Writer’s Panel at the Lobero Theater

This year’s writing panel brought forth some of the most talented writers of our time, most of them being apart of Oscar-nominated films. The seminar was held at the Lobero theater and was a full house. The talks consisted of what the writing process is actually like, some advice, and a lot of laughs. The writers panel was moderated by Anne Thompson and consisted of the following writers: Pete Doctor of Inside Out, Josh Singer of Spotlight, Charles Randolph of The Big Short, Phyllis Nagy of Carol, Charles Kaufman of Anomalisa, Drew Goddard of The Martian, Emma Donaghue of Room, Alex Garland of Ex Machina, and Jonathan Herman of Straight Outta Compton.

Pete Doctor of Inside Out talked about the process of starting off with great collaborations with people. He owes a lot of his work to being around the right people. He claims that the writing process is like therapy, “you figure it out as you go along.”

Drew Goddard of The Martian was heavily influenced by American television growing up. He says it’s necessary to keep working even if situations are unpleasant.

Emma Donaghue of Room says it was an even partnership between her book and the film but says she loved certain features of her book that just couldn’t fit into the film. She likes to work out while writing and handles 2 to 3 projects at a time.

Phyliss Nagy of Carol was a crowd favorite with her quirky comments. She owns up to having to write with a stimulus. She is a huge procrastinator and will sometimes start the outline 2 to 3 weeks before the script is due.

Joushua Singer, writer of Spotlight says the hardest part of writing is filtering down the most important moments. “It’s important to show the vulnerability of the characters.” He admits to spending quite a bit of time researching his material before he starts writing and of course consulting his wife.

Charles Randolph of The Big Short says the narrative voice in the movie become sort of like a character to the audience. Charles likes to find little moments to build the script around.

Charles Kaufman of Anomalisa says his favorite part of writing is that you know more about the film at the end then you did at the beginning. He uses his downtime to think of ideas in his head.

Alex Garland of Ex machina is one who just loves to go with the flow when it comes to the writing process. He’s very interested in AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Jonathan Herman of Straight Outta Compton got the audience laughing when he pointed out he was a gay white man from Connecticut and couldn’t be more perfect for the script. He says he wanted to find the vulnerability in the characters and show that on the film. He admits that some of the members of N.W.A. didn’t want to show some of those parts, but Jonathan thought it necessary.

I think the biggest lesson to be learned out of this seminar is that there’s no concrete way to write a script. Many of these people have their own techniques they’ve cultivated over the years and some just like to go with the flow!