Interview:

Starting as a published poet at the age of twelve, Nick Scown continued to develop his own writing style, winning state and regional awards in Drama Competitions, performing monologues he’d written himself and founding a weekly TV program for Park City High School.  At the University of Miami, FL he earned his M.F.A. in Film, finishing at the top of his class and winning awards for best feature screenplay for The Golden Ticket as well as best director and thesis film for his short Forgiving John, which was also nominated for best short at the 2005 San Fernando Valley International Film Festival.  Currently residing in Los Angeles, CA Nick works as a freelance writer, editor and segment producer, having cut the feature film Last Stop For Paul, and working on Oprah’s Legends Ball, The ESPY Awards, and Jim Rome is Burning.  His short films The Attendant’s Tip, The Pitch a.k.a Lebron James V.S. The Alien King and A Cry for Help have screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Big Bear Lake Film Festival, Outfar! Film Festival and several others across the country.

Is JACK HAMMER: MALE STEWARDESS your first script? If not, what else have you completed?

Jack is not my first script, in fact my previous feature Love, Gloria,about a disgraced former child star who tries to revitalize her career at Sundance only to be kidnapped and held hostage by her biggest (and only remaining) fan, was a quarterfinalist a few years ago at the Screenwriting Expo.  Right now I’m re-writing a quirky love triangle between a guy, a girl and a guy who may only exist in the other guy’s mind called My Best Worst Friend.

Why did you write “Jack Hammer: Male Stewardess”?  And how long did it take you to write it?

After writing several scripts for myself to direct I wanted to free myself from worrying about how I would shoot something, and budget and just write whatever came into my head.  The first draft took about 3 months to write and probably 3 more months of rewriting to get it to where it’s at now.

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

My process has been different for every script, often because of what my work schedule would be and when I would have time to write, but in the case of Jack I took time off to focus on the script and so I would usually watch a film or read a screenplay that I thought would be helpful or instructive or inspiring in the morning, taking notes on what the film did or didn’t do well and what structural elements or character arcs could work in my story.  Sometimes this kind of “research” would take up a whole day, but otherwise I would spend the afternoon and evening working on my script.  As I was writing I would have readings of the it with friends playing the different parts about once a month, which was a helpful way of giving myself a deadline to meet and getting feedback along the way as to what was or wasn’t working, which was very helpful as I tend to overwrite.

What inspires you to write?

I love telling stories, and I get a kick out of making people (including myself) laugh.

Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

What I realized a couple years ago is that film combines all the things I am passionate about; I love acting, I love photography, I love music, I love stories and here is this one medium that combines all the things I am passionate about into one enjoyable package.  I’m also a sports fan, and a huge Utah Jazz fan, though my dreams of being the next John Stockton have faded over the years.

What influenced you to enter the Movie Script Contest?

I was on the hunt for contests that had their own separate category for comedy as I think it can be a difficult challenge for a Will Ferrell type script to compete against an enduring tale of a deaf and blind child surviving the holocaust or something equally as dramatic or tear jerking.

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

I feel like screenwriting contests are worthwhile if nothing else than to use as a barometer for where your script is actually at in comparison to your peers.  I know I had a tendency to think that I’d hit one out of the ball park with every early script, but they didn’t do well in contests at all (and for good reason), and then the next script would be a second rounder and the next one a quarterfinalist, and now a semi-finalist and finalist.  I had to get a few scripts under my belt to get to the point where I could write this one, and going the contest route let me know I was on the right path, but had more work to do to get my scripts to where they needed to be.  Not to mention, since I have gotten into the upper echelons of contest, managers and companies are contacting me about reading my script now.

Who is your favorite screenwriter or writers and why? 

I am a huge fan of Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers, mostly because they are never content to repeat themselves or make a movie you’ve seen a thousand times before.  They are always trying to make something original and fresh and compelling.

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

Aside from that tried and true mantra of “Just keep writing.”  The biggest thing is doing research; research your story and characters, research the films that are similar to yours, research the managers and agents that represent writers similar to you, research the representatives of the actors you have in mind, research the contests that actually mean something to the people you want to read your script, etc.  Do all this research so that when you have your script that you’ve put all this knowledge in you know exactly what to do with it and who you want to get it to, so that you can start making phone calls (don’t bother with query letters) and when you get on the horn with whoever’s assistant you won’t have to worry about not knowing what to say, because you’ll know everything there is to know about your script, and the marketplace for it.

What’s next for you?

I am working with Benderspink to get Jack Hammer: Male Stewardess ready for the market while we figure out what the next script I dedicate myself to should be.