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Screenwriter Interviews
MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Robert Ward
An interview with screenwriter Robert Ward regarding the American Gem Logline Writing Competition.
Q: What's the title of the script you entered in this contest, and what's it about?A: My feature screenplay FLAT PENNIES, which I entered in the American Gem Logline Contest, is a stark examination of deep loneliness and unspeakable guilt. Here's the logline: "A troubled teen becomes the errand boy and son-figure for a mysterious loner who uses a model railroad to escape into heroic fantasies." That simple logline went through numerous edits until it felt right, especially daunting since I'm trying to wrestle such a complex script into one sentence.
Q: What made you enter this particular contest? Have you entered any other contests with this script? If so, how did you do?A: This contest was highly unusual from the rest since it had a logline category. I have grown a little fond of my logline and thought to give the contest a shot. Yes, I have entered several competitions in the past year, and my script is slowly gaining traction, especially after each edit. FLAT PENNIES was recently a finalist at StoryPros and a top-10-percent finisher at Nicholl Fellowships. I'm really excited to see how FLAT PENNIES will fare in the future as I have just completed a major overhaul of the script and expect to place higher in coming competitions.
Q: Were you satisfied with the adminstration of the contest? Did they meet their deadlines? Did you receive all the awards that were promised?A: The American Gem contest was administered quite well. I received acknowledgement of my entry right away. They kept to their announcement deadlines. And most importantly (for all of us who enter such competitions), American Gem paid their awards, completely, in a timely manner.
Q: Were you given any feedback on your script? If so, did you find the feedback helpful?A: No, I didn't receive any feedback.
Q: Has your success in this contest helped you market your script? Were you contacted by any agents, managers or producers?A: No contacts yet from agents, managers or producers. But I did receive many additional hits on MovieBytes' WinningScripts.com that I think were clearly the result of the American Gem logline contest.
Q: What's your background? Have you written any other screenplays or television scripts?A: My background is in journalism. I've held just about every newspaper job there is that doesn't get my hands filthy: reporter, staff writer, columnist, contributor, copy editor, proofreader, features editor, managing editor, editor. As for other screenplays, yes, I wrote a 14-page short as my entry for the NYC Midnight Screenwriters' Challenge (the script won 5th place).
Q: Do you live in Los Angeles? If not, do you have any plans to move there?A: No LA yet. I spend some time in Santa Cruz, California, and most of my time in Lakeland, Tennessee, about 20 miles from the Mississippi River. But I would love to live in Los Angeles and intimately involved at the screenwriting epicenter.
Q: What's next? Are you working on a new script?A: After FLAT PENNIES, I was set to begin my next work about a Russian chemist living a bleak existence in an industrial town. On one of his dreary bus rides to the factory, through a fogged-up window he spots an old woman on an icy bench. It turns out to be his long-lost mother. The trouble is, after the emotional grindstone of FLAT PENNIES, I need a break from such heady topics. And so, I'm planning to work on palatable pablum for the time being.
Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008
