MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Matthew Scarsbrook

An interview with screenwriter Matthew Scarsbrook regarding the Writers On The Storm Writing Competition.

A: Title: ‘Exit Marlowe’

My story is set in the Elizabethan Era and is based on the life of Christopher Marlowe….

1593, Elizabethan England: In a turbulent time of wars, famine, and religious persecution, Christopher Marlowe struggles to balance his life as England's most popular playwright with his duties as a government spy.

Suddenly, when he falls under suspicion of atheism, Marlowe fears his many powerful enemies have launched a conspiracy to have him executed...

With only a few days to clear his name, he quickly enlists the aid of a young William Shakespeare – one of the few friends he can still trust. Together, they race through Marlowe's tangled life of crime, espionage, and noble connections to expose the conspiracy and save him from the hangman's noose.

But will anything save a man as troubled as Marlowe?

A: Although Writers On The Storm offers a generous list of prizes, I mainly entered the competition because of the exposure it offered my work around Hollywood. They have a very tempting list of managers, agents, and production executives who will read the winning script. In my mind, if a contest doesn’t promote its scripts around Hollywood, there’s no real point in entering it.

‘Exit Marlowe’ has also placed in a number of other competitions: Finalist – Writemovies International Screenwriting Contest (2007)

Semifinalist – Scriptapalooza (2007), PAGE International Screenwriting Awards (2007), and the Tennessee Screenwriting Association Contest (2007) Quarterfinalist – Nicholl Fellowships (2006) and the Bluecat Screenplay Competition (2007)

A: It’s a very professionally run competition. I was always emailed the results at every stage, and when I won first place the contest organizer, Jim Cirile, phoned me specially to tell me the exciting news.

The competition met most of its deadlines and quickly announced new deadlines when they were a few days behind schedule. As long as screenplay contests tell you when they have changed the deadline, I don’t mind – it’s the competitions who don’t keep you in the loop that I dislike.

A: The competition offers a basic level of feedback to everyone who enters. They send you an email with how your script scores in categories like Structure, Dialogue, Story, and Originality, etc. However, the contest reader also provides his/her brief comments on the Strengths/Weakness of the script and also makes various suggestions for improvement.

Overall, although it’s only short a critique, I found the feedback to be a positive feature: it offered the views of an experienced reader who had actually read the script (it’s easy to tell when they don’t) and it gave me one or two useful points on how to strengthen the story.

A: It’s too early to tell yet… but Writers On The Storm have a long list of contacts in the movie industry. Many of the names are impressive and I’m confident that I will get at least some contacts or meetings (as did the scripts who made it to the Top Ten last year).

A: I have just graduated from Cal State Northridge with a Masters Degree in Screenwriting. Apart from screenwriting itself, I am also a novelist: I write my stories into both scripts and novels and I have just completed ‘Exit Marlowe’ as a novel.

I have three other scripts written as part of my Masters Degree, including an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s classic novel ‘Of Human Bondage’ (this script has also placed in many competitions).

Currently, all my work is historical in genre: history is rich with interesting characters and stories that stimulate the imagination. I believe Hollywood has yet to really tap the potential life and excitement of this genre.

A: Thankfully, I live in Santa Barbara, California which is only a two-hour drive from LA. Thus, I can still attend meetings in the city without actually having to live in all the smog, etc.

A: Next, I plan to sell ‘Exit Marlowe’ the novel. I have a literary agent in New York who represents many bestselling authors and she will soon start submitting the manuscript to publishers. Fingers crossed!

As for screenplays, I have another story in the works about the life of Lord Nelson that I will turn into my next script and novel.

Anyone interested can learn more about me and my work at my website: www.matthewgscarsbrook.com

Posted Thursday, August 2, 2007