MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter John Wood

An interview with screenwriter John Wood regarding the ScriptVamp/Attention Grabber Writing Competition.

A: Clan of the Crow: Charles Crow, eighteen, finds out his father did not die in a 1995 drowning accident but was murdered. Charles, through flashbacks, is taken on a journey through time that will explain what happened and why he was lied to. Then Charles must make a choice, risk his life seeking the men who killed his father, or walk away as his mother wished and begin a new life.

A: I found the contest through Google and liked the idea of the report card. I sent in a script , With Deadly Purpose, and received the report card. From the comments on the report card I began two other scripts using what I had learned. I entered both scripts and won the Grand prize on Clan of The Crow and Honorable mention on The Seventh Dragon.

The Seventh Dragon, I reworked based on the report card and have submitted it to another contest through Writer's Digest. The results of that contest are not due until October.

A: I'Ve had occasion to communicate with the administration and found them prompt and very professional. I've been informed that the awards package is in the mail.

A: My first attempts we based on short stories I have written and a novel I wrote several years ago. I do not do outlines, I write the story in my head trying to find flaws in the story line. Then I sit down at the computer and start writing. I find the story and characters take on a life of their own.

I will write several pages, stop and edit. Then walk away. Come back and read. If I like it I begin the process over and over until finished. After finishing, I let a writing sit for several days before I go back and do a reread and edit.

A: I use Movie Magic. I haven't tried any other software.

A: I write something everyday. Sometimes only for an hour sometimes a story will take me well into the night.

A: I find writer's block comes only from procrastination. But if I set down, pull up a page and write something, it will begin to flow.

A: I'm retired. I've been blessed with an exciting life that has taken me around the world. I've been a Marine, police officer, teamster, and professional bodyguard. I owned and operated an international security company with offices in Tokyo, London, and several cities in the United States. My mother was a published author and my father a musician.

So far I've written four screenplays and I've just started a new one. I'm unpublished and looking for an agent

A: I have lived in Los Angeles, but now reside in Las Vegas and have no plans to move.

A: Yes, I'm working on a script I call Grandma. Grandma is a former CIA operative and is retired. She sees a man in Las Vegas, a former KGB agent, who shot and killed her husband during the cold war. She reports it to the CIA and it begins a man hunt that will lead to a terrorist plot that has the potential of taking out the East coast of the United States with a gigantic tsunami.

Posted Friday, June 25, 2010