ROB NIGHTINGALE
Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
Sunny Seattle, Washington. 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? TimeSquid is about an independently minded hyper intelligent squid who questions his mission to destroy humanity after befriending a drowning Titanic passenger that gets caught in his time travel beam. It was inspired by my love for science fiction and for stories of unlikely friendships, in this case between a hyper intelligent time traveling squid and Jack from Titanic. That and the absinthe I was drinking when my friend Elliot and I had the initial idea. 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? The first draft took three days, but I’ve been continually editing off and on for two years now. The idea had been kicking around between my co-creator and me for a couple years, but when I finally sat down to write it, I dove straight in (much like a squid dives after its prey). What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? First, love the unintentional (?) 2Pac pun. Maybe that will have to be a song in an episode of TimeSquid (“My Ambitionz az a Writah”). My ultimate goal is to be a showrunner who tells a perfectly concise story - completely trim the fat and have every single moment count. That and spin this off into the ability to create a production company to help tell as many stories as possible - both mine and others’. Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or “the first ten pages”? Why did you make that choice? I chose the full script in order to get the most feedback possible. What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why? My favorite movie has always been The Big Lebowski. I’ve seen it so many times, I finally understand what the fuck Donny’s death had to do with Vietnam (Spoilers: sorry, Dude). I love everything about it. The characters and their friendship, especially. That and Being John Malcovich. The sci-fi element and Kauffman’s brilliant layering. I guess I’m a sucker for a movie with a character’s name in the title. What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? Edit. Cut everything. Rearrange. When you think you’re done, you’ve only just begun. What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? Alongside the adult animated series TimeSquid for which I was a Finalist, I’m currently working on another live action comedy pilot script about a rock band made up of neurodivergent high school dropouts touring the country in their triangle player’s mom’s van and a horror screenplay about a group of agnostic friends who create their own religion as a thought experiment then get kidnapped and taken to a cult compound, where they’re worshiped as gods. |
