ROBERT F. GODWIN

 HEADSHOT PHOTO OF WRITER ROBERT F. GODWIN ON A SAILBOAT, SUNGLASSES UP ON HIS FOREHEAD, THE BOOM AND SAIL OF THE SAILBOAT IN THE BACKGROUND AGAINST A BLUE SKY WITH THE COAST OF CHILE IN THE BACKGROUND
​Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
After growing up in Burbank, California and living most of my adult life in the Los Angeles area, I moved 5,500 miles away to a small coastal city in Chile.
 
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?
I’ve always been drawn to the visual language that a script represents.
Telling a story is what I like best about films – and TV shows and books, too. I’m intrigued by the way the characters’ stories unfold – I don’t want to be told everything right at the start.
At age 9, my best friend helped me make our first movie. At 18, I enrolled in the cinema program at Barnsdall Arts Centre where zany antics ensued, lifelong friendships were formed, and we learned the craft of filmmaking. Now I wanted to see if I could create something I’d want to see.

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?
This script took 8 weeks to write, following beats related to a genre-type film. It’s taken 3 times that long to revise and rework the script, with each revision giving depth to the characters and finding the rhythm the story needs, the pacing.
Since I tend to write scenes, figuring out how to string them together is the challenge. While it can be frustrating at times, when the pieces of the puzzle come together, that’s the reward.
I do a lot of research for details on names, places, events, brands, history. Not all of it is visible in the script, but a lot of it underpins the settings, the characters and their actions.

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
I want to tell stories that make people feel and think and wonder. Ultimately, of course, I want to see the stories come to life on screen.

Was your entry at The Wiki Screenplay Contest a full script or "the first ten pages"? Why did you make that choice?
Full script. The first ten pages are important, but their value is more to get past the script reader and have it move on to the producer. Real passion for the story requires the full screenplay.

What's your all-time favorite movie or television show...and why? 
While I am more of a genre guy – Film Noir, New Wave, Neo Realism – there are several standouts:
Singin' in the Rain, Citizen Kane, All Quiet on the Western Front (both), Past Lives, The Bicycle Thief, La Jetée, Memento, Blade Runner, 2001 Space Odyssey, Greed, Night and Fog, Harlan County USA ... plus numerous student films that will never see the light of a projector again. 
TV?  “Brideshead Revisited” (not the remake), “Seinfeld,” also “The Prisoner.”
I often like films that are really bad, honestly bad, so bad they are good. You know them; mine are Plan Nine From Outer Space, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original).

What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
ENTER THE CONTESTS! Get your ego out of the way and develop a thick skin because you’ll get rejections more often than acceptances. And that’s okay. Every review or comment teaches me something that I can incorporate into my next revision (or a confirmation that despite a reviewer’s comment, I’m sticking with my original scene or character).
Before submitting your work, have an editor look it over for typos, grammar missteps, incorrect or inconsistent formatting, and anything else that jumps off the page to a reader. It’s close to impossible to edit your own writing.

What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? 
Most of the way through a first draft of a novella that I’ll then convert to a script (meet-cute mash-up of a climate activist and a vampire, pursued by a determined immigration official). Also planning my next horror/thriller script.