MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Justin Sloan

An interview with screenwriter Justin Sloan regarding the The-GreenLight.com Monthly Writing Competition.

A: “Back by Sunrise” is a story of a young girl who loses her father to war and receives a mysterious necklace that can transform her into a bird at night. It comes with a note that says “Be back by sunrise,” only she fails to return by sunrise and is stuck as a bird. In her adventures she learns the importance of friendship and family, and that running away is never the answer.

A: A: I entered the The-Greenlight contest because of the great reviews and the price of entering.

This script is currently a semi-finalist in the Page International Screenplay Competition.

I also just found out I placed as a finalist in the Creative World Awards Screenplay Contest with a different script.

A: I am very satisfied with the operations of The-Greenlight contest - the feedback was great!

A: Like William Goldman I would say the time I spent researching and contemplating counts for time spent on the script, however my actual writing time in front of a computer on this script was about four months. I tend to come up with a story idea, talk it over with my amazing wife, then write a generic outline. I also am a big fan of Blake Snyder’s beet sheets, which I constantly update as the story progresses. Then I wrote about ten drafts of “Back by Sunrise” before winning this contest, and will likely continue to improve the script until it is picked up.

A: I always use Final Draft to write my scripts, although I have tried CeltX and find it useful.

A: I certainly try to write every day, and if I do not I feel as if I am missing something. On the weekends I probably spend four to six hours writing per day, but on the weekdays I work and attend night classes on writing, so finding time is more difficult. On weekdays I probably write anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours.

A: I do not believe in writer’s block. If I do not know where one story is going, then it is not ready to be written so I move on to another story and work on that one until the ideas start flowing for the first story again. At any one time I am probably working on one or two scripts, a novel, and several short stories.

A: I am working on my second MA degree from Johns Hopkins, this time in Writing. In this program I studied screen writing with Marc Lapadula, an excellent professor who runs the Yale screen writing program and commutes to the DC area to teach. I have also studied writing at The Writers Center of Bethesda, Maryland. My writing website can be found at www.JustinMSloan.com.

My interest in screenplays comes from my days in the U.S. Marines Corps, where I was stationed in California and acted for a couple of years. You can find my IMDB profile at www.imdb.com/name/nm1733364/. Hopefully the credits on the writing side will soon be piling up.

I have written several other scripts, a couple action adventure, three family/animated, and am working on a drama.

A: I live in Berkeley, CA, where I run the Berkeley Area Screenwriters meetup group. LA is a possibility.

A: I am always working on a new script. I am applying the finishing touches to a script that works as a standalone script but in some ways is a sequel to “Back by Sunrise.” I have started writing these scripts as novels, and am outlining an action adventure and another family film.

Posted Saturday, September 1, 2012