SCREENWRITER: Ronson Page (Texas)
Q: Ronson…when did you write your first screenplay?
A: I wrote my first original feature length
screenplay, a mystery-drama called The
Bone Orchard, in March-April 2003. I’d just been laid off my straight
gig of more than eight years, running a corporate television network…creatively soul-sucking, but a nice source of income. My wife and I were
expecting our first child in a few months, and we’d just closed on our first
house, a week earlier…so the timing of the layoff was pretty lousy. Since
I had severance, my wife encouraged me to take a month off and just recharge,
then get to writing. I spent about a month outlining a story I’d had
rattling around my noggin for quite some time, and I spent the next month
(April 2003) writing the first draft of The
Bone Orchard. I had a couple days to get a quick read from a couple
of writer buddies of mine and do a very quick polish, before I sent The Bone Orchard in to the Nicholl
Fellowship competition, with one day to spare. Over the next couple of
months, I also sent The Bone Orchard
off to Scriptapolooza, the Austin, and either the Disney or the Chesterfield, I
forget which.
Q: To date, approximately how many screenplays have you written?
A: Four. Of those four, I’ve either sold or
optioned (multiple times) three of ‘em…the most recent one, I have not really
shown around. I’m not a slow writer, but if I’m not inspired or
motivated, I can be lazy. Add to that, there have been periods of time, measured
in years, when I could not do any writing, due to this or that. But,
I will add that I spend a great deal of time, just thinking about story.
That’s pretty much non-stop, and I think many or most writers will tell you the
same thing: lot of writing goes on, in the noggin.
Q: Which screenwriting competitions have you entered and seen through to a
final result?
A: The Nicholl, Scriptapolooza, Austin, and Disney (or Chesterfield).
Q: Approximately how many screenplays did you write prior to entering your
first competition?
A: Zero original feature screenplays; The Bone Orchard was my first. But
there were many short film screenplays—I thought it would be less painful, to
learn to write short films, first— plus I’ve been doing one form of creative
writing or another since I was about 9 years old. I won my first contest
at the age of 12. I was a journalism major, in college. So
when I tell you that I’d written zero original feature scripts, before The Bone Orchard, I don’t want to give
the impression that me being able to string words together to form a pleasing
phrase just sorta sprung from my noggin, fully-formed, like Athena from the
forehead of Zeus. I’ve always been a writer; I’ve always enjoyed telling
stories. The trick was learning how to tell a story for viewers to watch
on a screen, within a certain number of pages.
Q: Did the competition(s) offer feedback—notes, critique, etc.—on the script(s)
you entered? If so, what was the quality of the feedback?
A: No feedback was offered in the competitions I
entered, at that time.
Q: Did any of the competitions you entered try to hit you up for pay-based
services, such as script consulting, proofing, etc.?
A: No.
Q: If you won or placed high in a competition, did it have any effect, positive
or negative, on your career?
A: Oh yes. In 2003, I entered four or five
writing contests, the ones I determined were some of the best, if not the very
best, at that time: the Nicholl, Scriptapolooza, AFF, and either Disney or
Chesterfield, I forget which. Of those contests, I crapped out in all, but
one. I mean, I didn’t even get past the first round, and in a moment,
you’ll understand the importance of that first reader. The one contest I
advanced in, and kept advancing in, was the Nicholl. Even as I was
getting first round rejection letters from AFF, from Scriptapolooza, etc., I
was advancing in the Nicholl (which was kinda amusing and kinda baffling). Quarterfinals,
then Semifinals, then a phone call from Greg to tell me I was a Finalist…top
ten scripts, out of 6,000+ entries. I was stunned. I did not win a
Fellowship, but like all Finalists, was flown out to Beverly Hills for a week,
all expenses paid, meetings out the yang…really, the only difference between a
Finalist and a Fellow is the $30K. Which is a nice chunk of change, but
in terms of how you are treated by the Nicholl Committee and the rest of the
industry, it’s the same. When the Finalists are announced and the trades
print the list, your phone and email goes nuts for a few days…you become
extremely popular, white hot, at least for a few weeks. Being a Finalist
(or a Fellow) is a temporary golden ticket into the Chocolate Factory.
Everyone wants to take a meeting with you. Everyone wants to read you (or
have their assistant read you). If you can take advantage of the momentary
attention, you can parlay that into new relationships, folks who will want to
read you, again and again. And, eventually, you might sell something
or land a gig. I did both.
Q: What types of prizes (monetary and non-monetary) have you won from the
screenplay competitions you’ve entered?
A: Zero! Well, okay…as a Nicholl Finalist, again,
the trip to Beverly Hills is paid for…airline, hotel (the Beverly Hilton, not
as fancy as you might think), per diem (very handy, if you don’t eat
expensively and end up with your rental car towed and you gotta get it out of
hock, which I did)…but in terms of actual prizes, things with ribbons attached
or enormous checks, nada.
Q: Other than any material rewards and/or valuable feedback, what have been the
most satisfying aspects of placing high in a competition?
A: I’d offer that the most satisfying
aspect for me—and I only recognized this a year or two later—was learning how
much I still had to learn. I went out there with the one script.
Truthfully, part of me was in too much shock to even begin to write anything
else. The other part of me was naive enough to believe that this one
script, The Bone Orchard, was going
to land me an agent and then we’d be off to the races. Nope. Didn’t happen like that. Not for me, anyway.
Q: OK, let’s say you’ve just won or placed high in one of the big
screenwriting competitions. What can a writer expect to happen?
A: You’re going to become popular, very fast.
