Interview with professor Davis

This morning I interviewed USC professor Northrop Davis.

I spoke with him about screenwriting, how one gets into the field, and some different things one can do once they get into writing scripts professionally.

First, Mr. Davis said that he was always writing. He told me he wrote science fiction as a young kid and illustrated his writings too. One of his teachers told him that he could be a writer and he said he was struck by that.

He ended up going to Duke University and wrote films there and then got his masters at the California institute for the arts.

He said that he knew that the industry wasn't really in need of directors, but that they were always looking for a good screenplay so he stuck with writing them.

Davis told me there were two different ways that a writer can get his work picked up by a feature. First the people making the feature can hire the writer to work on a concept that they already have, and second the writer can write his own screen play and attempt to sell it, partner with a producer, or direct it himself.

Davis told me when I'm writing scripts that I need to think of ideas that are very striking to people and develop my characters. He really stressed character development, and made the point that if you write your story and use your characters like puppets in it that the script will feel empty. He said characters need to a have a conflict and a goal, and brought up Rocky as an example. Rocky, who people think is just big and dumb wants to be respected, and by the end of the movie the audience is rooting for him because we can identify with him and we want him to succeed and earn that respect.

Davis also explained the differences between writing for feature films and writing to TV. He said that TV writers have much more control over their work and that the parameters set by commercial breaks and so forth really help keep writers from wondering off in to many directions.

I enjoyed talking with professor Davis. He is highly knowledgable in the field of screenwriting and I'm looking forward to having him as a teacher.