Interview:

I am a displaced Brit living in Portland, OR.  I moved here in 2001 after a career as a television host and writer in London, and have spent the last few years writing, acting, and producing in this incredibly creative and quirky city.

Is TOOTH LAKE your first script? If not, what else have you completed?

My first finished script was a (really terrible) pantomime I wrote for my village youth club when I was 15. Numerous false starts and 25 years later, this is my second ‘proper’ full-length feature script. I’ve worked my whole life as a writer in one guise or another – advertising copywriter, journalist, author – but have been increasingly drawn to film and television narratives in the last few years.

Why did you write TOOTH LAKE? And how long did it take you to write it?

For my 40th birthday, my wife generously bought me the gift of an eight week intensive screenwriting program at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. I packed my bags last January and set off for a 900 mile drive to go live the writer’s dream – two months in an empty apartment with a futon, desk and a laptop. TOOTH LAKE was the script I wrote for my practicum, and the first draft was completed in six weeks whilst in L.A. I then spent a month or so upon my return to Portland fine tuning the dialogue and working on thematic elements.

Like my first screenplay (KASHMIR), TOOTH LAKE deals primarily with isolation and self-discovery in extreme situations. The human spirit is unquenchable – we are all capable of astonishing and horrifying things in extraordinary circumstances, and I find this theme working its way into much of my writing.

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

When I’m involved in a writing project, it consumes my every waking (and sometimes sleeping) hour. Not just writing it, but thinking about it, planning it, analyzing it, dreaming it. As my family will testify, it makes me something of a pain to live with because everything else gets put on the mental back-burner until a project is finished. When I do eventually come up for air, I’m inevitably told I’ve been ‘there but not there’ for the last few weeks.

It may be tough being a writer, but I think it’s even tougher being the partner of a writer.
As for routine, when I sit down to write, I first always read and edit what I wrote the day before – sometimes over and over again.  This eases me back into That Other World. Once I’m mentally committed, I turn off the phone, disconnect the internet and put on some good mood music (usually TV and film soundtracks with the right vibe).

What inspires you to write?

Telling stories. The human condition.  A compulsion to work out what it’s all about.  How in many ways we are all so alike, yet live (and die) by such differing moral and ethical codes.  Having said that, I don’t find philosophical navel-gazing very interesting. When I watch a movie, read a script, follow a TV show – I want a story.  A good story. So I guess it boils down to storytelling – plucking these things out of my head and trying to accurately plant them into somebody else’s.

Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

My long-suffering family, obviously.  Aside from that, I’m fortunate to be working in the indie movie scene in Portland; writing, acting and producing with highly talented (and grossly underfunded) artists, many of whom really do sacrifice their quality of life for their artistic vision. They’re very inspirational.

What influenced you to enter Movie Script Contest?

There are so many people writing screenplays, and so few people reading them, you’ve got to find some way of getting noticed.  The Movie Script Contest is a great route to get in front of managers, producers and directors.  Plus, the Movie Script Contest trophies are way cooler than anyone else’s.

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

Absolutely – for a whole host of reasons.  They force you to bring your ‘A’ game, they impose a deadline to kill the never-ending cycle of re-writes, they offer professional feedback and guidance, and you get that all elusive opportunity to have your screenplay read by someone who doesn’t share your last name.

Who is your favorite screenwriter or writer and why?

The Coen brothers never fail to deliver the goods - they bag three out my top five favorite movies. Their work simultaneously embraces both the absurdity and profundity of life – with a humor driven entirely by character.  I also love the aesthetics of language – its rhythm, its texture, its tonality – and so David Mamet ranks high for me.

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

What you’re writing today is better than what you wrote yesterday, but not as good as what you’ll write tomorrow. So keep writing, even when you feel as if you can’t.  Like Gene Fowler said, “writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

What’s next for you?

I’m just finishing up a TV pilot called ‘Polaxis’.  It’s a high-concept, epic sci-fi/horror/thriller that draws on elements of Lost/X-Files/Fringe/The Stand.  I’m very excited about it and looking forward to smoothing out the crinkles in the re-write.