What motivated you to become a writer?

Growing up on the border of Mexico in South Texas, my 7^th grade English teacher recognized my writing ability and suggested I write a novella. I did. In high school, I came in 2^nd place for a college scholarship in the University Interscholastic League’s journalism contest. First place would’ve required me to major in journalism. At 17, during orientation at The University of Texas, Austin, I chanced upon the Radio-TV-Film department on my way to sign up for journalism classes. An opportune meeting with the school’s dean Rod Whitaker (who moonlighted as a renown novelist/ screenwriter under the pseudonym of Trevanian/The Eiger Sanction) convinced me to quickly change my major before beginning college.  As an RTF major, I made films and wrote scripts, graduated at twenty, went home for six weeks and wrote a spec sitcom, then drove out to LA.  The following year, I learned about film rights when I read in the trades that my thesis screenplay adaptation of a novel was being made into a studio film written by William Goldman! Working as a researcher for Alex Haley on Roots: The Next Generations, I was inspired to again write journalistically, and I sold four articles to Los Angeles Magazine with my first query letter. But my goal was to professionally write screenplays and teleplays. I’m fortunate to have been mentored by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Everett Freeman and to have worked for and been inspired by five-time Oscar nominee Paul Mazurksy. Thanks to my production work at Tandem Productions, I finally joined the Writers Guild — still in my twenties.

Starting on a blank page is not easy- where does your creativity come from?

Everywhere! Music! Dancing! Dreams! Memories! Taking a walk or sunbathing outdoors! A steamy shower! Conversations I overhear. Everything I experience, feel, read, and research. While in film school, I remember writing an orgy scene in a script. My professor’s advice was to next time write about something I know! I’ve tried to heed his advice, creating characters that evolve from my own life, my emotions and relationships, and my view and others’ perspectives of the world.  I enjoy writing character-driven scripts. Sometimes they are based on real people; sometimes they come to life in my head.

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?

My experience as a successful stage producer has made me very aware of budget before, during, and after writing a script. I think about its locations, how many of them are needed, and available tax credits. I try not to let any of those concerns affect what I’m writing, but I’m aware that my script must capture the imagination of a director, the desires of an actor, and the checkbook of my financiers.

What is your dream for this project and what other ancillary revenue do you think it could generate? Please include the script title in reply.

My dream for The Last Best Time is for it to be produced as a feature film, preferably in the actual locations where it takes place. I want to be a hands-on producer but look forward to working with fellow producers with more experience than I have in producing successful features and with a director who sees my vision (which is clear in my writing and also in the pitch deck I have created). I have attached an Emmy-winning cinematographer to my project. As someone with a decade of casting experience as a “momager,” I want to be actively involved in casting. The diverse characters in my screenplay will hopefully and truly represent their diversity. As a former assistant feature music editor, the TexMex songs I have selected and the score are very important to me and a recording could produce ancillary revenue. Like Little Miss Sunshine, a critically acclaimed, irresistible box office success, reaching $100.5 million, The Last Best Time is also a road trip comedy with a very different family and a protagonist who is forced by her circumstances to move her disabled parents across the country to care for them while working and raising children as a single mom.  The generation “sandwiched” between caring for both parents and children is a universal situation that translates globally, and it has the opportunity to reach a far vaster audience due to its probable PG-13 rating and its inclusion of the oft overlooked Latino, disabled, and older audiences. Hispanics account for 18% of the U.S. population, with a growth rate four times the rate of the country’s total population growth. This brings many ancillary revenue opportunities, including the merchandising and licensing of the Mexican quotes used throughout the screenplay for kitchenware, clothing, and artwork, Mexican food products, and tie-ins with travel and Mexican-themed restaurants. The film could be marketed to the senior and disabled communities. The Last Best Time, both touching and delightful, could be licensed to create a line of greeting cards based on the cards created by the film’s protagonist. The film could be developed into a book, a stage play, a live-action or animated television series, as well as a comic strip featuring the protagonist’s doppelgänger character. The set piece at a waterpark could tie into events and merchandising with waterparks throughout the world. The Last Best Time could provide limitless ancillary revenue.

How has your experience been with screenwriting contests for this project so far?

The first scene I wrote for The Last Best Time was selected by the Writers Guild of America, west’s “Disability Scene” contest. I was still experimenting with the concept, and had written it as a poignant drama. At its staged reading at the Guild, directed by Ben Lewin (The Sessions), there was not a dry eye in the audience, including the director’s. An early draft of the fully realized screenplay, more comedy than dramedy, advanced to Second Rounder at the most recent Austin Film Festival last fall. Since then, the screenplay has gone through numerous revisions and drafts. It is now greenlight ready.

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?

This is a very personal project. It’s about memories. The good and the bad and the ones you keep with you even after the people you love are no longer here to make more. It began with a “what if?” What if I’d listened to my whacko brother, who wanted me to take my disabled and Alzheimer-ridden parents’ ancient van, rent a trailer to attach and hold all of their belongings, and drive them for four torturous days from South Texas to live near me in Los Angeles? Fortunately, I flew them to LA, where they lived for a few more years, happy and well cared for.  Writing The Last Best Time gave me the opportunity to spend a bit more heartwarming time with them. I can’t help but think that you and audiences throughout the world will universally enjoy taking this trip with my quirky characters and their dog.

Do you have any website links for your writing, credits, background, etc. that you would like to share?

 

WGAw: https://directories.wga.org/member/06e52303-1fb3-4f21-b4ee-fac5de2c6ff0/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0505958/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-levine-guterman-942168146

IMAGINE-IMPACT: For those registered professionals with imagine-impact.com, my bio, projects and credits can be seen there.

WALT DISNEY TALENT: For those registered professionals with Walt Disney Talent (WDT)/CTDI Talent Site, my bio, projects and credits can soon be seen there.

TWITTER: @westhandwriter