[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: What is the perfect amount of time to write a screenplay?
Actor/Writer/Filmmaker Blayne Weaver: I feel like it’s a moving finish line unfortunately.I wrote Weather Girl in like four weeks. 6 Month Rule took me three years because I kept going and scrapping things and going back but I’m very happy with how that script turned out. That was probably the perfect amount of time to do it. I think any less than six weeks is a bad idea. I’ve written scripts faster because that was the job but the script isn’t better than it would have been if we had given it 6 weeks if that makes any sense.
It’s a constantly moving target and I feel like it’s about:
-What is the script?
-Is this a collaborative piece of work?
-Is this something that I’m writing for a studio?
-Is it something I’m writing for me specifically?
-Are there producers involved?
-Whose idea?
-What are we trying to accomplish?
Very rarely is it just Let’s write the best movie we possibly can. That really is just stuff that I do on my free time when I’m not getting paid for anything. When I’m getting paid for something it’s:
-Here’s the idea.
-It’s due here.
-Don’t change any of the locations because they’ve already built sets.
-Don’t change any of the casting because we’ve already cast…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Actor/Writer/Filmmaker Blayne Weaver most recently directed the romantic comedy MISS VALENTINE and wrote the partier comedy PRETTY STONED for MTV. Other recent works include directing the holiday romance CUPID FOR CHRISTMAS for Hulu, writing & directing the horror GetAWAY and co-writing the raucous comedy AMERICAN PIE: GIRLS’ RULES for Netflix. He previously wrote, directed and starred in the Southern Noir Thriller CUT TO THE CHASE and the acclaimed romantic comedy 6 MONTH RULE (alongside Martin Starr, Natalie Morales and John Michael Higgins). Previous films he’s written and directed include WEATHER GIRL (with Tricia O’Kelley, Mark Harmon, Jon Cryer and Jane Lynch) and OUTSIDE SALES. He also co-wrote and acted in MANIC (Don Cheadle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel), directed by Jordan Melamed, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He starred in writer/director Paul Osborne’s psychological thriller FAVOR and has appeared in such films as JUNK, DEEP DARK CANYON, OFFICIAL REJECTION and THE GOOD OLD BOYS opposite Tommy Lee Jones. His numerous episodic television credits include ER, NCIS, and THE MIDDLEMAN. He also provided the voice of Peter Pan in the Disney animated feature RETURN TO NEVER LAND. A native of Bossier City, Louisiana, Blayne has studied acting in New York, Los Angeles, Oxford University and graduated from UCLA with a degree in English Literature. He currently runs the West Coast office of Secret Identity Pictures.
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