Write, write, write. Scream Writer Harrison Smith boils down his advice until there’s no fat left on the bone – just like if it were a screenplay! Today, the writer/director joins Scriptophobic to talk about the value of a good teacher, facing the hard truths about our own writing, and the magic of the table read. All this and more on today’s Scream Writing Questions!
What first got you interested in screenwriting?
I always loved writing as a boy. I am going to say my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. DeFranco was the real spark for writing. By the time I got to 8th grade I had Mrs. Donna Haddon who once worked in radio back in the day. She did advertising and wrote scripts for broadcast. She taught me how to write in script format. So those two teachers were paramount. 9th grade gave me Mrs. Schneider who opened my eyes to so many new authors and broke me away from the Stephen King trend I was in. She widened my palette and encouraged my writing. By 10th grade I was lucky to have Mr. Burnett for English class and he had us keep a year-long journal and I loved it. He read so many of my short stories and gave detailed feedback. Then in 11th and 12th I had Mr. Steen for creative writing and it was this man who kind of tied it all together. He taught restraint in writing and getting your point across in as few words as possible. This was the missing piece to screenwriting that I needed. I dedicated Camp Dread (2014) to these teachers.
Do you have an example of a lesson you learned from reading a script (rather than watching the movie made from it)?
I recently read the script for A Quiet Place (2018) and absolutely loved and learned from their script formatting and writing. They broke so many rules and it all works.
What’s the strongest piece of advice you have for aspiring screenwriters?
Write. Don’t talk about. Write everyday. Write. Write. Write. And devour scripts. Read everything you can get your hands on.
What is your relationship with genre film (love, hate, indifference)? What led to that?
I loved scary movies since a boy when my grandmother and I would spend late night Fridays or Saturday afternoon rainy days watching the old Universal monsters. I love all genres and when you see a great movie it’s just something no words describe. I love walking out of a film moved or thinking.
What was something that surprised you in the process of writing your own screenplay?
That sometimes my work isn’t as great as I liked to think it was.
What’s your favorite thing about screenwriting that doesn’t apply to other kinds of writing?
When you see it come alive at a table read or when an actor nails the character you spent so much time writing. Then of course seeing the finished film that brings those pages to life.
What are some of the films and stories that inspired you?
Jaws (1975, covered by Scriptophobic’s Paul and Kelly) was the movie that made want to make movies. However, Tom Holland’s script for Psycho II (1983) made a major impact on me. That script and the film showed me you could take a classic original and not only give it a new spin, but also reinvent it and do what a good sequel should do: take the characters and story in a new direction while not abandoning what made the original a classic. So many films had an influence: Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Escape From New York (1981), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1979), Jaws, Godzilla (1954), Watership Down (1972), Blazing Saddles (1974), It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), What’s Up Doc? (1972), and so many more.
If you could adapt any story in any medium into a screenplay, what is your dream project?
What a cool question. Don’t think I was ever asked that before. I would love a shot to adapt Peter Straub’s “Ghost Story” into a major film or mini/streaming series. I know they did it in 1981 with Fred Astaire and John Houseman, and while I enjoyed that, Larry Cohen took like ten pages from the novel and boiled them down into a very simplistic storyline that betrays the scope and magnitude of Straub’s novel.
Where can people find you online and support your work (present or upcoming)?
I am on Twitter at HarrisonSmith85 and IMDb.
