MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Jeff Seeman

An interview with screenwriter Jeff Seeman regarding the Expose It! Writing Competition.

A: It was originally titled Mardi Gras. It’s about an attractive but sexually repressed college girl who goes to a frat party for the first time in her life and gets wildly drunk. The next morning she discovers that her antics were captured on a Girls Gone Wild-type video, so she and her friends trail the video producer to New Orleans in an attempt to recover the incriminating tape.

A: I entered this contest because it was exclusively for comedies. I hadn’t entered contests before because I don’t think comedies fare particularly well in most contests. I mean, let’s say you’re judging a contest and you have to choose between two scripts. One is a poignant, heart-warming drama about an elderly, physically disabled lesbian nun who’s dying of leukemia. And the other is my script, which contains jokes about dildos. Seriously, which one are you going to vote for?

A: Yes, the contest met its deadline and, thanks to the contest administrator, I was able to get far more exposure for the script than I would have otherwise.

A: I was told I should write in a different color of crayon. Apparently nobody uses fuchsia anymore.

A: I’ve now taken meetings with several production companies, none of which would have been possible if not for the contest. And a word of advice: If you’re ever taking a meeting with a producer and they offer you a drink, always say yes. Because, you know, at least then you got a free drink.

A: I wrote a few novels before turning to screenplays. And lots of people in the publishing industry told me, “This is great! Really original! Very funny! Uh...we’re not going to publish it. We have no idea how to market this. Got any romance novels or anything with, like, Nazis in it?” And I kept hearing that there was a much bigger market for funny screenplays than for funny novels. So I started writing screenplays a couple of years ago. Mardi Gras was my third script.

A: Yes, I live in Los Angeles, which is why I write screenplays. It’s actually the law here. If you’re not working on a screenplay, you’re legally required to move to Fresno.

A: Yes, it’s called Frida Vs. Jason. It’s about the ultimate showdown between psychotic, hockey-masked serial killer Jason Voorhees and 20th Century Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. By borrowing elements from both horror and art house films, I’m creating a unique screenplay which, if my calculations are correct, will appeal to no one. No, seriously, I’m working on a romantic comedy. Which, I hope, will be considerably less horrific.

Posted Thursday, June 23, 2005