Sheridan chatted with UK screenwriter David Lemon via e-mail about his work, his writing process, what inspires him, the differences of writing for television and film, and his first produced screenplay Faintheart and what it’s like to watch your first produced work with an audience for the first time.
Q: First off, tell us a little about yourself. Who is David Lemon?
A: I’m a scriptwriter, born just outside London and now living there (not far from the area tourists know as ‘Jack The Ripper’ country).
Before becoming a full-time scriptwriter I worked in TV production for several years. This included directing and shooting ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries for BBC and ITV (UK Commercial television). I filmed raids on crack dens with the police, life-saving operations in hospitals and with inner city ambulance crews. It was hard work (though not nearly as hard as the jobs of the people I was filming) but rewarding.
I also produced several ‘making of’ documentaries for the DVD re-release of classic British films, including ‘The Red Shoes‘, ‘Brief Encounter‘ and the original Hitchcock version of ‘The 39 Steps‘. As you can imagine, this was film geek heaven.
As well as watching lots of films -and reading lots of screenplays- I watch a lot of TV (my current favourites are both US shows; ‘Medium‘ and ‘Dexter‘). I also collect graphic novels, enjoy visiting old historic towns and buildings, and the occasional trip to the theatre. My girlfriend also works in the industry and is a very talented storyboard/concept artist (www.thestoryboardartist.co.uk).
Q: You mention graphic novels, what are some of your favorites and did you read comic books growing up? If so, which ones?
A: I read countless comic books in a pretty voracious, indiscriminate way. This included UK comics such as ‘The Beano‘, ‘The Dandy‘ and ‘Whizzer and Chips‘, and naturally all the big Marvel/DC titles. I also loved those creepy EC comics- ‘Tales From The Crypt’, that sort of stuff. While many of these were re-printed in the UK I really loved the US versions as they included loads of strange small ads for ‘Sea Monkeys‘ (tiny shrimp things- and not the smiling fish people on the packet!), X-Ray specs and Charles Atlas‘ body building course.
I later got into what I suppose you could call graphic novels- ‘Watchmen‘, ‘The Dark Knight Returns‘ etc- and also discovered Will Eisner’s ‘The Spirit‘. I’d urge anyone interested in brilliant graphic storytelling to pick up copies of his work- and forget Frank Miller’s horrific film ever happened!
As well as Will Eisner another big hero of mine is Chris Ware. ‘Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth‘ is an incredible, heart-breaking piece of work.
Q: When did you first become aware that films were actually made and that there was an entire machine and process behind what you were seeing on the screen?
A: It’s pretty hard to say for certain, but probably back when ‘Star Wars‘ and then ‘Superman: The Movie‘ came out. I was four going on five at the time (yes, I’m that old!).
While both films were partly shot here in the UK, it’s easy to forget that in a pre-internet/DVD (and even video!) age, it could be a year before a big US movie reached our screens. It also meant that any publicity for them on TV was a big event as you couldn’t watch it again.
I can dimly remember a film show doing a feature on ‘Superman: The Movie’ (probably because much of it was shot at Pinewood Studios, just outside London). They showed Christopher Reeve being hoisted up into the air with a harness, so it’s safe to say I knew even then that there was a lot of people behind the films I saw. However, this didn’t shatter any illusions. It just made me even more excited when the film finally came out. Of course, I didn’t become aware of the less glamorous profession of screenwriting until much later.
Q: What was it, specifically, that drew you to the writing aspect of filmmaking?
A: When I was at University (studying Art and English Lit) I had brief aspirations to being an artist of the exhibiting-stuff-in-big-white-spaces variety. Hey, if you can’t be deluded and pretentious at college, when can you be? At the end of my course I made a few films and ‘installations’, and even when I got into TV production, my goal was to direct.
I felt that this was where you really got to use your imagination- and it is, but over time I came to realise that I enjoyed the editing part a lot more than the actual shooting. I also came to feel that as a scriptwriter, you get to decide who’s in your story, what they do, and why. You also come to realise just how many decisions in terms of pace and editing are created right there on the page and provide a blueprint for everything the director subsequently does. It’s the most exciting, exasperating, depressing and uplifting thing I can imagine doing.
I also think you also have to be the a certain type of person to be a director; someone who thrives on standing in the freezing cold at four in the morning with thirty people staring at you, expecting you to know exactly what you’re doing. While I may yet direct a short film, I can’t say I’m really one of them. The prospect of the blank page- or expectant cursor- is more than enough excitement for me!
Q: So, if given the opportunity, would you write/direct/edit/produce your own film?
