MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Elvis Wilson

An interview with screenwriter Elvis Wilson regarding the Tennessee Writing Competition.

A: DRIVING TOP DOWN is a classic road trip movie. Justin Walcott is a poor, battered and brilliant high school student from a dysfunctional family in Savannah, Georgia, who only wants to protect his mother from his abusive father. Even if it means he can't go to college. After being beaten by his father one night, Justin leaves and sleeps in a nearby park. The next morning, at the request of one of his teachers, he takes a job to drive Shirley Byron, a very rich, terminally ill woman to her home in Oregon. All he knows of her is that she is very sick, and the trip will give him an opportunity to get out of Georgia for the first time. Along the way, Shirley slowing peels away his anger and frustration and makes it her mission to ignite his desire to continue his education. As they grow to be friends, he realizes that she is hiding her trip home from her son John Paul, who is desperately looking for her. What Justin doesn't know is that Shirley is also hiding a secret from him. When she gets home to Portland, Oregon, she plans to end her life.

A: The TSA Screenwriting contest is my hometown contest. If you didn't know it, Nashville is a tough town. I knew if I did well here, I could do well in other contests. So, far I've only entered a hand-full of contests including The Nicholls Fellowship, Austin Film Festival, Big Break and Slamdance. I've only heard from Nicholls as of this writing, and although I did not make it to the quarter-finals, I was in the top 15%. Out of 6300 scripts, I'm extremely happy with that! Also, I received notes from the first reader from Slamdance and I am excited that the reader raved about my work. I expect to hear from Slamdance advancements in September.

A: I'll tell you this, I've entered a lot of other contests in the "big" markets and was very unhappy. Sometimes the organizers were extremely late on deadlines or didn't even bother to let you know you advanced or not. I try to only enter reputable contests, but sometimes it's hard to tell who's who. The TSA Screenplay Contest was terrific. The announcements of advancements were on schedule, updates came regularly and even though I did not enter for the money, they sent my check for winning the contest right away! I'm so proud to have such a great group here in the south.

A: I alway outline my story ideas. After I've created a rigid structure and I know exactly where my story is going, I find the characters simply speak to me. It's like they whisper in my ear and I just write what they say. Most of my previous scripts have taken me anywhere from six to nine months to get a solid second draft that I felt was ready for notes. The idea for DRIVING TOP DOWN came to me in November of 2009 and by January I was done with my second draft. This story just poured from me. I made two more drafts before submitting to contests.

A: Final Draft is all I use. I love it. I don't even think about the software now when I write. They've got it going on.

A: I do not get to write every day, but I want to. When I am "on" a script, I try to do four to eight pages a day. I'm a strong believe in the vomit draft.

A: The specific answer to this question is "yes, I get writer's block on certain story ideas," but what I like to do to shake things up is to switch projects for a while. I don't consider the physical act of keying in the script as the total sum of the process of screenwriting. They're are many other things you can do besides writing to keep the ship moving forward. I'll work on a documentary, do some research, any thing to keep from spinning my wheels.

A: I have two art degrees. A fine arts degree, and a commercial art degree. The year I went to college, I wanted to major in art and minor in filmmaking. Unfortunately for me, they killed the film program, so I had to switch my minor to photography. I find that it was ultimately helpful, but I also feel that I've been playing catch up ever since. I come from a very poor family (sob), so my resources were limited, but if I had to do it again, I would have gone into debt a little more and would have gone to school with an established film program. I simply had no one with experience to give me the proper guidance. Follow your heart people!!! Not your wallet.

A: I go to L.A. a couple of times each year to shoot projects for the ad agency I work for. I could live there, but I hope I don't have to. I have family there as well.

A: I have notes on 3 more scripts. I can't stop! I'm trying to dip my toes in different genres to prove to myself that I can. I think comedy is the absolute hardest thing to write, so that's my current focus. So in order of my next scripts: A romantic comedy; a revenge thriller; a science-fiction epic; an adaptation of one of my a Hemingway stories about little boys bullfighting. Wish me luck!

Posted Wednesday, August 25, 2010