Scriptapalooza Interviews 2008 Contest Winners

Scriptapalooza interviews 1st Place winner Matt Umbarger, 2nd Place winners Damian Lahey and Ian Ogden, and 3rd Place winner Heather Regnier:

Matt Umbarger
1st Place winner - The Terminals

How did you come up with your story idea?
I was web surfing and crossed a quote by the late comedian Bill Hicks in which he presented a "Killer Idea." He had just seen Terminator 2 and he thought to himself, "You know what? There's no way they're ever going to top these stunts unless they start using terminally ill people in the movies." Cruel? Yes&but a good high concept joke. Of course, as a concept, it required a bit of finesse, even as a comedy.

How long did it take you to write it?
Most of it was written in a class over an eight week period.

Is this your first script that you have written?
No, it's the second. Have you entered other screenwriting competitions?
Yes.

Have you been successful?
My first script finished as a quarter and semi-finalist in a couple other large competitions, but this is my first win.

Why did you enter Scriptapalooza?
It's regarded as one of the top competitions in terms of industry exposure, and since I knew a grand total of three people in said industry, it seemed like a good idea.

Advice to other screenwriters?
Be patient. Personally, I take the "Field of Dreams" approach. "If you build it, they will come." I think a lot of writers get too caught up in marketing their work and not enough on the craft itself. It's all about the execution. How did you feel when you saw your name as one of the winners? Blown away. It's kind of surreal, considering the odds. Honestly, I just wanted to finish in the Top 13. I'm thrilled to be a winner.

Damian Lahey and Ian Ogden
Child in the Dark - 2nd place winner

How did you come up with your story idea?
Damian came up with the premise for CHILD IN THE DARK during a period where he was doing volunteer work at a local school for blind children.

How long did it take you to write it?
We worked in bursts for about a year before we had a solid draft worth showing.

Is this your first script that you have written?
No. Damian and I have each written other scripts before, but never collaborated on something together.

Have you entered other screenwriting competitions?
Yes.

Have you been successful?
Yes. In addition to winning 2nd Place in Scriptapalooza, CHILD IN THE DARK also recently won the "Award for Creative Excellence" in the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival Horror Screenplay Competition. Prior to that, CHILD IN THE DARK had placed 4th in the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival Screenplay Competition (all genres) and 2nd in the Rhode Island International Film Festival Horror Screenplay Competition. CHILD IN THE DARK has also recently been selected to participate in the Emerging Narratives section of the 2008 Project Forum in the IFP produced, Independent Film Week (formerly the IFP Market).

Why did you enter Scriptapalooza?
I chose to enter Scriptapalooza because of its reputation as one of the largest and most respected competitions out there. From my experience, it has been one of the few with the credibility to actually open doors as far as getting your script read. In particular, the fact that they actively promote the winning scripts to producers and production companies was also especially attractive, as I am planning on directing CHILD IN THE DARK as well, and currently looking for an experienced producer or production company to work with.

Advice to other screenwriters?
Keep on fighting the good fight!

How did you feel when you saw your name as one of the winners?
Grateful for the recognition... and excited about the future!

Heather Regnier
3rd place winner - Sober Living

How did you come up with your story idea?
I always have to be diplomatic when I answer that question, since my script A) involves a lot of sex and drugs, and B) it's about an incredibly dysfunctional family. In reference to A) and I suppose a splash of B), my mother was a psychologist, so being raised in the environment where in family fights, instead of calling one another "jerks" or "idiots", we threw around terms like "bi-polar man-child, and "sociopathic attention-seeking adolescent with a personality disorder." I instantly took a liking to the long-winded, diagnosable insults, so when I was accepted into the screenwriting school of cinematic arts at USC and wanted to study another subject, I chose to minor in neuroscience with an emphasis in abnormal psychology. There, I learned all I needed to know about sex, drugs, and mania, and immediately filtered them into my writing. It's funny when people read my work and don't know that about me, because, naturally, they think I'm a closeted comorbid psychopath with all these fetishes and drug dependencies, but hey, that's show biz. To address B), Sober Living, was my thesis script at USC, and at the time when we were choosing our stories, I moved into my parents old house with my sister and her boyfriend. As any family member of a writer knows, the characters you base on your loved ones never do them any sort of justice, and are rarely flattering. Most of my inspiration came from "What if-ing" the worst case scenarios with them, adding in two crazy parents' and an even crazier sober living house along the way.

