Fixing Those Broken Scripts: A Conversation With Screenplay Mechanic Andrew Hilton

By Sean Tuohy

One of the most difficult parts of writing is sharing your work with someone. Screenwriter Andrew Hilton has made a career of reading other people’s scripts while also creating his own. A former story editor and screenplay reader, Hilton runs The Screenplay Mechanic, a fantastic service where he provides his clients with great feedback to better their screenplays. I’ve consulted with Andrew twice and his feedback is always pitch perfect.

In between writing his own screenplays and saving someone else’s, Andrew sat down to talk to me about how he got into the business.

Sean Tuohy: How did you get into screenwriting?

Andrew Hilton: I attended film school in the U.K. and New York, then finished my final year of university in Los Angeles so I could start interning at the studios. I have a photography background so my goal was always to become a camera operator and work my way up to cinematographer, but my first studio gig was working for a producer at Universal and I spent six months reading scripts for him. From there out, my path kept me in the development world and one of the execs I worked for encouraged me to start writing myself. My first script landed me an agent, almost sold for big bucks in the late ‘90s, and I was hooked. 

In the meantime, I began working in the story department of one of my favorite producers, Joel Silver (“Die Hard,” “Lethal Weapon,” etc.). After six months with Joel, I jumped to Paramount to become a story editor for Mario Kassar (“First Blood,” “Terminator,” etc.). It was there I began teaching others to write coverage and really honed my story skills. Throughout this time, I was writing on the side and every script I wrote was optioned. I was getting just enough success (and came close to huge success) to keep that carrot dangling in front of me.   

ST: Which screenwriters did you admire?

AH: When I was starting out, like many other action writers, I was inspired primarily by Shane Black.  Today, some of my favorite writers include Martin McDonagh, Scott Rosenberg, Charlie Kaufman, and, of course, the greats like Aaron Sorkin. He can write a dialogue exchange as exciting as any car chase and I’m in awe of that ability.

ST: What are the most common mistakes you see in first time screenwriters?

AH: Overwriting is a common pitfall. Screenwriting is somewhat unique in that one of the best traits a scribe can have is efficiency of language. Don’t use 20 words to describe something when 10 will do. Don’t try and impress anyone with your vocabulary or your grasp of metaphors and similes. Just write the most compelling and vivid movie using the fewest words. 

A poorly kept secret in Hollywood is that few execs and producers like to actually read. That’s work for them. So when they sit down to read a script, they crave a fast-paced, page-turning experience. If the first few pages of a spec are dense and verbose, they’ll skim-read or toss the script and move onto the next one.

Another common mistake is failing to create a character we can become emotionally invested in. We don’t always have to like the protagonist, but it’s essential they evoke our interest. If we feel nothing but apathy for the characters, that screenplay is DOA.

ST: What makes a stand out spec script?

AH: A spec’s potential really comes down to two things: Can this story entertain an audience for a couple of hours? Is that audience going to be big enough to turn a profit? It’s that Goldilocks balance of art and business, and reconciling that reality is one of the first goals every new writer should work towards. You could argue that there are good scripts which won’t be profitable at the box-office, but who is that script “good” for? It might make a solid writing sample, but a genuinely good script is one that’s well written and will make some serious coin in the marketplace once it’s produced. 

Obviously, a script that offers something I’ve never seen or read before is going to stand out, e.g. look at something like “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” However, that level of originality isn’t essential. One of my favorite films of 2017 was “Logan,” yet I would hardly say it reinvented the conceptual wheel. I also loved “Wind River,” but that script worked because of the execution and character work, not because the murder-mystery setup was mind-blowingly fresh and inventive. 

ST: What are agents/managers looking for in a script and in a screenwriter?

AH: This may sound cynical but that’s an easy question. Reps want a script they can sell, and a client who will crank out promising material consistently and have a long career ahead of them. Most reps live for the deals more than the end product. Hell, some agents don’t even read the scripts they send out but I bet they read the checks that come in.         

