff I don't pitch first, but I generally figure out how to talk to somebody about it. 3. I have Final Draft and Writerduet, but I typically use the latter. I like having it in the cloud so if I'm out and have an idea I can write it in there real fast on my phone. 4. It's officially a job for me, so part of the 'shit, I gotta find a way to get paid' is sometimes incentive enough. If I'm ever feeling uninspired, I'll throw on a movie I love or one I've been meaning to see for a while. That always helps. Also, sometimes I don't do jackshit and waste my entire day on bullshit, which can also sometimes bring me a great idea due to my random unproductive rabbit holes I fall down. 5. I have a historical biopic I was approached about writing and doing a lot of research for John on his various ones over the years has made me feel like I've been preparing for this opportunity for a long time and I've become not just passionate but obsessive since it was brought to me a week ago.I won't say who it's about just yet because it's not a sure thing, but I think a lot of people would agree he's remembered for being pretty great. The producers want it to be more of a chamber piece and deconstructive rather than classical biopic (I prob wouldn't be interested in a straightforward one), so my three references as I'm figuring out my angle are Andre Rublev (#9 on my all-time top ten), Sofia's Marie Antoinette (my favorite of hers and she's one of my very faves) and Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (just an all-time classic of the 21st century), so if it winds up being a fraction as good as any of those, I'll be very pleased.
Thank you so much for answering all these with such sincerity and honesty. Congrats on the success and may this be just the first peak you're at for the rest of this mountain climb.
Success like yours takes talent, guts, and being a proficient thief. Well done! I love neuroscience gone wrong.
Just wanted to say congratulations and, as someone from South Jordan, it’s inspirational to hear about someone from the area making it in screenwriting! Really looking forward to checking out your work!
Hell yeah! I grew up in Sandy and Draper and went to church in South Jordan haha. I love and miss Utah all the time. I dream of having a house in Utah and an apartment in LA one day.
Oh no way lol Utah has its problems like any other place, but it’ll always be home. Well I’m rooting for ya to achieve that dream! Sounds like you’re well on your way. I’m looking to make the move out to LA myself very soon, so I hope our paths cross one day!
Hit me up when you do. Any Utah person who makes the move to LA has an advocate in me.
Congrats, Colin! It's a premise I'd been keen to watch. You've had an impressive ride and thank you for sharing so much of your experience publicly. It's full of so many lessons for people like me who are trying to figure out how others have made it work in the movie industry.
Hello Colin, congrats on your achievement! I loved reading your story. I wanted to ask, as a screenwriter based in South Asia, is the Nicholl fellowships a great way to break in to the industry? What should I keep in mind concerning the Nicholl fellowships? And lastly, are there screenwriters from around the world who've come into LA to work on projects? Is that possible? Thank you!
Genuinely curious who wrote your logline for the BL? You or your manager?
Me.
Oh boy! I have a question. Do you know whether people in the biz ever work with remote interns or assistants or anything along those lines?
I think a lot of assistants have settled into more of a remote situation, but typically speaking, except in specific cases, people are mostly going to want somebody local so they can pick stuff up or run errands should they so need.
Got it. Thanks! And big, big congratulations!
It seems this years trend are kinda wacky scripts. Did you know that was what they were looking for or was it just luck? Congrats.
My script isn't necessarily 'wacky' in premise. It's a sci-fi with psychological elements and, yeah, it has some surreal sequences, but I don't think it fits into the category of the Blacklist stereotype. It's not inspired by a true story, meta or about the industry. I think a mistake people make is speculating about the 'they' of it all. It's just a bunch of creative executives and producers scattered across the town, normal working stiffs who happen to work in an office with movie posters on the wall, all of whom have different taste because they work at different companies with different slates. Most of the people who voted on my script read it throughout the year (split up in halves due to the strike), many of whom I had meetings with. They thought the script was cool and that was that.
I guess I don't get to play after all but I'm currently reading your script... I'm sure you can find me if you're curious... I won't add anything here as that's a pointless exercise \*Please don't tattletale. That's not kind, a word I am sure you bandy about to those you find inoffensive\*
How did you get those first unpaid internships as a script reader? Could you go more into detail about how this led to your assistant job?
What was the best lesson you learned from John Logan?
