MovieBytes Interview:
Screenwriter Gary Weinberg

An interview with screenwriter Gary Weinberg regarding the Scriptapalooza TV Writing Competition.

A: I entered in the Pilot Category. The script is entitled The Asylum. It's about a group of manic, telephone sales "closers." This gaggle of social misfits work for a shadowy company called Inferno Financial. They raise money for all kinds of whack-o ideas, while simultaneously dodging the feds, angry investors, and the nut-cases in their own lives. Deftly employing their one usable skill -- separating people from their money-- the lunatics at The Asylum chase the "American Dream," one phone call at a time.

A: I did on a lark. I had been pitching the script around town for awhile with not much to show for it. A couple of close calls, but no deals. I moved from LA to Northern California in early 2010. Not much was happening with the script so I figured what the heck. Low and behold I placed 2nd!

I've never entered any other other contests.

A: Yes on all counts.

A: I'm not sure I can remember how many drafts I've actually written. At least a dozen. I'm a notorious and obsessive rewriter. Didn't write an outline that I can remember for this project: not in the traditional sense. I have done some general plotting out of the story lines. Maybe that qualifies as an outline. It was mostly just hand written notes that I could refer back to along the way as I pushed through the writing process. I started developing the idea back in 1998. It has gone through many permutations.

A: Final Draft. The best.

A: No. I wish I could. I feel like I should. Life gets in the way.

A: Writers block is a state of mind. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a block and what do you do with a block? You pick the bastard up and move it out of the way. Easier to say than to do but the only real way to break writers block is to force yourself to sit down and keep writing. Just keep doing it even if you hate every word thats being slapped on the page. I also do Julia Cameron's Morning Pages from the Artist Way. Great way to bust through the mental garbage and get to the real inspiration. The only other thing I can suggest is to go 180 degrees and just completely step away from the project for awhile. Not always possible if you're writing on a deadline. At least for a day or a few hours and just get it out of your head. Go take a bath, have a beer, masturbate, just think about something else for a time, then step back in. In other words, refresh your brain as best as you can.

A: A couple screenplays, several additional scripts for Asylum, some stage plays, a couple of musicals. I'm also an actor, musician, songwriter and massage therapist. And of course, I'm a salesman.

A: Lived there for 12 years from 1997 to 2010. Living in NoCal right now. I would come back if the right situation presented itself, but probably not permanently.

A: Yes. Working on a one-man show about going broke, called Free-Falling in America. Doing lots of rewriting, working with some producers on a work-for-hire, teaching and working with a number of aspiring writings to help them flesh out their projects.

Posted Thursday, February 3, 2011