MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Conor Ryan

An interview with screenwriter Conor Ryan regarding the ScriptVamp/Attention Grabber Writing Competition.

A: This script was co-written with my writing partner, Heather Goggans, and is entitled "Brainwave".

It is a mystery. When two detectives investigate an apparent assault on the trophy wife of a billionaire entrepreneur and inventor, she claims that she's actually a man who's been reported missing, and appears to be the victim of the entrepreneur's "Mind Transfer Technology".

Although no one believes her, instead assuming she is suffering from psychological problems and has had some sort of breakdown, their investigation unearths a whole web of deception. In "Brainwave", everyone's got a secret!

A: We've just finished a major rewrite, and wanted some immediate feedback on those all-important first ten pages. Scriptvamp is well known for its fast turn around and high quality feedback, so it was an obvious choice.

The previous draft has got to the later stages of a few other contests, and we've taken the feedback we got from those, along with comments from some people in the industry, to produce the current draft. We're very happy with it!

A: Very much so. The Scriptvamp people were excellent. I had some questions for them right before the deadline and they answered everything very quickly.

A: It depends on how you measure it! It took just four weeks to write the first draft, including a full outline. However, that was just the start. After a few months and some feedback we produced another draft, before setting it aside for a while.

Over the last few months, several people have given us some very helpful feedback, and we spent quite some time planning the third draft, which is the one that won the Scriptvamp prize.

A: Final Draft for the script, and just a simple text editor for the planning.

A: Most days, but often real life intrudes. A good day could be 4-5 hours, but a day where our day jobs intrude can sometimes be zero.

A: Not really, but it's one of the huge advantages of writing with a partner. It's not so much writer's block as having a problem or transition to figure out, and those are always talked through. It's one of the most fun aspects of writing.

A: We've both done a lot of professional writing, although not creatively professionally (yet!). Heather has a background in Development and Grant Writing, and she has written countless grants for all sorts of subjects and causes, while mine is in Science, and I've published 100+ scientific papers. We have a lot of the building blocks and the desire, and have only recently managed to make the time to make it happen.

Brainwave is our first complete one, but we have two others that are moving along very well.

A: No, but I'd have no objections to it as long as screenwriting could pay the rent!

A: We're working on two! One is another mystery, called "Hidden Variable Theory", and the other a TV script, "Discoherence", which is a subtle blend of mystery, comedy and quantum physics!

Posted Monday, October 29, 2012