[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: If we can go back to Trackdown [movie] and the screenwriting process, we’ve heard instances of writers working on a screenplay for one or two months and in some cases a few weeks. How much work did you put into writing Trackdown?
Ron Mita, Professor of Advanced Screenwriting at College of the Canyons/Screenwriter: Trackdown took a long time.
Why did it take a long time? Because it was really our first action script.
I mean it took a long time because first of all we were working as a partnership and partnerships are difficult because you bicker a lot, like what stays in what goes out.
It’s good because you have an extra set of ears and eyes.
But there’s a little bit of a give and take.
Also, both of us were working, full-time.
I was working at Universal, which when you work for a studio, I didn’t get home till 7:00 at night.
Jim, my writing partner, lived in the same building as me.
We would start working at 8:00 at night, work till midnight.
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You can’t do it every night.
I would say that took us a half a year, six months or longer to write in its entirety from when we got the concept to when we actually felt like this is ready to show.
I know that as we continued to work down the line, everything we were able to do things in 8 weeks, 12 weeks at the most.
But initially, first time around, we were taking our time because we were a little nervous.
We also had, and this is a fear that all first- time writers have, we had the fear of finishing.
As you get closer to the end of your script, you’re really nervous about…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
After beginning his career as a graphic artist, Ron quickly realized his true passion was storytelling. That realization led him to Loyola Marymount University, where he pursued a graduate degree in screenwriting and before graduating, sold his first screenplay to Columbia Pictures in 1993, launching a career that now spans more than three decades.
That early success opened the door to work with many of Hollywood’s major studios, including Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, HBO, TNT, Screen Gems, and CBS.
Ron’s produced credits include the animated hit Robots for 20th Century Fox, S.W.A.T., starring Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell, Sniper II, starring Tom Berenger, and 24 Hours to Live, starring Ethan Hawke.
Since 2002, Ron has helped shape the next generation of filmmakers as a screenwriting professor at College of the Canyons and as a filmmaking instructor at Antelope Valley College.
Early in his career, Ron developed the Magnificent 7–24 Method, a screenwriting architecture that helps writers move from idea to page with clarity and confidence. Built as a flexible framework rather than a rigid formula, it removes the fear that often keeps aspiring screenwriters from beginning. The method remains the foundation of both his professional work and his teaching.
A working screenwriter and dedicated educator, Ron continues to move between the classroom and the industry, where story always comes first.
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