A: I’d like to direct a short film at some point, but I think my time is better spent becoming a better writer. A lot of people think they can do both well but the likes of Billy Wilder are thin on the ground. Having directed crews on factual work I don’t think I’d be daunted by the process, but I’d have to really feel I was the right person for the job and not just off on some ego trip!
Q: As a writer, how and where do you seek out inspiration? Alternatively, what really inspires you to write?
A: I honestly think inspiration can come from anywhere in your life. It could be an article in the paper or on TV, a snatch of overheard conversation on a bus or even just something you see outside your window. The much trickier is developing an idea, and making sure it’s one that can really sustain a whole feature film (how many times has someone told you they have a great idea for a film, only to present you with an incident so half-baked it barely qualifies as an anecdote?).
While I firmly believe that the spark of an idea can come from anywhere, you can’t afford to to just wait in hope (at least I certainly can’t!). I think you have to feed your creativity with images and challenging ideas. I love going to art galleries and exhibitions, especially if they’re just a little strange. For example, I went to a brilliant exhibition at the Wellcome Trust in London full of Victorian anatomical waxworks. I may not have come out of it with a fully formed gothic horror script, but it certainly fed my ‘bank’ of images and ideas.
Q: You mentioned earlier that you produced several ‘making of’ documentaries for classic films, which I can imagine is – in a way – almost a reverse engineering of how a film was made. What lessons or valuable insights did you learn from these projects and speaking with the numerous people involved with each film?
A: It pretty much was ‘reverse engineering’, although I didn’t really think of it that way at the time.
I’d had a couple of commissions and an agent at this point, but scriptwriting was still very much a sideline rather than ‘the day job’. You also have to factor in the fact that many of the people I was interviewing were in their 80s and 90s and couldn’t necessarily recall their role in a film from the 1940s with much accuracy (although Sir Christopher Lee had total recall!). You could also sense people wheeling out tried and trusted anecdotes rather than actually responding to a particular question, or going into ‘luvvie’ mode (when everyone’s ‘a joy’ to work with). That said, there were still lots of surprises and insights along the way.
In terms of lessons learned, it taught me that the idea of a ‘golden era’ of film (eg British films in the 40s or US films in the 70s) is very much a critics’ construction. The reality is that good and bad films were always being made, and finding funding, distribution etc always a struggle.
It was also interesting to see how films that we now regard as ‘Classics’ were often slated at the time, and that for many actors, films were something you did for the money to supplement the real art of performing in the theatre.
Q: Those “fly on the wall” documentaries for the BBC and ITV must have been, at times, even more dramatic than some of the best scripted dramas. How have those real-life projects informed or influenced your writing, if at all?
A: They were definitely more exciting to film than to watch as the most telling moments in any event always seem to happen when the camera is turned off. You’d aspire to be a ‘fly on the wall’ but as I was filming with different people every day, you’d rarely get the chance to completely slip into the background.
It’s an odd thing. You’d think that having been on raids on crack dens and watched people dying in A&E (the emergency dept of hospitals) I’d be drawn to the dark, bleak and gritty in terms of subject matter, but I was probably more struck by peoples’ resilience, humour and dignity in the face of appalling set backs. I’d film people going into operating theatres, fully aware that they may not come out, but cracking jokes and being brave in a way that makes you ashamed you’ve ever complained about anything. It’s a cliché, but adversity can bring out something special in people.
And, in contrast to the oceans of tears on reality shows like Pop Idol/American Idol -where the stakes are by comparison, laughably low- I rarely saw people cry.
Q: What was the first screenplay you ever read and how did it change or alter your approach or perspective on filmmaking?
A: Damn; another tricky one. At University I’d always pick up copies of ‘Sight & Sound‘ magazine as they always seemed to have free mini screenplay books attached. They always seemed to be American films from the late 60s/early 70s, so it was probably ‘Taxi Driver‘, ‘The Graduate‘ or ‘Chinatown‘. My college thesis was on the Coen Brothers, so I probably read a few of their screenplays around the same time. All great stuff, but as they were shooting scripts from writer-directors, they were full of camera directions. I’m sure my first efforts were full of CLOSE UPS and ANGLE ONs until I came to know better.
I’m still a voracious reader of screenplays and it amazes me how many people I meet who want to write scripts don’t actually read them and try to analyse how they work.
Q: When you first started to learn the craft, did you read/study any how-to books on screenwriting, and if so, which ones did you find to be the most beneficial?
A: I have to confess I went through a phase of being a bit of a ‘how to’ book junkie and attended tons of seminars. While they can be very useful, too much self analysis can get in the way of the business of sitting down and hitting the keys. There are loads of great books out there, but I think the key is to subscribe to the bits of advice that really help you and disregard those that don’t.