How long did it take you to write it?
About 9 months, but really it's never over until it's made. I'm working on my hopefully last pass of it as we speak, although, the bulk of the writing was done during my last year of college.

Is this your first script that you have written?
This was my fourth script, although it was my first comedy, which to my surprise, I ended up adoring.

Have you entered other screenwriting competitions?
I started entering screenwriting competitions about a year ago, when I realized how difficult it was to prove to industry professionals that your material was worth reading. I found that competitions were a great way to accumulate street cred, without necessitating any prior connections.

Have you been successful?
I won best drama for my script Imperfectly Conscious in the Indiegathering screenwriting competition in 2007, which was also a second round finalist in the Austin Film festival and a finalist in several other competitions. Sober Living won thesis distinction at USC, the Jay Roach Scholarship at USC, and has also made the finals of several competitions, most of which, however, I'm still waiting to hear back from. I've loved applying to screenwriting competitions, but you can't let the results dictate your opinion of your own work. For example, I know that Sober Living is one of my strongest scripts, yet more mediocre ones have placed higher in the same competitions. Scriptapalooza didn't make that same mistake of course (the aforementioned poor script I'm referring to didn't even make the semi-finals in Scriptapalooza last year, as it shouldn't have), but nonetheless, after you apply to several competitions, you learn to hope for the best and accept the flops, because it's never a foolproof

Why did you enter Scriptapalooza?
I entered Scriptapalooza because I'd heard about it from a ton of colleagues and respectable screenwriting sources, as being one of the most prestigious competitions. As I said, applied for it the year before, no cigar, and I was determined to at least make the semifinals.

Advice to other screenwriters?
It's mind-numbingly cliche, but you have to keep writing. At the moment, I have aspirations to write in television, and am desperately seeking out a writers assistant gig. And while that's an important job for me to have, I'll spend a lot of hours in the day, and additional mental energy aside those hours, fixating on such jobs; and in doing so, miss the fact that the whole point of me wanting that job is so I can write, which is where I should be concentrating the bulk of my energy. So that's crucial. You can always be a better writer, particularly if you're young and don't have as much to write about, so practice makes perfect. Don't worry about failing, write some really horrible scripts, learn from them, and write some more. I've just finished the first act of my 5th screenplay and it has been infinitely easier than when I was just starting out. An expression I love, which I didn't invent, but heard somewhere during my time at film school, was that the failure in Hollywood is not falling down, it's not getting back up, so whatever you do, don't give up!

How did you feel when you saw your name as one of the winners?
I had been anxiously awaiting the results for days, and the morning I got the email, I ordered my boyfriend out of my room so I could look at them alone. When I opened the web page, I covered the top of the screen with my hand to lessen the blow of the expected bad news, and gradually moved my hand down the screen. I saw I didn't win first or second, and figured that it was kind of over from there. When I moved my hand two more inches down and saw I won third, I was absolutely thrilled. In one of my neuroscience classes, I read a study about how in the Olympics, gold and bronze winners are always the happiest, because the gold medal is thrilled that they won and the bronze medal is thrilled to win anything! The silver is usually the most disappointed because they were so close to winning, but didn't make it. You can usually see it in their faces, check out some Olympic pictures, it's fascinating, but long story short, when I moved my hand down and saw my name under 3rd place, all I could think was, "Got the bronze, baby!", and needless to say, it was awesome.

Updated: 10/27/2008

Additional Contest Info: Scriptapalooza Features & Shorts Competition