Interview:

Jason Latshaw has always told stories, but for the longest time thought it a fool’s dream to pursue a career in it. But after five years playing the corporate game at JP Morgan Chase, he saw a future filled with comfort but without creative risk or reward and got depressed and sad. Thanks to a very supportive, awesome wife and understanding children Jason moved from the east coast to LA, where he’s currently in his 2nd year in UCLA’s acclaimed MFA program in screenwriting.

Is “A Well Adjusted Boy” your first script? If not, what else have you completed?

I’ve completed 11 feature length scripts – 3 comedies, 3 action adventure fantasies, 2 dramas, a crime thriller, and a historical drama that just placed in the Semi-Finals of the Nicholl Competition. “A Well Adjusted Boy,” which is the first screenplay I wrote in the UCLA MFA program during the winter of 2008, was my 6th screenplay.

Why did you write A WELL ADJUSTED BOY? And how long did it take you to write it?

Paul Castro, the writer of “August Rush” and also one of my great mentors here at UCLA, was the professor in my first writing workshop. He’s a big believer that good writing is emotional writing, so in our very first writing exercise he had us write about our most shameful moment. I thought of something REALLY embarrassing that happened to me in the 4th grade, and immediately tried to think of something else. He said, “No, the thing you just thought of, nothing else.” So I had to write about this time that I… soiled my pants in the 4th grade and everyone in my class found out. Then he told us to create a story that flowed out of that emotionally raw moment. “A Well Adjusted Boy” was born. It was fantastic, because Paul pulled this story out of me – I hadn’t had any thought about these characters or plots until that writing exercise – and since then my writing has been more emotional. I’ve had many people tell me they read the last 10 pages in tears. From the moment I started on pages until I reached FADE OUT – this screenplay probably took 5 weeks.

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

It’s strange for me, I do something different every time, and it often depends on the story. Sometimes I do a scene by scene outline with sluglines and everything, sometimes I write more of a 7-10 prose short story treatment (which is what I did with A Well Adjusted Boy). Sometimes I’ll just use a bulleted out beat sheet… I’ve even written one screenplay flying free without any outline at all – but still a solid idea of moments that I needed to reach.

What happens with me is that I get an idea in my head for a story and I write it down. I have a sheet with 37 of these basic story ideas. Then I’ll find that if I’m supposed to write that story, I’ll start getting more ideas about it. Specific scenes, characters, lines of dialogue, conflicts, sequences. I’ll keep writing all those things down. Right now, there are about 4 stories that I’ve got a number of these things collected for. Then when I’ve collected enough of those things I’ll normally go about trying to put all that into some kind of structure that is strong enough to support the whole story but loose enough to roll with it.

What I’ve found is that once I actually start writing pages, a lot of the pre-planning goes out of the window and characters start saying and doing things I hadn’t anticipated when I was in “planning” mode. Strangely enough, I’ve found that I like to do pre-planning of the story with pen and paper and I sketch out, rather chaotically, the basic structure. Typing those things is more difficult for me. I think it’s because at that stage it’s almost more like drawing than writing and there is something really tactile and good about the feeling of pen on paper. I get into writing pages fairly early and use a first draft to figure a lot of things out. I do like to have a rough outline, though, where I’ve at least identified some of the big structural pieces of my story – tracking character changes and plot changes so I don’t completely go off the rails.

What inspires you to write?

There are two questions that are almost always running through my mind. “What’s going on over there?” and “What if this or that happened?” Both offer me endless amusement. I’m a very curious, nosy person who stares at things (much to my wife’s chagrin.) I’m truly fascinated and entertained by other people. I think because of my constant need for observation I’m then compelled to write what I see in one way or another. And also, I just love playing out scenarios and seeing what people might do or feel if this or that happened. There is such a rush to doing that when it’s working; it’s when the magic happens. On a deeper level, I do believe that writing is my therapy, and that I’m always working out one thing or another through my stories and my characters. This is always subconscious while I’m doing the writing, but afterwards things become clearer. For instance, in A Well Adjusted Boy, Talayah is chasing a father who is a Religious leader, and Laurent’s mom is a Therapist. After I completed the story, someone pointed out to me that… My dad is a pastor and my mom is a counselor with a degree in Psychology. I had no idea I was doing that! So whenever I’m trying to figure out who I am or who I’m supposed to be as a father, son, brother, friend, husband, man, human whatever – it shows up in my stories.

Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I am passionate about a ton of things, sometimes I wish I could choose just one– you know, be that lady who is all about hippos and has a hippo sweater and a hippo license plate and stuff like that. But just like I can’t seem to choose one genre and write it (I like to write what I feel best serves the story I want to tell!), I also can’t really pick two or three things. So here is a list that is kind of in order, maybe. But not really. My wife and darling daughter and son. All my amazing friends and family. Hiking. Music. Singing. Nature. Waterfalls. Sharks. Aliens. Basketball. Football. Philly Sports. Apple. My iPhone. Nintendo. Video Games in general. Television and Film. Mad Men. U2. Kristen Wiig. Feral children. Narnia. Female Singer Songwriters. Muse. Strange and Unexplained things like Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster, The Legend of Zelda, Peanut Butter, Milk and Cookies, UCLA, all the amazing people I’ve met in the program… – hey wait, where are you going? I just got started.

What influenced you to enter the Movie Script Contest?

I saw it on WithoutABox and it looked like a good contest, so I went for it.

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

I definitely do believe contests provide an excellent service for writers, but I also think writers should be realistic about them. For some reason, prior to getting into UCLA’s program I didn’t submit to any contest except Project Greenlight, and that was a disaster because my expectations were all screwy. I didn’t even make it to the second round, and that crushed me – I didn’t write another page for 3 years. Looking back, that was such a waste. This past year I submitted the same 5 scripts to a pretty large number of contests and it was very illuminating to see that all of them placed somewhere, yet none of them placed everywhere. Writers need to realize it’s all very subjective and to just to keep trying. My script that placed in the Nicholl top 100 didn’t even advance past the first round in most other contests.  I fell into the trap of thinking if a script is really good, it’ll win. That’s not true.

Also, I think a lot of writers have inflated conceptions of what winning or placing in a contest can do for you. Really, what contests will get you is the chance to be read by someone who might possibly be able to get you an agent or a manager.  Orr – if you really catch lightning in a bottle, hook you up with a producer who just loves your story. But really it just gives you the chance to be read, and honestly most people who ask to read your winning screenplay will not respond at all. Then a small minority will say, “I love it but it’s not for me.” And then an even small amount might say, “I love it, let’s talk more.” And, of course… “What else do you have?”  People who make screenwriting contests up into the one big break they need to get going in Hollywood aren’t being realistic. Contests are just one part of the momentum you need to. Don’t put too much stock in any one contest, but definitely make them a part of your overall strategy.

Who is your favorite screenwriter or writer and why?

I love Larry Kasdan because of the amazing worlds and characters he creates and the incredible range he’s displayed.  That he wrote both”Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “The Big Chill” is just so great, because that’s the kind of career I want. In the same way,  I have so much admiration for Simon Beaufoy because he’s written both “The Full Monty” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” Such different stories, yet both have these through lines of heart and love and character and humor. That’s what I hope to do with my own stories. I don’t know if those are my favorite writers but they are two that came to mind. I’m a big fan of a ton of scripts, so it’s hard for me to pick just one or two.

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

By far the biggest tip I would give is to commit to it and keep writing. Push away the doubt, the laziness, the despair, the self-judgment and just crank out pages. You can always go back and rewrite. Do away with the need for perfection; your first draft will likely be really problematic anyway. A failure is just as valuable as a success, maybe even more so. Write emotion. Know why you’re telling this story. Don’t waste too much time on character development or research or whatever if it’s really an excuse not to write. Write and make mistakes. Write the worst pages ever. Just write them. Be prolific. Move to LA (sorry, but to break in you really have to – of course there are exceptions, but why dramatically lower your already impossible odds?). Surround yourself with 3-4 people who you absolutely trust who can support your writing and give you the feedback you need. And enjoy yourself!

What’s next for you?

I just recently acquired representation with Preferred Artists and management with Festa Entertainment. I'm in the process of rewriting the first spec script we’re going out with, which will hopefully be ready to go soon. I’m also writing another screenplay that I will finish by early March and working on developing a comedy pilot.