J CONNOR COOK
 J CONNOR COOK
Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
I live in California USA, right on the edge of Burbank and Glendale. Your script stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your story and why did you write a script instead of a short story or a novel? Gosh well, a lot of things inspired Razor. It’s an old old story concept of mine. I’ve always had a love for all things spooky (Halloween, Goosbumps etc..) and a love for Saturday morning cartoons, Razor is sorta like my “love letter” to those twin passions. The character of Razor himself was very much inspired by me and my struggles with ADHD when I was in school. Why screenplay? Well, I’ve got a four year degree in screenwriting, so I should probably use it, right? Plus, I’ve always wanted to see this concept animated, and for a cartoon, you need a screenplay. How long did it take you to write your script...and what is your writing process? Do you outline...use index cards...white board...or just start with FADE IN? Hooo boy, that’s an interesting question. The basic premise of “a werewolf who fights monsters” has been alive in my brain for AGES. The character of Razor came to me in high school, but he really came into his own when I was at university. An early version of a “Razor Pilot” became my college thesis, and over the years I just kept refining it and refining it until I found myself at this current iteration. This was my fifth draft of the tenth version of the story… roughly. My process isn’t really set in stone yet. I’m still figuring things out. For some drafts, I meticulously made beat sheets in Final Draft, for others I just started writing with a vague sense of where the plot was gonna go. I’m still learning and evolving, so my process is very much in flux. What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? I want to be a show runner for an animated series of my own. Preferably Razor: The Rock and Roll Werewolf. Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice? Full transparency. I didn’t know the “first ten pages” was an option until after I submitted. Frankly I would have submitted the full thing anyway because… Well, I have it all finished, why wouldn’t I let y’all enjoy the full story? What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why? Jurassic Park! No- The Wild Robot! Or maybe Aliens! No- I gotta say Zootopia, the world building is phenomenal…. But Stranger Things is really good too…. And so is Gravity Falls, and The Lion King and- Say, how long are these answers allowed to be? We might be here for a while… What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? Just keep writing. Keep learning, keep evolving, keep figuring out more and more about your art-form through draft after countless draft. Every day you’ll be just a tiny bit better than you were the day before. I know that sounds like obvious advice, but truly, it’s all about practice and tiny incremental improvements. What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? Razor: The Rock and Roll Werewolf is getting a “Storyboarded Trailer” sizzle reel that will be released on my Youtube Channel: Pugzilla Productions sometime in October. It’s illustrated by yours truly and stars a bunch of super cool voice actors. I’ve already produced a sort of “test run” for the storyboarded trailer system with another one of my scripts “WildHeart”, which you can watch right now on YouTube, but Razor’s trailer is gonna blow that one out of the water; Your art skills improve a lot if you draw 240ish storyboards over the course of less than a year. I post regular updates, artwork, behind the scenes stuff, and shorts on my socials: Tiktok: @jconnorcook ( https://www.tiktok.com/@jconnorcook?_r=1&_t=ZT- 97Naxw6q8B4 ) Bluesky: @pugzillatoons ( https://bsky.app/profile/pugzillatoons.bsky.social ) Tumblr: @pugzillaproductions ( https://www.tumblr.com/pugzillaproductions?source=share ) Youtube: Pugzilla Productions ( https://www.youtube.com/@PugzillaProductions-z4p ) All of that AND MORE is also available on my website: ( https://www.johnconnorcookwriter.com/ ) |
