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.

Writing the Story With Zebulon Harris: Teen Medium Author A.M. Wheeler

By Sean Tuohy

Combining teenage angst with the ability to talk to a dead author, A.M. Wheeler’s Zebulon Harris: Teen Medium is a wildly entertaining novel.

The hardworking author and screenwriter swung by Writer’s Bone to talk about her writing process, who she based her teenage medium off of, and what’s next for her.

Sean Tuohy: When did you know you wanted to be a storyteller?

A.M. Wheeler: I started telling stories to my family around the dinner table when I was about 3 years old. I just have always been fascinated with stories and making up characters or scenarios that would make people laugh. So, I’d say around middle school, I kind of knew I wanted to work as a writer and possibly even direct film one day. 

ST: What is your writing process? Do outline?

AW: My writing process is interesting. I don’t write everyday. I actually like to take some months off and experience different events, people, cultures, and then after think about my next story. I find allowing my thoughts to manifest for a while, makes my stories feel unforced and it’s my way of avoiding writer’s block.

I always outline! Before I begin writing a story, I always know the ending of the story before I even know how it begins! I find this technique best for me because if I know where a character ends up, I can then feel like a detective as I write backwards and leave little foreshadowing moments on how the characters ended up where they did.

ST: Where did the idea for Zebulon Harris: Teen Medium come from?

AW: Growing up I’ve always been interested in the supernatural world and the ultimate question of what happens after one dies. I knew I wanted to have a teen protagonist because high school was such a pivotal moment in my life. High school can be such a rough transition and once I knew I wanted to combine the world of high school with a supernatural twist, Zebulon Harris: Teen Medium, was born! I always find coming of age stories to be timeless and the ultimate of message really is universal to everyone.

ST: Zebulon “Zeb” Harris is a great main character. Unlike most characters he rejects his special abilities and sees them as a burden. Where did he come from?

AW: I think most teens in high school reject their situation or identity at one point or another. You know, if you’re tall you wish you were short; if you have curly hair, you wish it were straight. The concept of wanting what you can’t have is a struggle I really related to in high school. So, once I knew I wanted to write about the supernatural world and was trying to create this relatable protagonist, Zeb, I realized making him reject who he is would be what can connect teens to this book. You don’t have to have powers to understand Zeb’s struggle. I think readers can appreciate the concept of trying to discover yourself and accept yourself for who you are.

ST: Is there any of you in Zeb?

AW: I think Zeb is a lot cooler than myself! However, definitely his closeness to his family is something I think is similar to own life. I also think his sometimes sarcastic nature was exactly how I was in high school. He tended to not really care about school that much, and for a while I was the same way! It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I started taking school more seriously. Otherwise, Zeb is actually more like my best friend from high school. A lot of Zeb’s mannerisms mimic his, and I think that’s why Zeb feels authentic. He’s actually partially based on a real person.

ST: What's next for you?

AW: I currently teach screenwriting and creative writing courses at a university. I have taken some time off from writing. However, I do have a few ideas for some scripts in the future, and I definitely think I’ll get back into the film festival scene starting after the 2018 New Year. I’m hoping to eventually get involved in some film shorts and possibly even end up behind the camera.

ST: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

AW: The best advice I can give other writers is to stop overthinking before you write. Just write the story. It’s okay if the plot has inconsistencies, or the story doesn’t make total sense when you reread it. Editing will always be there, and rewriting. But, you can’t do anything if you stop yourself from getting anything on the page. Lastly, don’t take criticism personally. You may hear “no” way more times than you hear “yes," but don’t stop writing. Your writing can make a difference.

ST: Can you please tell us one random fact about yourself?

AW: One random fact about me would be that when I get to a part of a story where the character is going through an extreme emotion of anger, or being in love, or sad, I listen to music that correlates that emotional state. Music helps relax my mind and makes me feel what the character may be going through. So, usually I’ll have my headphones on and I just allow the music to make me feel certain emotions before I begin writing. I find this is the closest way to be as authentic in the moment as possible, especially when writing a piece from a first person narrative.

To learn more about A.M. Wheeler, follow her on Twitter @amwheeler90.

The Writer’s Bone Interviews Archive

In Orbit: 7 Questions With Artemis Author Andy Weir

By Caitlin Malcuit

Andy Weir shoots from Mars to the Moon in his latest novel Artemis, introducing us to a wealthy and exclusive lunar colony where Jasmine Bashara works as a porter, struggling to get by. There's not much money to be made in that gig, so Jasmine—“Jazz”—must survive and earn her keep as a smuggler. When a heist too good to pass up unearths a larger conspiracy, Jazz is thrown into the seedy underbelly of the glitzy Artemis.

Weir talked to me about the new and exciting setting for his story, his influences, and imparted some valuable advice for writers navigating the publishing world in the digital age.

Caitlin Malcuit: What is your process for writing a novel, especially the research that goes into science fiction?

Andy Weir: I start with a bunch of research. For me, the science and setting have to be right before I’m willing to work on the story. Once I’m into the actual writing, I set myself a daily word count to shoot for.

CM: Which authors influenced you?

AW: I’m a Gen-Xer, but I grew up reading my father’s sci-fi collection. So, despite my generation, my main influences are the Baby Boomer era authors. My holy trinity are Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke.

CM: What drew you to setting Artemis on a lunar colony?

AW: I wanted to write a story about the first human settlement off of Earth. And I just really think that’ll be on the Moon. It’s so much close to Earth than any other celestial body. Most importantly, it’s close enough for trade and tourism.

CM: Jazz is certainly driven to survive, as Mark Watney was when he was stranded on Mars, but, given the wealth disparity on Artemis, what inspired you to tackle Jazz’s unique situation?

AW: Well I’ve always had a love of heist stories and crime novels. So I figured why not do a sci-fi heist story?

CM: Are you excited to see where Phil Lord and Chris Miller will take Artemis as they bring it to the screen?

AW: Absolutely! Though it’s still early days yet. I try not to get myself too worked up about it. A lot of things have to go right for a film project to be greenlighted.

CM: What advice do you have for aspiring writers, especially now that NaNoWriMo is in full swing?

AW:

1. You have to actually write. Daydreaming about the book you’re going to write someday isn’t writing. It’s daydreaming. Open your word processor and start writing.
2. Resist the urge to tell friends and family your story. I know it’s hard because you want to talk about it and they’re (sometimes) interested in hearing about it. But it satisfies your need for an audience, which diminishes your motivation to actually write it. Make a rule: The only way for anyone to ever hear about your stories is to read them.
3. This is the best time in history to self-publish. There’s no old-boy network between you and your readers. You can self-publish an ebook to major distributors (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.) without any financial risk on your part.

CM: Can you please tell us one random fact about yourself?

AW: I like to do woodworking. It’s a hobby that’s helpful to me to clear my mind when I’m stressed out or when I’m stuck on a plot problem in whatever project I’m on.

To learn more about Andy Weir, visit his official website, like his Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter @andyweirauthor. Also read our last interview with the author!

The Writer’s Bone Interviews Archive