ST: How has market changed since you started?

AH: Globalization, flat-screen televisions, and Streaming or Subscription Video on demand have changed the market completely. 

The domestic box office used to be king. Now, the international box office is worth two to three times domestic, so America is really just another distribution territory to be sold off. Consequently, producers and financiers want projects that will work worldwide, not only in America. So, for instance, no more baseball movies and rom-coms because they won’t translate well in, say, China or Germany. It’s for this reason action and horror are perennial favorites.  

Theatrical is dying because most folks have a 42”+ widescreen TV at home now, so the appeal of the multiplex has declined. Add to that the sheer glut of original product now available at home thanks to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. I wish those entities would support more theatrical releases of their projects or else I fear the cinema will go the way of the dinosaurs. Big spectacle projects, i.e. all those comic book pictures and IP tent-poles, are currently keeping the domestic theatrical market on life-support. But we’re in a weird evolutionary stage that is tough to predict. My only hope is that we can still go see original features on the big screen in 10-20 years.

ST: As a screenwriter, what is your writing process like? Do you outline or write a vomit draft?

AH: I write in my head for months, and then transfer that story onto the page. I once read about a famous screenwriter, it might have been Billy Wilder, who was caught sleeping in their office. Their boss angrily asked, “Why aren’t you writing? You’re supposed to be writing!” The screenwriter replied, “I was writing. And later I’ll type it on paper.” (If I butchered that quote and anyone has the accurate anecdote, please get in touch.)

That said, sometimes I’ll simply sit down with a glass of wine, a legal pad and a pen, then see where that takes me. 

ST: What is new projects do you have in the future?

AH: I have a sci-fi thriller and another action picture I’m writing. Right now, however, I’m focused on my project “The Guns Of Christmas Past.” I’m a producer on the project too, we’re fully financed, we have a director, and we’re currently making offers to lead actors.      

ST: What is one random fact about yourself?

AH: I’m a pathological chocoholic and won’t hesitate to steal it from children. 

To learn more about Andrew Hilton, visit his official website or like his Facebook page.

Boston's Museum of African American History Launches National Book Award

By Daniel Ford

Boston’s Museum of African American History recently announced its new national award honoring non-fiction literature that celebrates African American history and culture.

The first Museum of African American History Stone Book Award will be presented in 2018 at the African Meeting House in Boston, and will include a $25,000 prize for the winning title.

Marita Rivero, Executive Director at the Museum of African American History, graciously answered some of my questions about the museum itself and about the new book award.

Daniel Ford: For those who may not be familiar with the museum, can you give us a brief history and share some of the museum’s featured exhibits?

Marita Rivero: The Museum of African American History was founded in 1967, and centers on two preeminent historic sites: the African Meeting House (1806) and the Abiel Smith School (1835), both in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood; and the African Meeting House (c. 1820) and the Seneca Boston-Florence Higginbotham House (c. 1774), with its outbuildings on Nantucket Island. Both of these locations also anchor MAAH’s two Black Heritage Trails, which span the Colonial Period through Reconstruction. So if you visit Boston and/or Nantucket, you can tour the museum or the Boston-Higginbotham House where you can also pick up maps to walk the historic trails.

The buildings at both sites are closely linked to key leaders, institutions, and campaigns during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The museum recovers the voices, agency, networking and community building skills of black men and women who worked to end slavery. Joined by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, these men and women formed the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Frederick Douglass used the Boston buildings as recruiting sites for the famed black 54th Civil War Regiment.

Aside from the historic buildings, MAAH holds more than 3,000 objects, representing more than 250 years of American history, including documents and letters, newspapers, photographs, books, fine art, archeological artifacts, and other objects ranging from household goods to weaponry. If you were to visit our Boston site right now (at the Abiel Smith School), you'd see our current exhibition: Frederick Douglass, the Most Photographed American of the Nineteenth Century, which is co-curated by museum staff and guest scholars Professors John Stauffer, Harvard University and Zoe Trodd, University of Nottingham, England. The exhibit, which is drawn from their book, Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century's Most Photographed American, features objects from our collection, other institutions and private donors.

