6 Tips from an Evening with the Savvy Screenwriters Themselves
Both women got major Oscar attention on their first screenplays, Juno and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, respectively. Both are hilarious in person, as it turns out. And both, although in possession of quite different voices as writers, collectively make a pretty unstoppable comedy duo.
Ms. Cody and Ms. Vardalos spoke together at a Writing Pad function this week at WeWork Hollywood, a shared workspace I’m a member of, with a big open loft venue, endless coffee, and an awesome entrepreneurial vibe. Sitting at WeWork it’s easy to feel like anything is possible. Listening to those ladies, we were reminded what the obstacles are – but what the rewards look like if we push through.
For an hour they kept up their Poehler-and-Fey-like act (see below for proof) first interviewing each other with the knowing twinkle of friendship, then graciously taking questions from the writerly crowd. They shared their perspective on the industry and on the business of being a writer (re: whether it’s necessary to have a Twitter presence to get work Nia says, “I hope not. Look at Ashton Kutcher. He had a gazillion fans on Twitter. He told them all to see his next movie. And every single one of them walked to the fridge and made a sandwich”).
And they spoke, of course, about the real challenges of writing. Of which there are one or two.
1. WRITERS’ BLOCK IS A REAL THING. BUT DON’T LET IT KNOW.
http://youtu.be/63ncXvEHWAQ
With a big grin on her face Nia states in the video (that I took with my iPhone – yeah, top notch DP work there, I know): “I’ll tell you this little secret about Diablo (AKA Brooke) and I. Um. We both hate writing.” Diablo adds later in the evening, “I know writers’ block is a thing – it’s a thing that actually happens – but you have to fight through it. Wrestle it into submission.” The best quick fix, she suggests, is to watch a movie that will “make you inflamed with jealousy.” Nia talks of giving herself a pep talk: “Get tough and write your stuff.”
And then is quick to add, “OH GOD, I didn’t mean it to rhyme! That’s awful. Get your t-shirts in the lobby!”
2. COLLABORATE FOR FUN AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
It helps to have a buddy system. Not even to write together, just to write – together. Diablo says, “cuz if I’m home alone I pad around all day and hate myself.” Nia explains their odd pairing: they met through friends and discovered that they live right near each other. When they were both on deadline this past Fall leading up to Thanksgiving, they would meet at Nia’s every day and sit opposite each other at a big table, to keep each other focussed. “I mean, we can’t go on Twitter because we follow each other,” Nia drops.
And one morning, when they were both struggling to get anything down on the page, Diablo was suddenly struck with inspiration. From Nia’s point of view, Diablo’s keyboard lit up. It was a burst of creativity, and it was wildly inspiring. Diablo undercuts the story with a callback: “Little did Nia know, I was just writing ‘I’m a fraud’ across the whole screen.” The audience giggled in recognition.
3. INNER DEMONS CAN TAKE A LITTLE MOCKERY.
Both women seemed quite happy to admit their bouts of impostor syndrome self-doubt, and even one-up each other on who’s got it worse. Diablo says of Nia “you seem a lot ballsier than me.” Nia responds “that’s all smoke and mirrors!” Underneath all this self-effacing banter, though, it’s clear they know they’re good. Diablo says “Honestly, everything I do I assume people will love and then am shocked when they don’t.” Relatedly…
4. DON’T LET THE CITY TELL YOU TO GO HOME.
That advice came up a lot. Nia’s story precedes her: we’ve likely all heard some version of the tale about her having to make her own work because she got told “no” so much; her path has become mythic. In fact, a number of women in the audience thanked her, and said they were told when they first arrived in town that they should “create their own opportunities – you know, like Nia Vardalos.” It’s become a viable career path. By no means easy, but a respectable Hollywood strategy.
