MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Adam Taylor Barker

An interview with screenwriter Adam Taylor Barker regarding the Creative World Writing Competition.

A: "Urbanity" took home the Grand Prize in the '09 Creative World Awards. It's a gritty drama about a mysterious homeless youth and a lonely NYC counselor who find guidance in one another as they seek redemption from their tragic pasts and safety for a downtrodden group of vagrants.

A: To be honest, it was late in the screenwriting contest season and I was looking for any contests whose deadlines hadn't expired yet. I found the Nicholl Fellowships and the Screenwriting Expo Screenplay Contest.

I entered both and made the Quarters in the Nicholl and the Quarters in the Expo.

Amidst those two contests, there were too many others to choose from. If I entered every one, I'd go broke. So I looked over the Creative World Awards website and noticed two things... 1 -- the list of companies that have committed to read the winning scripts. 2 -- the fact that they judge by genre (instead of pitting comedies against thrillers or dramas against horrors, etc). I also read Diana Mitchell's interview here on MovieBytes and was struck by the positive experience that she had with CWA in 2008. So I made up my mind and submitted for the 09 Awards...

A: Heather and Marlene have been terrific to work with. They delivered on everything they promised. It's been exactly one week since my win, and they have gotten every prize to my doorstep or to my email inbox. I've been very impressed with their effort and continue to enjoy working with them on revising Urbanity.

A: I wrote the script for a Screenwriting Workshop course at the University of Kentucky. The course was 3 months long, and within those 3 months I had my first completed draft. I submitted that very rough draft to the Nicholl Fellowships Competition and made the Quarterfinal cut somehow. Then I made another pass on the script and came out with my second draft... which made the Quarters in the Screenwriting Expo and won the Creative World Awards. So I would say that it took me about 5 months altogether to come out with the draft that won this competition.

I did begin with an outline. I actually used different colored Post-It notes to nearly cover an entire wall with plot points, character descriptions, dialogue snippets, etc... It was unbelievably helpful at churning out a first draft while taking 4 other classes and waiting tables.

A: If you haven't heard of it, check it out -- www.Zhura.com

It's a community-based screenwriting website that offers online screenwriting software for FREE... and the people there are unbelievably supportive and helpful. It's like having co-writers that you don't have to give credit to!

I've recently upgraded to Final Draft 8 and I'm certainly pleased with the ease that it affords its writer.

A: You *could* say that... but it would be lie.

I TRY to write every day. But usually I write for a few days and then take a few days to gather my thoughts for the scenes to come. Then sit down and write for a few more days... until I've got everything out of my head and onto the page. So I'm either writing the script or thinking about the story every day... which I think still counts. It's a process and I just can't spend the entire time in front of the computer.

But I do RE-write every day. I go over and over and over the script until I feel there is nothing else I can offer that could make it better than it is.

A: Actually, I really don't. If I have a strong outline to begin with, then I can run right through any writer's "block" just by studying the notes that I already have.

A: I'm an English major at the University of Kentucky. A 6th year senior... very much so due to ignoring my studies to write silly stories (which has paid off, apparently)... with a few classes left to go. I've taken numerous creative writing courses and 2 screenwriting workshop courses.

"Urbanity" is only my 2nd screenplay. I've just recently pulled my first screenplay out of a drawer to begin revising it. I'm surprised by how much I was able to salvage from the original first draft... but there's a LOT of work to be done.

A: I don't. And I don't have any plans to move any time soon. But I would certainly consider moving if the right offer came along... Hopefully enough money to pay the bills as I struggle to complete something else that will earn its weight in cash.

A: As stated above, I'm currently re-writing my first screenplay. It's a gritty crime-thriller very much in the vein of No Country for Old Men. It follows an anarchist steelworker and his tagalong brother as they make away with the spoils of a violent heist and exact revenge on a seasoned cop.

Posted Thursday, October 22, 2009