Everyone is going to want to read your script. Or their assistant is
going to want to read your script, which is how it frequently shakes
down. You’re going to get a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls. I
made the mistake (I think) in only letting potential agents read me…I had this
idea about keeping the material “fresh” so when the theoretical agent sent it
out, it would be new stuff to everyone. Guess what—I did not land an
agent. And I didn’t land an agent for two reasons: my script The Bone Orchard was a “hard sell” and I
did not have anything else to show. That script would still be my calling
card, but it would be three years later, and only after a producer asked me
about it, out of the blue. The lesson here is let everyone who is interested read your script. Your goal should
not be selling that script (unlikely) or even landing an agent or other rep
(they will find you, eventually). Your goal should be to get as many
industry people as possible familiar with your writing, your style, your
awesomeness…because most of ‘em, they already have projects in the wings. And
they need writers. And there’s always a shortage of great writers. So
let ‘em read you! Because in a few weeks, the shine will be off, the next
hot whatever will step off the bus, and you
will be a memory. You have a limited amount of time to do
something. Let ‘em read you.
Q: Have you ever submitted one of your early screenplays into a competition? If
so, is it something you now regret—and why?
A: Well, I had a lot of success with my first screenplay
(see above), but I’m probably an unusual example.
Q: Do you feel that adding "I won/placed high in the [name of script
comp]" to query letters and pitches prompted any additional interest from
agents, managers and/or production companies you queried?
A: I’ve never queried an agent, manager or prodco…all
of the interaction I had with those folks, came from the Nicholl, and they all
contacted me, as they do with every Nicholl Finalist. For me, my scripts
have always made their way to the right people…someone asks to read me, I pass
along my script, they end up passing it up the ladder, and a few weeks later,
someone is emailing me, asking about options and such. I should add that
I’m in Texas, so I don’t have the luxury of running into folks at Trader Joe’s
or meeting for drinks or whatever folks do, out there. I write, and on the
strength of that writing, I get read. Aside from occasional trips to LA
to meet with this person or that person—I have a couple of stories—what I do is
write and keep learning, keep trying to writer better than I did, the week or
month, before…interruptions be damned.
Q: Overall, what do you feel were the positive aspects of entering a screenplay
competition?
A: Meeting industry folks is a biggie, even if just
to see how the industry animal moves and talks and breathes and looks over your
shoulder for the next convo, if you start to bore them. Seeing how you
measure up to other writers…I think that’s important, when you’re starting
out, when you’re learning the craft and learning to know when you’ve done good
work. And it introduces you to writing deadlines…those never go away.
Q: Overall, what do you feel were the negative aspects of entering a screenplay
competition?
A: For me, once I started advancing, it was
excitement-induced writing paralysis. And this one is not exactly a negative, more a
fact of the industry, but it can be
negative: That first reader. The first reader is a killer,
because if that reader doesn’t get the material—you can be a certified genius-savant-Scott
Frank-esque writer—if that first reader does not respond to the material, for
whatever reason, you’re done. You can always submit again, the next year,
but boy oh boy…that first read is a killer. As I mentioned earlier, The Bone Orchard was dinked in every
other competition, first round, except the Nicholl. Part of the reason
for that is the Nicholl always has at least two readers, in the first
round. And if those two readers don’t agree, the script is read a third
time. That’s unheard of, but makes so much more sense, and this is how
they better cull the scripts. Of course, I’m biased…but to get to the
Nicholl Finals, over three rounds, my script was read by eight different industry pros. The odds of that
happening are lessened, I think, by a single first reader. Unfortunately,
the single first reader really a more accurate representation of the
industry: one assistant reads for someone at a prodco, and if the
assistant says “nope” then your script never lands on the higher-up’s
desk. You’re done…and you’re not only done, but you’re now in their
system on a hard drive, somewhere, with your name, script title and a big PASS
next to your script. So you’ll not get that one read at that prodco, ever
again, even if it’s ten drafts later and it’s brilliant, unless fate or an act
of God intervenes.
Q: What is your current status as a screenwriter?
A: Let’s call me part-time professional; I'm still
balancing my creative stuff with my daddy-ing stuff. I just ended one
option on a script—terrible experience, catch me sometime in person and I’ll
drop names and offer more cautions than you can count—and am now working with
another prodco that I really like. I’m also giving thought to getting
back to shooting, again… something I have not done, since my last short
film. I’d like to shoot that fourth script I currently hold…it can be
done locally, and fairly easily, in terms of logistics. So I’m playing
with that, too. And there's always more ideas. The trick
for me is finding/making the time.
Q: Any parting comments, thoughts, or words of
advice for screenwriters considering entering a competition?
A: Like the Knight Templar says to Indy: Choose wisely. Not all competitions
are created equal. Winning a medium or smaller competition may do exactly
squat for your writing career. The Nicholl is still, I think, the king of
the competitions, for all the right reasons: judging, exposure, prize
money. Austin is probably in the top five, still. Disney is (I have
been told by two who’ve won) a sweatshop, even by industry standards, but the
exposure there is fantastic. Sundance, I think, you gotta be great and know the secret handshake, so good
luck with that one. All of those will open doors for you, if you place or
win. And, again: the end goal of winning a competition should not
be getting sold, or even getting repped; the end goal is getting read. You win or place, and that first
reader is a lot easier to get past. Don’t squander the opportunity, like
I did. There [are] lots of roads into Hollywood, but it’s dumb to ignore a nice
paved one. Get the read. Everything else follows that first reader. Reps,
sales, your film being made…everything.
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Learn from those who have done it! My interviews with 16 working screenwriters!