For more information, visit our website or follow us on Facebook or Twitter!

DF: How did the idea for a book award originate?

MR: The idea for the Museum of African American History Stone Book Award originated in partnership with the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation. Cathy Stone is a member of our Board of Directors and currently serves as Chair. She and her husband, Jim Stone, felt it was important to have an award that recognizes exceptional nonfiction books that celebrate African American history and culture. Both the Stones and I felt strongly that the museum should present the award at the African Meeting House which was built in 1806, largely by the labor of free blacks, and which served as the center of the free black community in the 19th century. The building is the oldest surviving black church structure in the United States and a National Historic Landmark.

The book award is a natural fit for the museum’s programming as well as an important means of highlighting the museum’s long emphasis on scholarship and research. We are able to add new stories and an enlarged understanding about the contributions of black people to the creation of what we recognize as our American democracy. This award was designed to encourage writers and promote the importance of reading—two American rights fought for and won by the supporters and activists of the anti-slavery movement in 19th century America.

Additionally, we hope that this book award—at $25,000 it will be one of the largest in the field—will help increase MAAH's visibility on the local and national stage. We're trying to draw more attention to the museum's historic buildings, collections, and programs, and spark conversations about African American history and culture among and between communities, within families, and across generations. By showcasing and promoting an accessible yet edifying, exciting new work of literature that bears the museum's "stamp of approval," we hope we can do just that.

DF: Who are some of the African American nonfiction authors that should be on our radar?

MR: With our public programs, the museum has presented writers, scholars, poets, and public readings of historical documents. In the past year, MAAH hosted Manisha Sinha, who spoke at our African Meeting House as well as our Nantucket Meeting House about her most recent book, The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition. The book was awarded the 2017 Frederick Douglass Book Prize.

Our scholar lecture series is one way in which we focus on the history of African American life and culture. We also embrace and receive the support of faculty and scholars in our exhibitions and programs—John Stauffer, David Blight, as well as the late James O. Horton, author of Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North, are just a few historians, past and present, closely associated with the museum.

We also just hosted "AM Joy" host and MSNBC correspondent Joy Reid and author and Columbia University Professor Dr.  Jelani Cobb for the first in a series entitled “Race in the Public Dialogue.” Public historian, scholar and author Dr. Lois Brown presented and participated in our education programs in 2017. These are a few of the many authors and scholars of African American and American history and culture that have partnered with us over the past 50 years—all should be on your radar.

DF: What are your plans for the award going forward?

MR: Right now we are focused on a successful launch in year one, but after that, we hope to expand the award by considering other genres, e.g., fiction, poetry, and children's literature.

DF: Do you have any idea who will be on your panel of judges yet?

MR: In addition to recruiting the jury, we are currently enlisting Honorary Committee members, and are thrilled to announce that noted sociologist and author Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has agreed to serve as our inaugural Honorary Committee Chair. Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot is the award-winning author of 10 books and a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Prize, as well as a 2017 honoree at the museum’s annual Living Legends Gala. 

DF: What has the response from your community been like since you announced the news?

MR: When the creation of the award was announced at the museum's annual Living Legends Gala on Dec. 4, the response in the room was overwhelmingly positive. We've also received positive feedback and lots of support from other organizations that present book awards, including friends at PENAmerica and the Massachusetts Center for the Book. And we've already received inquiries from interested authors and publishing houses.

DF: What's your advice for aspiring authors who want to write about African American issues?

MR: There are yet many stories to be explored, problems to be examined, and books to be written about African American history and culture. We ask writers and scholars to be diligent in their research, curious in their endeavors, and to stay the course. Their work will be greatly appreciated in the future. We look forward to reading about their discoveries and viewpoints.