While it’s become fashionable to knock the likes of Syd Field and Robert McKee, their books are still a great place to start. I’d also recommend ‘Save The Cat!‘ by (the sadly late) Blake Snyder, Billy Mernitt’s ‘Writing the Romantic Comedy‘ (full of great insights whatever genre you’re working in), Christopher Vogler’s ‘The Writer’s Journey‘ (all that Campbell, hero/mentor/gatekeeper stuff boiled down into something very accessible) and Paul Joseph Gulino’s ‘The Sequence Approach‘ which is great at looking at the underlying structure of films.
Q: What is your writing process like (i.e. schedule, outline, note cards, treatments, etc.)?
A: My process varies a little according to whether I have a commission or working ‘on spec’. If there’s a deadline in place, I’ll aim to get a certain amount done every day, but either way I’m very much of the outline- then beat sheet- then script school. I have a cork board over my desk on which I shift around post-its and try to hold back on going into the actual script until I have a fairly workable whole. While you can obviously change things as you go along, I really like the ‘comfort blanket’ of having the key points, in order, up on a board in front of me.
Q: What software do you use and why?
A: Final Draft. I find it absolutely essential and writer friendly. It means that at least one obstacle (your script looking like a proper script) has already been overcome. I’m astonished when people who claim to be serious about scriptwriting don’t own this one basic tool. It’s not cheap, but it really is the industry standard so you can’t afford to not have a copy. In order to avoid the dread of the blank page I also tend to cut and paste my beat sheet from word into Final Draft. Having 15-20 pages already filled makes typing that first ‘INT/EXT’ a lot less daunting.
Q: Once you’ve finished the first draft of a project, how many people, and who specifically, do you let read it?
A: While I try to make anything I show people as good as I can manage, I’m pretty happy to show people a script quite early on- sometimes before it’s even a script.
If I think it will be helpful I’ll run something by fellow writer friends at an idea stage, or show them a synopsis on just one side of A4.
I’ll also sometimes show my agent ideas at this stage to check that she hasn’t heard of a similar thing already in development. My girlfriend is also a massive help because as a storyboard artist she’s used to reading scripts (showing your script to someone who’s never read one before isn’t always that helpful).
When it comes to a finished script going out to potential producers- especially ones I don’t know- I do all I can to make sure I’m happy with it and it’s the best it can be.
Q: As the old adage goes: writing is rewriting. How do you approach and what is your process in regards to rewriting?
A: That’s very true. It’s really in the revising of something you’ve already re-written a dozen times that you really earn any money you might make (if writing the first draft wasn’t fun, then chances are the all-nighters to meet an insanely tight deadline definitely won’t be).
I’d also say that it’s often hard to decide what constitutes a draft. Even if you’ve revised something thirty times, the draft that goes out to producers is the first one they see, and should be thought of as such. There’s also the question of whether a tiny tweak really constitutes a new draft.
Personally, I label drafts by date rather than number- and ‘September 2009 draft’ looks a lot less depressing on the cover page than ’26th Draft’!
In terms of my process, if I’m re-drafting something in my own time, a spec script no-one’s waiting for, I’ll print it out, grab a mug of tea and read through it making little scribbly notes in biro [ballpoint pen]. If anything major comes up I’ll go back to my step outline/post that’s on the wall and see if it’s something that needs to be addressed on a structural level. This can be excruciating, but most often a problem with a script runs deeper than just tweaking the dialogue a bit. A writer/director friend of mine, Guy Ducker, always refers to such superficial re-writes as ‘moving the furniture’.
If I’m working to a set of notes given to me, I’ll be more focused on addressing the specific points raised rather than a general overhaul. Even then, a change invariably creates a ripple effect outwards onto the surrounding scenes so I’ll probably still end up back at outline/scene by scene stage. I always find it easier to revise something if I’m ‘stepping back’ from a script to look at the bigger picture (if that makes any kind of sense!).
Another thing that I think all writers responding to notes should remember is that while you definitely take them on board (especially if you’re being paid), you shouldn’t feel dictated to in terms of how you respond to them. For example, a producer might suggest revising something in the second act when it’s really about a problem about something that wasn’t set up properly in the first act.
Q: How did you land the gig of writing some episodes for the BBC show Doctors?
A: Oddly enough, I got this through the first screenplay I wrote, called ‘Now You See It’ (which, in a heavily revised form, is now in development). My agent sent the script to a producer at BBC drama who liked it, but was honest about the chances of them producing a one off film for TV (a very rare slot in the UK) by an untried writer. However, she did say that the BBC1 daytime drama ‘Doctors‘ were, at the time, willing to take on new writers. I had to write a trial script first, but then, after successfully pitching an idea for a ‘story of the day’, I got to write my first episode.
