WRITER INTERVIEW: Interview with Christine Conradt
I graduated from the University of Southern California’s film school in the mid 90s where I studied screenwriting in a four-year program. After that, I worked briefly at Twentieth Century Fox and then in development for a production company as a creative assistant. The experience there was terrific because most of my job was to read scripts and write synopses for the producers, as well as give notes. After quitting that job, I went on to do some work that was unrelated to the film business but I kept writing. I eventually wrote a couple of spec scripts that I sent to the production company I had worked for and they hired me to do a rewrite of a movie they were making that was going to air on t.v. It turns out, they liked my writing and I liked working with them and we continued to work together. I still work with them as well as other producers and directors I’ve met along the way. You can read more about me if you want on my website. If you’re interested in when my movies are released or re-run on TV, you can follow me on Facebook, and I also dedicate my Twitter page to giving tips and resources to new screenwriters.
On the set of MATERNAL OBSESSION with the beautiful and talented Paula Trickey.
Most of what I do are dramas or thrillers. I’ve always liked those genres. I’ve also had a Christmas movie optioned which was fun to write and I’ve done a couple of horror movies. Regardless of the genre, I think the best films strike a balance between a simple, clever concept and really well-developed characters. Writing is mostly about creating characters that people can relate to.
I’ve loved to write since I was very young. I won my first writing award when I was only 8 years old for a little book I wrote and illustrated in school. And I also loved movies. My parents wouldn’t let me see scary movies like JAWS because I was too young, so I would read the books instead. Even back then, I loved the idea that you could create these worlds and make people feel whatever you wanted them to feel. Sometimes I wanted to make them think or feel frightened, other times I wanted them to laugh or cry. I thought to be a writer and be able to do that is so powerful.
Most of what I learned came from my training at a formal film school like I mentioned earlier. USC is one of the best film schools in the U.S. and I was lucky to get accepted there. Since graduating, and even though I work in the industry regularly, I still try to keep up with my writing skills by attending seminars or webinars, reading books on screenwriting, and finding interesting tips online.
Christine with producer Curtis Crawford and script supervisor Carolyn Arbuckle, still goofing around.
The better question is how are they alike? They differ more than they resemble each other. A screenplay is a blueprint for something much bigger — a film. Films are the most collaborative mediums out there. There are so many people involved. And there are many more choices. The writer makes choices in writing, but then the director makes choices, and the actors make choices in their performances, and the editor makes choices in how she cuts the film. With a play, there are fewer people involved. Plus, the way you write the two is different. With screenplays, you can cut back and forth between locations and characters in a way that you can’t with a play.
I don’t write plays, I only write screenplays. When I turn an idea into a screenplay, I think about who those characters really are, what about them will make the audience connect to them emotionally, and then I try to come up with scenes that will convey that in a visual way. In a screenplay, structure is important. So I think through the structure and decide where the story is going and how quickly we need to get there.
My ideas come from either something I’ve read in the news or in a book usually. If something touches my heart, I tend to think about why I felt so strongly and why it elicited the emotions it did and then I try to capture it. When I write for television, the ideas are usually given to me. At least the concepts are and then I build a story around the concept.
Check out my #screenwriting article on ScreenplayHowTo http://t.co/nxFK2Ed5Qb @ScreenplayHowTo #logline #screenwriters need to know this!
— Christine Conradt (@CConradt) September 24, 2014
I think the biggest misconception writers get is that they get into screenwriting because they think they can make a lot of money and become famous. If that’s the reason you’re doing it, you should quit right now. Most screenwriters never make enough money to make a living. And even when you can make a living, you work hours and hours more than anyone else you know. The screenwriters that are successful simply love to write and they would be doing it whether they made money or not. Even with a degree from one of the country’s best film schools, it took me about 8 years before I could quit my other jobs and make a living writing. And nothing is stable. At any time, you might not get hired to do another screenplay and have to go find some other kind of work. It’s the nature of this job. If you want to make money, become a doctor or a lawyer– not a screenwriter.
I don’t take courses anymore really. I still attend seminars and webinars, but at this point in my career, I’m usually the one teaching the courses or speaking on the panels. For example, I’m featured in a book called Now Write! Screenwriting which is a terrific book for new screenwriters. It’s a collection of writing exercises from successful screenwriters.
I mostly read non-fiction books. One of my favorites is People of the Lie by M.Scott Peck. It’s about whether the existence of evil is real. It’s a terrific read for writers because writers need to get to the heart of why people are the way they are so they can write realistic characters.
Director Jim Donovan and Christine Conradt in need of coffee.
I physically keep in shape by going to the gym, and that’s no different than keeping up your writing skills. If you stop going to the gym for a month, you’re going to realize you can’t do as much as you did before you stopped. The same goes with writing. You need to keep writing every day to stay sharp, and do things to keep developing new writing skills.
When I write a screenplay, the first thing I do is figure out how many pages I need to accomplish each day to deliver the finished draft on time. I use a big calendar on my wall. Then I work each day until that day’s page goal is met. Sometimes it takes only until the afternoon, sometimes it requires me to work late into the night.
It’s really about understanding people. I read psychology books a lot, or like I mentioned before, books like People of the Lie. Humans are complex creatures. To make a character feel real, you need to understand and capture that complexity.
I have created many memorable characters, its hard to name one. There are so many and they are memorable in different ways. A lot of times, what the actor brings to the role helps to make it memorable.
I want a director to understand the screenplay. Not just read it and interpret it but to talk to me and discuss these characters and why they do what they do. I’ve had directors that do that and the final product comes out so much better. I’ve also worked with directors that don’t understand subtleties in the screenplay they’re shooting and those beautiful moments are lost because of it.
I like to work closely with a director and be on set, but writers rarely get to do that. It wasn’t until I started producing that I was really allowed to be involved during the production process. I get offers, the majority of my work comes to me as offers. I still write my own screenplays on spec though.
There is no one way to break into the industry. Everyone that’s done it, has a different story. I think it’s important to first, write a lot. And rewrite. Keep working until you have three terrific screenplays in the genres you like to write in. Then enter contests. If you win, you’ll know the work is good and it will be easier for you to shop a screenplay that won an award. If you don’t win, then you need to realize your work wasn’t as good as someone else’s. That’s no one’s fault but your own. Keep getting better. Also, get out and meet people that are up and coming. Writers tend to sit at home a lot. Go to networking events and seminars and places where you will meet other people in the film industry. So much of what happens in this industry is about finding the right person to help you get your project made.
Christine with producer Kenneth Sanders in Culver City on the set of ‘Locked Away’
I have many faves but these days, my favorite writer is Christopher Nolan
(Memento, Inception, The Prestige). I feel his films are brilliant. They do what I said before is so tough to do– they strike a perfect balance between characters an audience can connect to and great concepts. The first time I saw Memento, I was blown away. It’s a movie that if you watch it ten times, you’ll discover something new the tenth time you see it.
Love writing. Love it more than anything else. Love it so much that you’d be willing to be poor the rest of your life just so you can sit down every single night and spend time writing. Love it so much that you want to learn everything you can about how to do it. If you love it that much, you’ll be successful at it.
I’ve done 40, produced indie features and t.v. movies. The best way to see details is to either go to my web site at www.christineconradt.com or my IMDB
