MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Wyatt Wakeman

An interview with screenwriter Wyatt Wakeman regarding the Big Break Writing Competition.

A: I entered two scripts in Final Draft's Big Break International Screenplay Competition this year.

The first is called MINUS MEN, a sci-fi action-adventure about terrorists traveling back in time after Barack Obama is elected president in order to assassinate president Abraham Lincoln — all in an attempt to ensure slavery endures to this day.

The second is called BORDERLAND. It's about a crack FBI agent sent to investigate a drug trafficking murder along the U.S./Mexico border, and what happens when the town he suspects of foul play discovers a very compromising secret about him that jeopardizes the investigation, his career, and ultimately, his life.

I am the only writer in the contest's ten-year history to place two scripts in the Final Top Ten.

BORDERLAND ultimately went on to win the Grand Prize.

A: I entered Final Draft's Big Break International Screenwriting Competition because it takes rewarding and promoting the writer very, very seriously. It is also a name that the industry respects, so I figured there had to be a certain amount of weight behind their promotions.

But it was not the only contest I entered this year. I entered both of these scripts into twenty-two screenwriting contests in 2009.

A: The whole team at Final Draft, Inc. is to be commended for putting on, in my opinion, the best screenwriting competition in Hollywood. Having won in about four other contests with MINUS MEN and BORDERLAND, I have a decent knowledge of what the average competition does for its winners. Final Draft met all their deadlines, and thus far I have been receiving my awards in a timely manner. I received my check at the awards ceremony (a gorgeous red carpet affair at the Paley Center For Media, in Beverly Hills), had industry pros lining up to meet me and read my scripts, and have since signed with a new manager.

A: It took me about six weeks to write each script. I did not write an outline for MINUS MEN, while for BORDERLAND I used the sequence method -- breaking the movie down into eight, fifteen-minute sequences -- while retaining an overall three-act structure. In order to accomplish this, I had to outline the sequences so that they had a clear beginning, middle, and end. It was the easiest, and most economical, outlining I've ever done; and I highly recommend this approach to anyone who's written scripts using the traditional three-act structure, but want to try something different.

I wrote several drafts of MINUS MEN, although after the first draft, most were tweaks and polishes on the overall theme.

On BORDERLAND, I did a first draft; then a serious, thirty-page slash-and-cut edit; then several polishes.

A: I used Final Draft, of course! I have been using their software for the last ten years, at least. Before that I used Scriptware. I think I wrote my fifth script on Word for Windows, when I was in-between screenwriting software. That is not an experience I recommend, although it helped me to understand intimately the exact details and measurements that go into churning out industry-standard screenplays.

A: Alas, I do not write every day. I never have. I don't think one has to, if — when away from the typewriter or computer — he is still writing in his head. Which is what I tend to do. I suspect I'm not alone in this. Some might call it obsessive; but if you are not constantly thinking about writing the world around you, whether while walking to the store or driving to work, then you have a better shut-off mechanism than I do.

When I do write, there is no set amount of time I allot myself. I simply write when I need to — which is a lot — when creating a new world. Also, time goes by very, very fast when you are writing. So I will look up and three hours will have passed.

But I also have no problem answering the phone or taking a break, if I need to. I find this helps me to collect myself and remain excited to get back to the page. It's an interesting approach, and perhaps there are better ones, but it has worked for me, and that's really what it's all about: Finding your personal groove, believing that it's okay& that it will get you where you want to go.

A: I rarely have a problem coming up with new ideas. And if you do some form of outlining before hand, you have even less of an excuse for writer's block. It may sound clichéd, but if you are truly enjoying the world you're creating and you understand how integral conflict is to any storytelling, then the story unfolds almost effortlessly. But I also try to leave a large degree of wiggle room in my execution, because these characters& they will speak to you and go off and do things and see things and say things you absolutely never knew they were going to do, see, or say. It's a little eerie. But when these moments occur, I remember why I'm a writer.

You have to trust that you're in the right place, at the right time — and then create the opposite for your characters!

A: I wrote my first short stories in the fourth grade. Then I started acting as a freshman in high school. But I didn't start writing seriously until about age seventeen, and then it was still just short stories. I went to the University of Southern California (USC) for Creative Writing — where I won the Edward W. Moses Short Story Competition — and eventually got my degree.

A year after graduation, I was writing my first script. I've since written thirteen of them, ranging from drama to comedy, thrillers, actions, and sci-fi. The only thing I haven't attempted is a romantic comedy, which is interesting, because I actually like watching them more than I should admit.

I have never attempted a television script, although I plan to, especially now that the feature spec market is changing. I also like the idea of remaining involved with my stories, which television affords you.

A: I moved to Los Angeles in 1992. I've been settled in West Hollywood since 1995.

A: I am about to begin my next spec script, a thriller in the vein of a hopped-up, multi-cast SEVEN. I also have a small, independent script I'm planning to direct.

Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009