Interview:

My name is John Arends.  I live in Saint Charles, IL, just west of Chicago, and work in advertising.  I guess you could say I’m trying to take the John Hughes route into Hollywood.   I got my degree in journalism at Iowa State, did some speechwriting and public information work for the governor and state of Iowa, then went back to graduate school on a two-year creative writing fellowship.   The stage play I wrote for my thesis became the basis for my first screenplay – a period sports biopic about crossing the color line during the Jim Crow period of the 1920s.   It was optioned and shopped for awhile, but the writing wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, and the time wasn’t right for it… yet.

I was active in the early days of poetry slams and the spoken word movement, here in Chicago.  I’ve had some poetry and short fiction published, but I’ve always aspired to write stories for the big screen. 

Is "Solomon’s Whale" your first script? If not, what else have you completed?

Solomon is my fifth completed script.  The first two were an historical action/adventure and the period biopic.  Both were fueled by a lot of  muse-driven passion, but lacked command of some key elements of craft.  I went back to school and really focused on elevating my craft, taking my screenwriting to a professional level.   Since finishing up Solomon last spring, I’ve just completed a character-driven adventure/drama spec this fall.

Why did you write “Solomon’s Whale” and how long did it take you to write it?

I’ve always been drawn to timeless stories with primal, universal themes.  And I’ve always been a sucker for big, fun, feel-good popcorn movies. Hollywood just does the larger-than-life thing so well, that I wanted to try my hand at it.  So, I thought, what if we took what is already the largest living creature on the planet – a blue whale – and made it the size of the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood… and then gave it an attitude to match?  It was a blast to write.  It probably took me a total of 12-18 months of work.

Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?

I start with the concept and a hook – and make sure it’s a movie, with a beginning, middle and end. Part of that process is throwing down the major beats of the story.  From that basic structure, I’ll try to get a working logline down, the central conflict clarified, and character profiles drawn. Then I spend a lot of time on the outline and structure, especially making sure that Act 3 delivers the goods. 

I have a day job that comes first, so I try to put in about an hour and a half in the early morning, getting 4-5 pages down, every day.  It’s non-linear – I just attack whatever part of the outline remains to be written and looks like fun on that particular day. 

When the first draft is done, I put it away to cool down for awhile, get some distance, then really dig into the rewriting.  That’s where your story and characters start giving you something back.  That’s the most surprising and rewarding part of writing – the rewrites.

What inspires you to write?

I guess I’ve always been, first and last, a poet at heart.  Published poets and several of the original Chicago "saloon" poets -- especially Marc Smith, who started the spoken word movement -- are my heroes.  They are the pinnacle, when it comes to wordplay and command of craft.    So I’m really ignited and energized and inspired by small, simple, elegant poem-like things – an image, a phrase, a line of dialogue, the odd pairing of words, an unexpected connection between a sound and an image that communicates meaning, or a feeling, or a provocative vibe.  Building on that, and growing it into a story…and then transforming that story into the architecture of a film… is just about as good as it gets!

Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

Family!  My wife and two daughters are all dancers, my son’s a runner, and I was a gymnast in my former life, so we’re all kinda wired into those worlds.  (I serve on the board of directors for the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame – www.ighof.com).   Dogs – we’ve got three goofball mutts in the house – it’s like wading through dolphins all day around here, and we love it!   Music – Annie, my wife, sings with the Chicago Chorale – www.chicagochorale.org.  And movies, of course!

What influenced you to enter the Movie Script Contest?

The promise of getting feedback was the key draw, plus the quality of the sponsors and the professional access.  Above all, there’s a compelling sincerity about their focus on truly helping the writer – both in elevating craft through the feedback and in extending contacts into the industry – that comes through in everything they do.

Do you feel that screenwriting contests are worthwhile for writers and why?

Absolutely!  The deadlines…the feedback…the validation…the opportunity to get read by working readers – professionally-run, established contests deliver on all of that, and more.  They serve as an essential bridge between aspiring new writers and the industry’s gatekeepers.

Who is your favorite screenwriter or writer and why?

David Rayfiel.  His body of work, and the immortal lines of dialogue, and character nuances that he’s created, their elegant simplicity and timelessness.   Just masterful, classy work, across the board.

Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

Write. Every day.  Get it out of your head and down on paper (or the computer screen).  And don’t stop until that first draft is finished.   Only then does the idea take on a true life of its own.  Only if that happens – that you finish it – can the dream become a reality.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on two new specs – an action/adventure and a high concept family comedy.   And I’m toying with the idea – not very courageously at this point, I’m afraid – of doing a novelization of “Solomon’s Whale.”  Long-term, my goal is to have 3-4 strong, commercial scripts ready to go to market when the AMPTP finally decides it needs to bargain in good faith and reach a fair deal with the WGA.