MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Raef Eric Lawson

An interview with screenwriter Raef Eric Lawson regarding the Action On Film Writing Competition.

A: "Opportunity Knocks".

Tired of working a dead-end job, an impressionable twenty-something guy is coerced by his slacker friend into faking an injury to collect workers' compensation so they can party full-time -- but an unexpected love interest and the threat of a frenzied insurance fraud investigator complicates their plan.

A: The Action on Film website caught my eye and was receiving positive feedback. I like how this festival tapes interviews of all the entrants who attend then puts them up on YouTube.

"Opportunity Knocks" was also a finalist at both the Spring 2009 WILDsound Screenplay Contest and the 2009 Fall/Winter Acclaim Screenplay Competition.

A: Yes, I was very satisfied. The people at AOF are extremely accommodating and really go out of their way to recognize screenwriters. The deadlines were met and I received all the awards that were promised, which consisted of a framed certificate from the festival for the Best Comedy category and a copy of the Writer's DreamKit - Version 4 from Write Brothers, Inc.

What's different about AOF's award ceremony is instead of calling the winner by their name the host will read a scene from their script. So if you're nominated in the future, just make sure you know your work. Unless of course you want to be thoroughly embarrassed, then don't know your work. In that case either the reader will keep reading while you continue to sit out in the audience or you'll be wrestling with the real winner of the award behind the podium.

A: About two months. One month for the rough draft and about a month after that to do three subsequent drafts. I did write an outline. I always utilize one but I try to make them as short as possible. This way I know where my script will be headed, however there's also room for the characters to make extemporaneous decisions as well, which I believe adds to the realism.

A: I'm always waiting for someone to say they carved their script out of stone for this question. But alas, like everyone else, I did use software. More specifically, Final Draft for the script and Microsoft Word for the outline. However since I won the Write Brothers software I'm more than willing to give that a shot on my next go around.

A: Yes, I write something every day. Whether it's an actual script or ideas for future ones, I'm always working on something. When it comes time to write the script itself I try to write 3-4 hours a day.

A: My old method used to be to just plow right through and write anything then go back and fix it later if need be. However now I'll just reference the outline and see where the screenplay needs to go. I'll then skip to a future scene that I've already envisioned and write that one. Once I have that I'll see what I need to include in the scene I was stuck on before and it usually all comes together after that.

If there ever came a time when that method stops working I imagine I'd complain, go take a nap, then threaten to retire from the business completely to people who do not care.

A: I'm a stand-up comic who's been writing feature-length comedies for over three years now. However lately I'm trying to branch out to not only TV pilot scripts but dramas as well.

A: No, but I do plan on moving there within a year. I'm currently applying to graduate schools for screenwriting that are all in Los Angeles.

A: I'm just finishing up the pilot script for a one-hour TV drama entitled "Hit & Run". It's about a hit man, female gambler, and two children who are forced to pose as a family in order to avoid the federal agents and trained killers who are hunting them down.

Posted Thursday, August 12, 2010