MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter George Krubski

An interview with screenwriter George Krubski regarding the Get Initiative Writing Competition.

A: Xs and O'Briens. It's a comedy in the vein of Wedding Crashers and The Hangover.

A: I pick contests based on feedback offered, or nice prizes paired with a low, low entry fee. I've entered this particular script in about a half dozen contests. It won Get Initiative, made it to the semi-finals for Writers of the Storm, and the quarter-finals for BlueCat.

A: I was satisfied, although it took a little while to be notified about the contest. Cameron Counts is a great guy who made sure I got all my prizes and offered to show my script to some local producers.

A: The original draft was very quick. My cousin and I had discussed the idea on and off for years. One weekend, I visited him and we stayed up really late (until about 5 am) talking it through. I did a 5-page summary, then the first draft. I think it was about a month from the original discussion until I had a decent draft.

Since then, I've continued to work on it, addressing feedback from contests and other sources. I'm in the middle of a new draft right now, and very happy with the way it's shaping up. I think this draft is going to be the one that goes out.

A: It may sound crazy, but Xs and O'Briens (and most of my scripts) have been written in Word. Actually, one of the prizes for winning this contest was a copy of Final Draft, so the current version is my first real work outside of Word.

A: I write in bursts. I may go for weeks or even months without writing fiction (usually because I'm working on other projects), and then write every day for a month. When I'm writing, I try to do at least 3-5 pages a day, which usually takes an hour or two, but if I get going, I'll just keep writing until I drop.

I think the most I've ever done was something like 100 pages over a three-day weekend (for an old novel I was working on), with about half of that written on Sunday. I had to call out sick on Monday to recover! There's so much structure and precision with a screenplay, though, that if I do more than 10 pages in a day, I know I'm probably writing sloppy.

A: I very rarely get writer's block on a story level, because when I'm actively writing, I usually think about the story during all my spare time: in the shower, driving to work, taking the garbage out... I also try to walk away from the computer knowing what I want to write next, which gives me something to think about later and keeps me from banging my head against the wall.

Where I do stumble sometimes is on word choice. I usually know what I want to write, but may not have thought through how exactly I want to write it.

A: In college, I majored in English and Theater Arts. Professionally, I'm an editor, with occassional forays into writing.

I've written 4 or 5 other screenplays, but a few of them were learning experiences. I was also head writer for an online "virtual TV series" that was fan-created continuation of a cancelled show. We produced 29 hour-length scripts (which is about double the run of the real show). Although the scripts aren't completely "real" scripts (for example, since we knew what we were writing was the finished product, we included a lot more description and direction than would be professionally acceptable), it was an amazing learning experience in collaboration, outlining, editing, and working under pretty harsh deadlines. There were times that I was writing one or two episodes myself while editing another two--and helping develop outlines for a few more. I have a profound respect for the crazy folk who do it for real for a living!

A: I don't live in LA. If I find a little success, I might be able to convince my wife to overcome her fear of earthquakes.

A: I'm currently working on a new draft of Xs and O'Briens. This is the biggest revision since it was originally written, and applies a lot of the lessons I've learned (from contest feedback, working with other writers on the virtual series, etc). I'm looking forward to finishing it, re-entering it in some contests, and sending it out.

I'm also working on outlines for 2-3 other projects (including a concept that could turn into a pitch for "Wedding Crashers 2"). I anticipate having 3-4 nice, clean screenplays finished by this time next year.

Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011