WRITER PROFILE
It’s always great to get together with a large group of writers and investors and keep up to date on what’s new, the screenplay contest, any recent deals, new dealmaker contacts, agents or managers that are looking and simply encouraging everyone to keep going after every dream in this difficult industry. For the hard working writer we want to do as much as we can to continue the exposure and word of mouth in the investment circles of the industry. Another way we do this is with writer interviews that we send far and wide and showcase at all possible meetings and markets.
We want to encourage your writing spirit, motivate you and again give you the accolades you so deserve.
“Against My Will”
Written by Martin Blinder
What motivated you to become a writer?
Truth is, I was never motivated to become a writer and to this day, despite seeing the publication of a half a dozen or so books (including one, a 1,200 page textbook which hit its fifth edition last year) and countless articles — I’m probably the only writer on this planet to have been published in both the Wall Street Journal and Cosmopolitan magazine — I rarely think of myself as a writer and if and when I do, a mediocre one at best. This is not false modesty. Entire forests have been felled to supply reams and reams of my discarded drafts.
The English composition examination required of all incoming Cornell freshmen relegated me to remedial, i.e., bonehead English. At semester’s end, my instructor, Professor Park, could have made his point by flunking me with a 64. (According to the grading system in place at that time a 65 was the equivalent of a D, 64 and below an F.) He turned the knife and gave me a 50, gratuitously damaging my GPA and even found time to take me aside and tell me that “It’s a good thing you’re going into the sciences rather than the liberal arts for you have absolutely no facility whatever with words.”
Comparing my current bibliography with that of Professor Park — who has none — that criticism seems a bit ungenerous. Be as it may, what has allowed me to rise above the handicap of mediocrity is my maniacal, indefatigable dedication as a rewriter.
Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?
Don’t have a clue. Most of my young life was absorbed by becoming a physician, then a psychiatrist, then a forensic psychiatrist, then a law professor, as well as author of numerous books and articles written in a dead language known as academese, all the while totally unaware that I had a natural gift for economically conveying a great deal of entertainment in “dramatic form,” i.e., a succession of scenes, dialog, etc.
My epiphany was something of a cliche. Watching some TV drama with disdain, muttering “Shit, I could write something better than that!” Apparently I did just that. Thumbed through a “how to structure a screenplay” book, combined and converted two of my forensic cases into a three-act script, passed it on to a friend who was in some way connected with The Industry. A week later the script was optioned by Carolco, I was a member of the WGA and on my way to Los Angeles for my first meeting. “An overnight success.” In that I decided to become a dramatist at the precise age at which Shakespeare had quit, it had been a very long night indeed.
Of course, it was far too early for me to think of myself as “a writer,” let alone a screenwriter. Happily, that revelation was not long in coming.
That meeting, though as I now know entirely routine, was at that time a shock. After ascertaining that I was fully hydrated I was commended for now being Hollywood’s oldest hot new young screenwriter and that I had produced an authentic masterpiece. And if I would be so kind as to make a few small changes it would be more authentic still.
You guessed it: those changes would change my script from my movie to the producer’s movie. And after another round of compliments I was taken back to LAX with an attache case filled with notes and the expectation that I would have the new draft in the producer’s hands by next Friday.
I hadn’t the slightest notion as to how I pulled off writing my own movie let alone how I was now going to write one for the producer. Until several hours later. By the time I got off the plane at SFO an amalgam of my script and all the changes he suggested had come together and had written itself.
Now I think I could say “I am a writer — specifically, a screenwriter.” But as to where that came from? A dozen or so screenplays later I still haven’t a clue.
Do you write projects knowing that so many other factors need to happen to get it to screen and does that come into your project creation?
Early in my career when I had yet to learn my craft, like so many novice screenwriters I got caught up in addressing the dozen or so elements that must be addressed–: the inciting incident must occur by page X, the principal characters must have a life-changing arc, eschew exposition, no long scenes, no long speeches, a highly original concept that is entirely familiar, etc.
I’m done with that.
Now I realize a screenplay is not an art form but the blueprint for an art form and every page I write is informed by two questions and just two questions:
- Is this screenplay a solid basis for a movie that a great number of people — and perhaps even some critics — find enormously entertaining?
- Placing the probable magnitude of the audience attendant alongside the probable budget to make the film, will the script make for a cost effective movie?
I’m not suggesting that one always has to write a script that would cost literally nothing to film, yet have enormous worldwide appeal. But it wouldn’t hurt.
What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include script title in reply.
My dream, as always, is that the script puts on the screen incidents and characters that together rivet the viewer’s attention and at the same time introduces a layer of understanding, of insightfulness about an historically worldwide problem — that even “decent” men, “good” men abuse women. Thus the title, “Against My Will.”
How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?
I must confess I have reached the point of disenchantment with screenplay contests. A number of my scripts have made the rounds, they all do well and a few have come in first or second, all of them at least qualify as finalists. If it doesn’t make it into the top three I’ll at least find it in the top fifty. Most of them also inspire coverage that could only have been written by my mother.
Thus far these successes, though good for my ego, I suppose, have had no noticeable effect on my career.
If you could stand in a room full of investor partners looking at many projects what would you like them to know about you and this project?
Screenwriting is a collaborative process. A primary goal in my partnership with an investor is to deliver a screenplay of such quality that he is proud that this was the vehicle that brought him a generous return on his investment. Sitting in the theater I want him or her to have a sense of pride for the contribution they made to putting that script up on the screen. In a capitalist society there’s no shortage of ways in which to make money. I would like investing in one of my scripts to be among the best.
Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc that you would like to share?
To this day, despite a 12-page bibliography, I am reluctant to see myself as “a writer” – except perhaps “a mediocre writer.” But I’m a damn good rewriter.