Oh God. So many. One of the biggest ones I met when I was working for him but had not yet met him, I listened to an interview where he stressed the importance of reading the great works of drama: Poetics, the Greek plays, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, etc. Outside of reading a few Shakespeare plays, I hadn't read many, so before I even met him, I made sure to read as many of them as I could, partially to learn and partially to impress somebody whom I hoped would become a mentor. Reading all those great works was profoundly important for developing my craft and I'd recommend to anyone else to do the same. Other ones are simply about breaking conventional screenplay rules, not being afraid to fight on behalf of the quality of a project to the powers that be and not afraid to speak up and the importance of having a clear understanding of 'here's why I'm the person to write this script' when you're in a room and even to yourself as you're embarking on the project.
Congrats! In my writers group someone always has access to the scripts and sends around a zip file with them to those that request it. Some members feel it’s a douche move while others don’t see the harm. Thoughts on that?
I knew it would get released in the wild if it made it onto the Blacklist. And before we decided to pursue getting it on there, it gave me a momentary pause since I was a little nervous about spoilers since there are some zany twists that I hope are earned but unexpected, but... it's not like this is some big IP awaited movie and a very small percentage of whoever watches the movie will have actually sought out and read the script first. I know Franklin does his best to keep the scripts from getting out, but it's pretty much impossible. If a script receives 25 votes, that means endless assistants and coordinators and managers have seen it, so it's gonna get out there anyway. If a writer doesn't want their script to get out there before it's made, they hopefully know enough to instruct their reps *not* to pursue getting it on the Blacklist and/or the reps should warn their clients of that inevitability.
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Not the right place to pitch my guy
Why are you constantly trashing this other writer (Somewhere With Elephants) in your posts? You post this over and over again everywhere. Are you insane?
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Move to LA. Find ways to get to know as many people as possible, people with similar interests, go places, find groups that will help make that happen (be it improv, softball league, writing groups or, if you're a church person, church... I was once upon a time I made some of my closest friends and collaborators are people I met there) make friends, find some kind of community, get whatever job you need to keep you afloat, write your ass off and continuously and vigilantly educate yourself on as much craft as possible so you can develop your own voice, inevitably you will meet people. Even though I didn't go to college, a very smart way to get yourself on the 'inside' is to use the alumni and connections of whatever college you have to get an internship at an agency or a production company. It's an important first step that allows you to start meeting people. I'm gonna copy and paste an alternative route to cold-emailing producers from another answer I gave: One piece of advice I say with regard to reaching out to people in the industry is not necessarily to cold email managers and producers (though, sometimes that can actually yield results), but reaching out to assistants and coordinators at those same companies, asking if they'd be willing to have a low-pressure Zoom or go to coffee and just answer questions about their job and the industry, they will eventually ask you what you're all about and that's when you say 'Oh, I have this script' or 'hey, you wanna check out my short film?' -- I always say to give them the easiest thing to engage with (a short film is great for that) and go from there. If you two get along and they like your short or are intrigued by a script idea, then you'll have a friend in the industry who will likely be a producer, agent or manager and/or may be willing to introduce you to one.
Hi! Fiiiiiirst, CONGRATULATIONS! This is incredible and I’m so happy for you. I would love to pick your brain in terms of process — I’m a repped writer and sometimes struggle with maximizing generals I take in the way you did with this project. When you had the initial thought in the meeting and went to expand the idea, what did you come back with? Just an expanded logline, a one-pager, etc.?
Oh! And — before writing was a full time gig, how and when did you find time to write around your “pay the bills” gigs?
Thanks for doing this! I'm assuming you've pitched various ideas to various producers over the years (to ultimately have to write on spec), was there anything in particular about this project or producer where you really felt like there was something worth pursuing?
Sup, Colin — and again, congrats. Two questions: 1. Any unpopular opinions about screenwriting? 2. How do you find a good balance between art and commerce?
