MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter John Dart

An interview with screenwriter John Dart regarding the ASA/Gotham Writing Competition.

A: The title of the script is THE SNOWMEN. The story takes place during World War II but with the unusual setting of a weather station in Greenland above the Arctic Circle. The story is about a new commander who is haunted by his past who is left in charge of a handful of weathermen and scientists who are the furthest thing from soldiers. The environment is harsh and they are completely cutoff for the next three months but the only thing to fight is boredom. All that changes when a crippled German Submarine breaks through the ice in the sound and the Americans are forced to take the survivors in as POW's. The commander struggles to keep things orderly and ultimately has to face his past and turn his men into soldiers when the German's manage to take over the base.

A: My writing partner and I chose this contest partly due to the connection with Writer's Digest (who was the co-sponsor of the contest) and due to the prize package offered. The script was recently a quarterfinalist in the Screenwriting Expo 3 contest and in the top 10% of scripts in the Nichols Fellowship contest.

A: Yes, we received all of the prizes promised in a timely manner. The only difficulty we had was dealing with both the ASA and Writer's Digest as the two parties had to be in sync rather than just one organization, but the issues were very minor and resolved quickly. Those types of issues would seem to be inherent when two organizations are involved. We also particularly enjoyed the connection the contest had with the Austin Film Festival as one of the prizes offered.

A: We received coverage-type feedback from one of the contest judges who had some good comments. We also got an email directly from one of the earlier round judges congratulating us after we had won who felt that he was pulling for our script after he read it. We were hoping to receive more feedback but, se la vie.

A: The contest win has helped in many ways. Besides producers and managers who've contacted us directly based on the press release announcement, the other benefits were being offered free promotion on inktip.com which yielded more interest from industry people and the grand prize also garnered a two page interview with us which was published in Writer's Digest magazine. Having copies of the article and the contest win cred has also been invaluable when we have gone to pitchfest events. I believe that it has increased our percentage of read requests from those we have pitched to. The win acts as a prevalidation that the script is worth taking a look at. We are now close to gaining a manager as a result of this activity.

A: I have a degree in film production and screenwriting from Cal State Northridge and have held various production jobs after graduating. My writing partner Jeff Swanson has been a reader for several production companies and talent agencies. We've been writing mostly separately for most of our lives (we've been best friends for about 30 years) but finally got serious about working together to advance our film aspirations. The Snowmen is the first script we completed together.

A: Yes, Jeff and I have both lived in L.A. for nearly our entire lives. There is an advantage in living here if you are trying to break in. Of course, it seems like everyone here is writing or has written a script so until you finally sell a script, you might find it hard to tell people here that you are a screenwriter without people thinking "God, not another one."

A: We are currently working on our next script which is a science fiction thriller called LUNA which has about 8-10 read requests from industry people already- now we just have to finish it.

Posted Saturday, November 13, 2004