I’ve written four since, and always with the same process of sending through a fairly detailed outline for a story of the day and getting that approved first.
Q: What is Monsters and Rabbits?
A: This was a short film script I wrote a couple of years back. It’s about a boy whose imaginary friend becomes jealous when he makes his first real friend. I was lucky enough to meet a director called Nicky Lianos, who already had one award winning short under her belt and a background in animation. We shared the same love of old horror films, Jan Švankmajer and all sorts of odd stuff, so we started working together. Nicky also knew a great producer, Nicky Moss, who’d just come off the Duncan Jones/Sam Rockwell feature ‘Moon‘ and was keen to work with us.
The money for the film came from Film London, part of the UK Film Council. They finance a number of shorts a year as a means of discovering new directors.
It was a genuinely enjoyable experience so I really hope our feature project comes off. Even if it doesn’t, I’m sure we will work together again soon.
Q: Your first produced screenplay is entitled Faintheart. How did this project come into existence?
A: Growing up, I was made about all things medieval, or harking back in some way to an era of knights and wizards. I’d go to castles with my family and often see battle re-enactment societies re-creating different historical skirmishes. I loved them, but at the same time found the way the ‘dead’ got up again or queued next to us for a hot dog, a little absurd.
That’s really where the idea came from; a contrast between the epic heroism these people set out to depict and the mundane reality that couldn’t help but intrude and break the spell.
Slingshot Studios, a new Ealing-based company dedicated to making micro-budget digital films first optioned my script in the spring of 2006. However, I doubt they would have picked it up if it weren’t for the development the script had already received through an organisation called TAPS (www.tapsnet.org).
Q: What happened once Faintheart was optioned?
A: There followed what I understand to be the usual mix of agreements, disagreements and ‘killing your babies’. For me, the toughest of these was losing the father of the main character. There was, in my opinion, some nice touching stuff in there but it slowed the first act to a crawl. If we wanted the film to have the kind of pace we wanted, it had to go.
Then, around June/July of 2007, the whole ‘Myspace Movie Mash-up’ thing happened. ‘Faintheart’ was entered into an online competition run by Myspace, Film4 and Vertigo Films. If we won, it would mean a much bigger production budget of £1M.
For a film that was already proving surprisingly expensive (I had written a script with night shoots, children, crowd scenes, sword fights-a production manager’s nightmare) it would mean the world of difference on screen.
The director [Vito Rocco] and I shot a promotional pitch while on one of our recces [reconnaissance] into the world of battle re-enactments. It was fun but it also forced us to take a long hard look at the story. What was it about? And why should Myspace members vote for it?
I must admit that when we won I became worried that the interactive element would mean people I never met being allowed to change the story out of recognition, but luckily it only really extended to a more open form of casting, combining new talent found online with established actors.
Q: Who stars in the film?
A: Richard, the hapless hero whose passion for re-enactments costs him his marriage, is played by Eddie Marsan (‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Hancock’ and the upcoming ‘Sherlock Holmes’ film). Ewen Bremner (who to a generation of Brits will always be Spud in ‘Trainspotting‘) is Julian, Richard’s best mate and die-hard ‘Trekkie’, while the role of Richard’s ex-wife Cath went to Jessica Hynes, who starred in and co-wrote one of my favourite TV series, Spaced.
The film premiered at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival where it was the closing night film.
Q: What was it like to sit in a darkened theater with an audience and watch your words come to life for the first time on the big screen?
A: It was… strange. I’d lived with the script for so long and had already seen different edits of the film so I knew what to expect, but the communal, sitting in the dark experience was still very different. To be honest, I found myself wishing I’d done a better job, or fought harder for different decisions to be made, but that’s the thing with film; unlike a play you can’t change things according to audience reaction. Of course, there are such things as test screenings but at our budget level (£1.3M) re-shoots and focus groups really weren’t an option!
Q: Were you overwhelmed when people genuinely laughed?
A: I was a bit- and relieved! When you develop a script you get so close to it that even the bits which genuinely amused you become stale and over familiar. Apparently Richard Curtis puts a little star on bits he finds funny in early drafts of his scripts because he knows that after several revisions even he won’t be able to tell if it works. Luckily in ‘Faintheart’, there’s a joke right at the top- the Viking’s mobile going off- that seemed to get a good reaction, and get the audience on our side.
Q: Has anyone stopped you on the street yet or are you still enjoying your anonymity?
A: Sorry- I had to laugh at that one! That would be a ‘no’.
