Let’s kick off this week’s Scream Writing Questions with an episode of Larissa Thomas and Alicia Faucher’s delightful web series Allie & Lara Make a Horror Movie to get a taste of the fun to be found in Larissa’s work and in this interview with her! What a fun interview, too, from a childhood love of Terminator 2 (1991) to the harsh realization that Scream Writing is hard work, this chat with Larissa is filled with wisdom and humour.
What first got you interested in screenwriting?
I used to make comics. Really bad ones. Then I started writing what I thought would be a 4-part comic book series and realized I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I couldn’t really find any books on how to write serialized comics, so I read a couple of screenwriting books. I finished part one of the comic, which took forever to draw and colour and letter. Then no one read it. I didn’t really have the motivation to keep making the series after that. I still get the urge to make comics, but I realized it was kind of a waste of time until I could get my writing to a level where people would want to read them. Plus, after discovering how much I love writing in screenplay format, I thought, “Damn, being a screenwriter would be a breezy, luxurious jog to the finish line versus being an indie cartoonist.” I wrote a kids’ horror screenplay and a supernatural comedy pilot, and was like – make me a star, Hollywood – here’s a raw talent for ya! Anyway, learned that lesson pretty fast.
Do you have an example of a lesson you learned from reading a script?
A great one to read is ‘Nightcrawler’ by Dan Gilroy. Reading that screenplay changed my approach. I think the most effective scripts are ones that are sparse, with rhythm, and convey a sense of personality and tone.
What’s the strongest piece of advice you have for aspiring screenwriters?Accept criticism/feedback as a tool to improve your writing versus viewing it as a personal attack. Use what’s helpful, discard the rest, and say thank you. There’s nothing more off-putting than taking the time to read someone’s script and craft thoughtful feedback, only to have them get defensive and hysterical about it. 80% of people don’t actually want to read your ‘aspiring screenwriter’ screenplay, so if they do – be gracious, humble, and open to improving.
What’s your relationship with genre film? What led to that?
I love genre film – horror, thriller, action, scifi, dark comedy, and all the subgenres of those genres – anything weird and horrible. As a kid, every day I’d come home from school and watch Terminator 2 and whatever genre thing I could get my hands on. I was obsessed with horror, but because I’d get nightmares I wasn’t really allowed to watch it unless it was my birthday or my dad had picked up a new box of b-movie discards from his friend who owned a video store. My dad would hide them, but myself or my brother would usually find them. My mom got so fed up with me watching “garbage” that she started cramming historical dramas down my throat in the hopes of widening my interests. This led to me fixating on genre as it became this kind of forbidden fruit – As an adult, I refused to watch any of the films she made me watch as a kid, until recently when I rewatched Last of the Mohicans (1992). I was like “dayum, mom.” Can’t believe she made me watch that – that film’s way more violent than the stuff I was into – So because books were harder for my parents to police, I’d mostly have to get my fix by reading trashy horror novels from the library, or I’d buy them with my pocket money. But as you know, that’s where all the good, perverted shit is anyway. This answer was way longer than it needed to be.
What was something that surprised you in the process of writing your own screenplay?If anything, I was surprised by directing for the first time. As an introvert, directing is not something I wanted to do on any level. I was forced to on our web series because we had no money to pay anyone – but as a result, I found a real joy in it. I didn’t do a particularly competent job, but it’s an extension of the writing process. As is the editing process. Shaping a creation on multiple levels is really satisfying and exciting – but also a real wake-up call. Every writer should try directing something they’ve written once just to understand the scope of their own writing and what’s involved from a production standpoint. I learned a lot by experiencing firsthand what didn’t translate from the page to the screen.
What’s your favorite thing about screenwriting that doesn’t apply to other kinds of writing?
I’m not so hot with grammar/punctuation, so I enjoy that you can kind of play fast and loose with it in a screenplay. You can cut shit down to its barest bones. I suppose you can do that with fiction, but it doesn’t have the same effect – at least for me. Dense blocks of text are no one’s friend. Vote brevity!
What are some of the films and stories that inspired you?
I think the first thing I watched and read that really jumped out at me – because I saw myself in it (as a cartoonist, not a screenwriter) – was Ghost World (2001). Both the film and the comic. I used to write a lot as a kid, but that’s what motivated me to create something with the intent to share it.
More than anything though, what really gets me hot in the screenwriting crotch is long-form narrative storytelling. TV shows, baby. When the build up and payoff work, it can fucking crush with its impact. I love nothing more than watching a show that just levels me and leaves me sobbing on the floor. Simultaneously wanting to die and in the midnight hour cry, “More! More! More!” Buffy, Supernatural (S1-5), Fringe, The Night Of, Orange is the New Black, Battlestar Galactica, Feud, I’m Dying Up Here – even Bachelor in Paradise has its merits. That’s what gets me out of bed. I can’t imagine the feeling show-runners must get, playing demigod in a board room. Cackling like a puppet master, “Dance! Dance! Dance for me, characters!” Anyway…If you could adapt any story in any medium into a screenplay, what is your dream project?
There are two teen horror books I’d kill (not literally, well… maybe literally) to adapt. I doubt I’ll ever get the chance, but I’m sure as hell not mentioning them here in case it gives someone with money the bright idea to option them first. Haha.
Where can people find you online and support your work (present or upcoming)?You can find Allie & Lara Make A Horror Movie, the web series I made with Alicia Faucher, on Youtube. It’s about two newb filmmakers trying to make their first horror film, and predictably it does not go well – mimicking our real life experience as first-time writer/directors making this web series. That shit got painfully meta. Like, we were in some kind of art imitates life/life imitates art wormhole. You can watch the first ten episodes and bonus Becca vlogs here. The last 2 episodes air in October. I hope. It’s been a bit of a journey. But I hope it’ll pay off for our tiny but mighty audience.
Since last year, I’ve been developing a serialized horror podcast called Dead Air. It’s been slow moving, but that’s going to be my focus once the web series is officially in the can. I’m also in the process of finishing a couple of no/low budget genre-y scripts that I’d like to make if anyone has a few thousand dollars to burn and would like to produce them, haha. Not joking.
I post new short stories, some of my (old) comics, and updates here: https://www.larissathoma
My twitter: @larissa_thomas
