MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Tonya Roberts

An interview with screenwriter Tonya Roberts regarding the ScriptVamp/Attention Grabber Writing Competition.

A: THE ACES AND EIGHTS - DEAD MAN'S HAND (A Movie of the Week in two parts)

I'll summarize the story... but really, it's about drawing the best possible performance out of Robert Carlyle (and Graham Greene, if I have my way.)

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Jamie is a genuine wild-west cowboy -- never mind he's from Glasgow and much of the wild-west is now fenced in. He's just moved into the Aces and Eights ranch in New Mexico and married Dara, the love of his life. He has a smart horse, good neighbors and a pair of 1851 Navy Colt Revolvers. Life is good -- at least until a black-hearted villain turns it all into a bag of nails. Russell wears a black hat and rides a black horse. And he has twenty-eight million reasons for killing Dara on her wedding night. Being black-hearted, Russell can't just kill Dara; he fixes it so she falls over a cliff -- from Jamie's own hand. No amount of single barrel malt can cure PTSD or prevent Jamie from taking bloody revenge, but Bogie -- an agent of the New Mexico State Police and a Mescalero Apache Medicine Man -- can do both.

It'll take all Jamie's prowess with horses and guns, a GPS tracking device, and the help of Bogie's Spirit Guides, For Jamie to find justice and a way back to the life he loves.

A: I sweated over my first 26 pages. My big event doesn't come until page 27 of Part One. Of course it's one HELL of a big event and sends the story suddenly down a steep path over a dangerous cliff, but I have reams of data to impart to the audience before we even get there (AT A FREAKING WEDDING RECEPTION, MIND YOU!) Trying to make it interesting was the hardest writing I've ever done.

I am extremely satisfied with the rest of the story. I did all the required research and wove many thematic threads together seamlessly - I know it's very good.

But I lost my distance from those first pages after the umpti-millionth rewrite. I am no longer a good judge of the beginning.

ScriptVamp to the rescue with their Attention Grabber Contest!!! I needed some professional feedback about my opening, and that is what they promise with this contest. Boy, oh boy, did they come through!

Their feedback was wonderful, not just because they lavishly praised my opening - HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF - but because they told me a few ways I could improve it, and they were spot on!

I have now sent the screenplay to several contests and we shall see what we shall see... although, it IS a Western...

A: I am very happy with the administration of this contest. You don't enter this one for the prizes, so I'm in no hurry for that. They were very prompt with the feedback, which is the real prize.

I do plan to take advantage of their Logline service. My current one may suck, although I'm no judge of Loglines, so I don't actually know.

Yes, we all have our areas of expertise -- summarizing just isn't one of mine.

A: It took me almost exactly a year to write the two feature-length parts of this script, but I have a demanding day job, so that isn't surprising. I also had to do major research for it (e.g. Mescalero Apache culture and beliefs, GPS tracking systems, etc.)

Since this script is custom written to draw the best possible performance out of Robert Carlyle, I contemplated his acting for a long time and then wrote a list of parameters. Only then did I started brainstorming until I came up with a story idea that would fit the parameters. This naturally lead to outlining.

Kind of lost track as to how many drafts... I edit and write simultaneously...

A: I started with pen and paper. I also use a voice recorder - how quaint! But I broke down and bought Final Draft.

Now, this is the first time I have ever written in screenplay format, and I've never used any other software for it, so my opinion may mean nothing, BUT Final Draft is like coming home and putting your slippers on next to a nice warm fireplace.

Yes, writing in Final Draft feels like coming home. I have now started writing directly on the computer, since the scriptnote feature fulfills many of the requirements that margins filled before.

A: Yes, I write every day. On week days, I get 2-4 hours in. Weekends, I normally get 10-14 hours each day.

I gave up the cable television account I couldn't afford anyway -- truly excellent decision!

A: No, never. But I don't think there IS such a thing as writer's block. Writer's minds are always full of something... sometimes it's CRAP, but there is always SOMETHING there.

I've heard that many writers sit and stare at a blank page, waiting for inspiration, or they wait for their characters to tell them where they want to go, but I think these are both examples of a bad process.

I start with the ending -- meaning I decide what I want to say -- where I want the story to take the reader. The rest of it is just work: Build a structure, outline, research, create characters with the backgrounds required to get them where you want them to go.

If you look at writing as work, then you have only to get it done. Inspiration comes from the work... of course, I'm easily inspired...

A: I've written fiction, poetry and philosophy all my life. I keep it in boxes -- in disarray. Always too busy barely surviving and muddling through one after the other of life's challenges to ever try publishing... Kept saying, "Someday, I'll do what I was meant to do."

Childhoods like mine tend to produce late bloomers...

But I woke up one day and said, "Hey! Look around you! People you know are dying! You're 48 F*cking years old! Someday is NOW!"

... Oh, I also have a degree in editing from Lesley University -- obtained while working full time, of course.

A: I'm not the "stars in their eyes" sort, so I don't fantasize about Hollywood. I fantasize about being able to write all day, everyday. If I can do that in Hollywood, than that is where I'll go.

But for now, I live in Massachusetts.

A: I'm trying to do research for the sequel. The trouble is, I need to find and interview a Mescalero Apache father who has managed to interest his son in their culture and language. The next story absolutely requires Mescalero input.

This is really difficult to do from Massachusetts... New Mexico is so far away...

Posted Tuesday, April 24, 2012