I think there are very few screenwriters anywhere who have a celebrity profile. I was lucky enough to chat to Simon Beaufoy at a screenwriter’s conference called ‘The Story Engine‘ and it was clear that even an Oscar winner can move about pretty freely. He’d probably get noticed in Soho where there are loads of production companies, but, unlike LA, London isn’t an ‘industry’ town (in fact our Industry is very small!). I think the only non-actor people who get stopped are directors and writer-directors with a high profile (eg. Tarantino and, in the UK, outgoing ‘Dr. Who’ Showrunner Russell T Davies who does lots of interviews and is also incredibly tall).
None of this is said with any bitterness. It’s a writers’ job to be anonymous and observe rather than be observed.
Q: Has watching actors act out and speak your written words changed your process in any way?
A: Not really. In fact, I get a little confused when people talk about ‘how to write great dialogue’.
With one low budget feature under my belt I’m obviously no expert, but it strikes me that dialogue, like action, is just another means of expressing character and story. When you start writing a script you really can’t worry about whether the dialogue is ‘great’ because it won’t be until the underlying story is working. I think that’s one of the things that puts people off writing (or finishing a script): the fear it won’t be ‘great’ and ‘perfect’. At some point you have to just switch off your inner critic and pound your way to ‘The End’. Then at least you have a whole piece of work to revise.
Having said all that, seeing actors say things you’ve written does make you realise that (hopefully) at some point someone will need to bring your work to life, and have questions about just who these characters are. Thinking about who might play certain roles in your script might seem like a bit of a pipe dream, but it can sometimes help in making your characters ‘solid’.
Q: How does the process of writing for television and film differ for you?
A: I don’t think writing a one-off TV movie really differs much from writing a feature film. The scale and budget may be different- and TV tends to be more dialogue than image driven- but the task is the same; to tell a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.
However, one-off, self contained stories are not typical of TV. It’s really a medium built for telling longer stories, often with much bigger casts and less of a definite end point. Whether it’s a soap opera or ‘The Sopranos’, both are about creating a long term relationship with the audience (as opposed to the ‘one night stand’ of film).
I think it means that when writing your own ideas for TV shows (as opposed to a commission on someone else’s project) you really have to think about creating characters and situations you can go back to again and again without getting stale, hence the vast numbers of shows based around police or hospitals, where the story of the day can just walk or be wheeled in.
I have to stress again that I’m no expert. I have an original TV series in development but so far my produced work has been for animation, childrens’ shows and dramas that already existed.
Unless you have an acclaimed play, film or novel under your belt, writing for existing shows is really the only way to become trusted enough for producers to take your original work seriously. They also find out whether you can be professional, meet deadlines etc. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of writing within someone else’s rules, but it isn’t for everyone.
Q: You mentioned that your first screenplay, Now You See It, has been revised and is in development. What else can we expect to see from you in the near future?
A: Well at the moment I’m one of about half a dozen writers on a new TV show for Nickelodeon to be shot in the UK. I can’t say a huge amount about it as it’s still in pre-production, but it should be a lot of fun. I really enjoy writing for younger audiences and I certainly wouldn’t rule out writing a childrens’ book in the near future (though whether anyone will publish it is anyone’s guess!).
I also have an original supernatural detective series in development with a production company and two new feature projects that are still at the outline/treatment stage. One is a sci fi thriller set in the new future and the other is a horror set in the present day. I also have a sort of high concept rom-com up my sleeve but after ‘Faintheart’ I really fancied something dark and bloody!
Q: Finally, any inspiring words for those aspiring writers reading this?
A: It’s very easy to lose heart and get discouraged, but stories- and by extension storytellers- are vital, and always will be. Scriptwriters may not get the glamour, but without us the actors would have nothing to say or do, and the director nothing to point the camera at.
This isn’t so much inspiring words as advice. Again, I’m no expert, so make of it what you will: be prepared to listen, learn and take lots of knockbacks along the way. Build up a raft of ideas, and try to finish as many of them as you can (no-one wants to read half a script, let alone buy it).
Don’t become an ‘Ancient Mariner’ flogging the same story over and over again. You may get your chance to realise that dream project, but agents and producers are far more interested in someone who’s constantly on the look-out for interesting stories, rather than obsessed with one.
And read scripts. It’s amazing how few people do and with great sites like this one, there really is no excuse.
Oh- and finally, don’t become a Jack Torrance mad writer figure, however tempting that might sometimes be!
Check out more:
Monsters and Rabbits @ IMDb
Faintheart @ IMDb
- Download the Script
- Purchase the Region 2 PAL DVD @ Amazon
David Lemon’s official blog @ jetpacksandsuch.blogspot.com
David Lemon @ IMDb