MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter James Walker

An interview with screenwriter James Walker regarding the Cinestory Writing Competition.

A: Shrouded in Darkness - A female Amerian intelligence operative and a Kenyan Islamist briefly find common cause as they hunt a poacher across the Horn of Africa.

A: At the time of entering Cinestory, I was particularly impressed by several factors. First, the success stories on their website (many winners have seen their films realised on screen). Second, the top prize of a year long mentorship from two serious industry professionals is, in my opinion, the top prize out there. Third, the retreat has received sponsorship from the likes of Final Draft and the Academy of Motion Pictures so it is obviously a serious contender. Fourth, good cash prize.

A very early iteration of the script was a quarter-finalist in Nicholl. It was also in the final of writemovies.com, and placed in others.

A: The administration were helpful, timely and transparent. Awards all received. Can't fault them.

Many reviewers have already talked about the retreat and I only echo their positive sentiments. For me coming all the way from London was an expensive decision. But it was easily worth it. I received extremely useful advice from my three industry mentors (who all went significantly beyond their allocated ninety minutes), and extremely detailed (solution-orientated) notes from the Cinestory staff-mentor.

It's also worth mentioning that the teaching outside of the four one-to-one sessions; the setting, food, accomodation and organisation for the retreat, are all of superb quality. I'll be entering again this year.

A: The script was the first feature I ever wrote, but it is one that I have put down for a year, picked up again, put down, picked up etc etc. I suppose there have been two major re-writes and lots of tinkering. Part of the problem was that the outline was not solid enough from the outset, which caused me to waste many hours. It is much easier to fix problems in a short outline than to unpick a 100+ page script. Nowadays, when writing, I spend as much time on the outline and research as writing the script. The time spent upfront is more than repaid down the line.

A: Final Draft 7. It works well for me. I see no need to waste time exploring others.

A: I work on a writing project every day, but not necessarily writing. I spend a lot of time researching and honing the story outline

A: Of sorts. Sometimes I get stuck re deciding the best direction for a story. I find discussing with others, research, working on other projects are all healthy ways of overcoming the problem.

A: I am trained as a lawyer (in the UK) both in corporate law and international human rights laws (which shapes my writing). I have been working on a few screenplays for a couple of years and now have a fair bit of producer and agent interest in the US and UK, although I am holding back before releasing them to market - you only have one bite at the cherry. I use screenplay competitions as a litmus to test whether they are ready to go to market - if you can't beat 500 or 1000 other scripts in a competition, you shouldn't be wasting a producer's time.

A: No. I am based in London.

A: My focus is on two new scripts, and in re-writing Shrouded in Darkness with the thoughtful and detailed notes received by Cinestory.

Posted Sunday, November 15, 2009