MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriters Brooks Elms & Glenn Sanders

An interview with screenwriters Brooks Elms & Glenn Sanders regarding the Writers On The Storm Writing Competition.

A: Elms & Sanders: The script that won Writers on the Storm is WRIGHT OR WRONG. It's a comedy about the Wright Brothers falling for the same girl, igniting their sibling rivalry, which pits them against each other in love and flight.

The idea was inspired by each of us with our own connection to the Wright Brothers - Elms had spent time in North Carolina near Kitty Hawk, while Sanders had written the Brothers as children into another script. We’ve actually known each other since NYU film school where we helped out on each other's student films - like props, wardrobe, lighting, and Elms letting Sanders make out with his actress girlfriend on camera.

A: The first draft of WRIGHT OR WRONG placed ahead of 6000 other scripts in the Nicholl Fellowships to reach the quarterfinals in 2010. A later draft made quarterfinals or above (top 9%) in another seven contests.

A: Jim was very responsive about the prizes and got them to us quickly. There's a few awards like consultations we have yet to pull the trigger on, but that's on our end.

He also was insistent on us doing another draft of the script, which was a big surprise. We'd gotten such a strong response from contests and a variety of industry pros, so we were skeptical about the value of further changes until someone wants to option and develop it for production. But Jim's passion was infectious and his notes so in-depth and well-reasoned that we couldn't resist jumping back in. The new draft is definitely stronger, and we're very grateful he took the time and energy to really challenge us. It tells us that he believes in the script and wants to see it in theaters almost as much as we do.

A: When we're both available to write full time we move at light speed -- we can knock out a first draft of the script in a few days. But that's after spending weeks choosing the right concept (brainstorming and sharing ideas with friends, colleagues, contacts and of course our manager). Then we craft a meticulous outline (4 to 9 pages) that becomes our blueprint. We split up the first draft of the script into chunks and dive in. Each subsequent draft takes a week or so. Eventually, we read through the script out loud together and talk through every detail. And we like staging a live reading with actors too.

WRIGHT OR WRONG was our first collaboration and we both had other projects going, so it took about a year from the initial idea to the draft we submitted to Writers on the Storm. We've written three other scripts together since WRIGHT OR WRONG going from concept to 5th draft in less than two months each.

A: When we're concepting, researching, writing notes and outlines, we use Google Docs. It's an incredible tool that allows us both to be in a document at the same time, hurling insults at each other over the internet. We also use Dropbox to share reference images that help inspire mood, locations, characters, etc. For the actual script writing, Final Draft (which could use a much better collaboration service).

A: We both have kids so we keep a pretty normal schedule. M-F roughly 9-5, but we stay flexible for other projects, taking the kids to school, etc. Mostly, we work out of Canoga Studios, a fancy name for Elms' converted garage office deep in LA's much-maligned but grossly underrated Valley.

A: When Sanders gets writer's block, Elms beats him with a bag of oranges (doesn't leave visible marks). When Elms gets blocked, Sanders kicks him in the neck with cleats (definitely leaves visible marks).

But for us, getting blocked comes from not being sure how to solve a story problem. You can bounce around solutions, or move onto another task and return to the original problem later. Momentum is king. Blocks happens far less for us when co-writing because we have somebody there to talk it out. We also founded the Gentle Giants, an online writer's group, long before we worked together, to have a sounding board for everything from loglines to 3rd act fatigue.

A: Elms: written or co-written 12 feature scripts, directed dozens of shorts and two features.

Sanders: also written or co-written 12 feature scripts (one of which was developed with producer Lawrence Bender), directed about a dozen shorts, and have worked in advertising as a writer & creative director since 2004 with tons of short and long-form video projects.

A: Elms since 2003. Sanders since 1996.

A: We have a new script we're writing called FROZEN THUNDER. The logline is:

When an intense ice cream man's dream girl mysteriously disappears, he rallies the neighborhood kids to solve the mystery in his kick-ass ice cream truck: FROZEN THUNDER.

It's SCHOOL OF ROCK meets REAR WINDOW.

We're also aiming to co-direct a few shorts and maybe a feature this year too.

Posted Friday, March 30, 2012