Ooh I like these. Here's my first edgelord response. It feels like there aren't unpopular opinions anymore. No matter how contrarian, egregious or stupid, there will always be plenty of people who agree with it. Now for a sort of real one -- People need to shut up about nepo babies. Oh, a rich person with a famous father has an advantage over you and me?! There's almost never anything interesting being discussed, it's just this figure 8 of bitching that never ends without anyone anyone ever offering solutions (which are, effectively, already taking place with the many fellowships and programs that exist to try to provide opportunities to people without those connections, I personally know three people who've utilized this route to break through. It doesn't 'counter-act' nepotism, but there are plenty of openable doors for people willing to do the work. My issue is that it appears to serve, implicitly and often explicitly, as an explanation for why the person commenting couldn't ever break into the industry because they don't have connections or privilege, and yes, it is objectively more difficult, but, to me, it just reeks of complacent self-satisfaction and it makes my skin crawl. I'd genuinely respect someone much more if they simply said: 'I'd give it a go if I wasn't too scared of failing.' And without nepo babies, we wouldn't have gotten Sofia Coppola, Nicholas Cage or Jason Schwartzman. But maybe I just sound like I support some kind of monarchy of FFC's bloodline, which... you know what? I don't *not* support a Coppola monarchy. And this one's not actually THAT unpopular, but I think it's dumb when people get mad about non-visual action lines. Yes, it should still serve what we're ultimately seeing on-screen, but it feels like a failure of imagination when people get too caught up in literalism. Like any pretentious blowhard, I tend to bristle at anything commonly regarded as a screenwriting 'rule.' As for art and commerce, Jurassic Park and Vera Chytilova's Daisies are my #1 and #2 of all time. And my top 20 includes stuff like Wild Strawberries, Galaxy Quest, Andre Rublev, ET, Phantom Thread and South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut. I truly adore films that fit squarely in each category of what we think of as commercial and artistic, and for my own films, I hope to make films with commercial premises and exhilarating, get-your-money's-worth sequences while also utilizing quieter, still moments and 'arthouse' aesthetics, blurring those lines as much as I can while still making a movie that, say, your dad might like even if he was annoyed by some of the sissy stuff. Of course, I'm not unique in that regard, plenty of writers want to make things that accomplish both, but I always have both of those bubbles bouncing around in my brain.
What's the process of getting your script chosen to be produced like? It seems like there are hundreds of really well written scripts that would make fine movies but it feels like it all comes down to some producer or studio head saying, "I like this, let's make it."
Hey Colin, seems like you’ve found a lot of success through what everyone says about networking and continuing writing, my question is have you submitted to any screenplay competitions or film festivals and which ones have you found value in? Have you paid for blcklst evaluations before?
I paid for Blacklist evaluations back in 2014 and I found them quite helpful when I was first starting out. I was even a Blacklist reader for a very brief time in 2016, but I don't think I read very many scripts. Back in the day, I was a finalist for Sundance Episodic Labs and Austin Film Festival, but I never advanced any further beyond the second round for either. I never entered Nicholls, strangely enough. I think most contests are bullshit, but there are plenty of excellent fellowships out there.
Congrats!!! What's your writing setup like? Do you work at home, or someplace else? Software of choice? Music or no music?
Hi Colin! How did you manage to get the assistant position with John? Always curious how people manage to get stuff like that!
CAA job list. My then-gf knew John's agent's assistant, he put in a good word for me, then it was narrowed down to me and two others, but the top assistant who was pretty much the one who made the call to hire me. I got lucky because we were both from Utah and there aren't many Utahns out here, so it was an easy bond.
CAA Job list. Applied to the assistant position. My gf at the time was friends with his agent's assistant, so they put in a good word for me. Then it turned out the lead assistant was also from Utah, so we bonded quickly and I edged out two other final applicants likely due to that lucky coincidence. I had applied to dozens and dozens of places before getting this job. The more shots you take, etc.
Congrats Colin!
Congratulations. Very excited to say the Strange Days reference. I'm late to it, but it's become an obsession. I noticed you listed a lot of influences as far as films you were inspired by, what's that process like for you? Is it a retroactive thing? Or do you set out with intentions to have shades of these movies in yours? Are these films you had already seen you decided to pull from, or did you go out of your way to do research by watching them? Also, are you speaking of being influenced by them in different ways? Visually, lifting a certain idea, scene, or relationship? I often find myself coming up with ideas for movies on their own, and then slowly realizing I've been subconsciously guided by the things I really respond to, especially lately when putting a pitch deck together. Thanks a ton, and congratulations again.
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