MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Justin Sloan

An interview with screenwriter Justin Sloan regarding the ScriptVamp/Attention Grabber Writing Competition.

A: “Back by Sunrise” is a story of a young girl who loses her father to war and receives a mysterious necklace that can transform her into a bird at night. It comes with a note that says “Be back by sunrise,” only she fails to return by sunrise and is stuck as a bird. In her adventures she learns the importance of friendship and family, and that running away is never the answer.

A: I entered the Script Vamp contest because of the great ratings it has received on MovieBytes.com. I started with Script Vamp’s attention grabber portion of the contest because of the contest’s focus on the first ten pages of a script and the great feedback the contest provides.

I just found out I placed as a quarterfinalist in the BlueCat Screenplay Contest, and am crossing my fingers for the semis, and also anxiously await the ScriptVamp feature results. I hope you all watch the websites to see how I do.

A: I am very satisfied with Script Vamp and their administration of the contest. Their feedback is great. They met all of their deadlines and I anticipate receiving my awards.

A: Like William Goldman I would say the time I spent researching and contemplating counts for time spent on the script, however my actual writing time in front of a computer on this script was about four months. I tend to come up with a story idea, talk it over with my amazing wife, then write a generic outline. I also am a big fan of Blake Snyder’s beet sheets, which I constantly update as the story progresses. I wrote about five drafts of “Back by Sunrise” before winning this contest, and will likely continue to improve the script until it is recognized. What I mean by this is if I am out hiking to a waterfall and am suddenly struck by an idea, and I know it will improve my characters or add a twist to the story, I will certainly assess my story and see if it fits.

A: I always use Final Draft to write my scripts, although I have tried CeltX and find it useful.

A: I certainly try to write every day, and if I do not I feel as if I am missing something. On the weekends I probably spend four to six hours writing per day, but on the weekdays I work and attend night classes on writing, so finding time is more difficult. On weekdays I probably write anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours.

A: I do not believe in writer’s block. If I do not know where one story is going, then it is not ready to be written so I move on to another story and work on that one until the ideas start flowing for the first story again. At any one time I am probably working on one or two scripts, a novel, and several short stories.

A: I am working on my second MA degree from Johns Hopkins, this time in Writing. In this program I studied screen writing with Marc Lapadula, an excellent professor who runs the Yale screen writing program and commutes to the DC area to teach. I have also studied writing at The Writers Center of Bethesda, Maryland. My writing website can be found at www.JustinMSloan.com.

My interest in screenplays comes from my days in the U.S. Marines Corps, where I was stationed in California and acted for a couple of years. You can find my IMDB profile at www.imdb.com/name/nm1733364/. Hopefully the credits on the writing side will soon be piling up.

I have written several other scripts, a couple of which are on the Amazon Studios competition website, and others of which I have submitted to the Script Vamp feature contest, BlueCat contest, and will submit to Page, Nicholl, and others.

A: While I was born in California and stationed there with the Marines, my wife and I live in Washington, D.C. where there is a great writing community. However, I need to be in the heart of the action and feel Los Angeles calling my name, and hope to move back within the year to be near family as my wife and I start our own family.

A: I am always working on a new script. I am applying the finishing touches to a script that works as a standalone script but in some ways is a sequel to “Back by Sunrise.” I have started writing these scripts as novels, and am outlining an action adventure and another family film.

Watch www.JustinMSloan.com for updates.

Posted Thursday, February 2, 2012