On a related note, Nia stresses that when it comes to that creative product you ultimately make, “retain ownership.” Fight for it. Contractually require it. Register everything with the WGA as well as the Library of Congress. But also: “I still get ripped off – don’t you?” asks Diablo. “Yeah, it sucks,” responds Nia. “This is a city of thieves. It’s awful when you’re stolen from and obviously a tiny tiny bit flattering, and you have to move on.”
5. FIND WHAT WILL FUEL YOUR CREATIVITY OVER AND OVER.
They agreed that they both believe there’s a kernel of a screenplay in each of us. Maybe even more. But the question is, what story, which ideas, will keep you fueled for the long haul of process?
An audience member asked if they wrestle with writing distinct voices for every character and Diablo answered honestly that she falls into the trap of writing too many – surprise surprise – worldly, snarky voices. So she gives herself challenges, like writing a character who’s never had a television, to handicap that muscle that’s too developed and force herself to strengthen another one. She always wants to strive for a script wherein if the characters names were removed, it’d still be clear who was speaking at any given point.
In response to a question about the delicacy of writing about family members Nia says, “If you go toward writing about them with honesty but with LOVE, at some point they’ll come around.” One of Nia’s older aunts was horrified she made it into My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but now, a decade later, she traipses around town bragging about her fame-adjacent status.
Everyone’s process is different, but if what you’re going through might make a good screenplay, take good notes. You never know. When Nia got a book deal to write what she thought was going to be a straightforward how-to book about adoption, her publisher instead told her “what every writer wants to hear” from the powers that be: “Just write the book you want to write.” And Nia realized, I can’t wimp out. I have to write the real story. And go there. And she went back to the notes she took during the difficult process adopting her daughter. Notes she didn’t know when or if she’d ever use. The result is Instant Mom, her just-published book, that’s getting a number of early reviews along the lines of Rachel Dratch’s “I expected to laugh. I didn’t expect to cry. And I certainly didn’t expect to laugh and cry on the same page.”
6. PLAY THE GAME.
There’s the art and then there’s the art of negotiation. Diablo says, “Don’t outline if you don’t want to, unless you are contractually obligated.” Nia jumps onto the pulpit: “It’s like saying ‘I’m going to make love to you. First, I’m going to kiss you…’ and Diablo adds that getting notes on an outline are the absolute worst. “You can’t give me notes on a sentence describing a scene!” Even if she’s allowed to give a first draft without an outline, though, she often gets notes that suggest the reader isn’t hearing the character’s voices yet and that it may not be her fault. She likes to think to herself upon receiving these notes, “You cannot penalize me for your bad performance in your own head.”
But seriously, the lesson about how to takes notes is: “it’s like anything in life – pick your battles. If it goes against the entire POINT of the project, I won’t take it. Otherwise, I will.” Even bits she loves, she’ll cut.
Because “you have to be careful not to burn bridges. Even though it’s SO satisfying to do so,” Diablo says, with the eye-glimmer of an arsonist.
Nia laughs ruefully that when a studio gives notes she can often tell what was on the exec’s Netflix cue that week. Diablo adds “or what was big at the box office this weekend.” If Ride Along, say, just came out, “can you make your sassy, female-driven rom-com… star Kevin Hart?”
They do agree that it’s harder to be confrontational about notes as a woman. Nia says, “you’ll be branded as difficult, especially by female executives – who may not have come up in a sisterhood, and who are as scared as you are. Their shelf life is maybe five years. Align yourself with them early.” That’s how Nia and Diablo bonded, they recall – an eye flick across the room and they knew they were members of a sisterhood.
When asked if they still have to pitch, they laughed. Yes. Yes, definitely. Diablo says she used to follow all the rules of The Rules (that awful ladies’ dating book from the 90’s). “Maybe it’s ‘cuz I’m getting older, but I’m not as good at cockteasing the room anymore. Still. I use the rules. Be nonchalant. Be unattainable. It works.”
Nia adds, “but also… your project should tell a good story.
Diablo laughs. “Oh, yeah, that too.”