Fast, Cheap & Written That Way: Top Screenwriters on Writing for Low-Budget Movies by John Gaspard

Author:John Gaspard [Gaspard, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-07-29T07:00:00+00:00

subUrbia

Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian’s subUrbia

started its life as a play,

but it came to a wider

audience via Richard

Linklater’s film version,

which starred such up

and-comers as Steve Zahn,

Parker Posey and

Giovanni Ribisi.

It is, in many ways, the

quintessential low-budget

concept brought to life. It’s

essentially one location,

with a small cast, and with

the action taking place

over one long night.

However, its theatrical

roots provided it with deeper characterizations and richer subtext than you’d usually find in this coming-of-age genre.

What point were you at in your career before you started the stage version of subUrbia? ERIC BOGOSIAN: Talk Radio (the play and the film) as well as the solo show Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll had garnered much greater interest in my work. Most importantly, excellent young actors were attracted to my script.

Do you begin with story, character or theme? ERIC BOGOSIAN: I begin with character and theme. The theme dances around in my head, almost like an editing device as I put my characters in motion with a story. But before anything, I think of the people who will populate my stage.

In the case of subUrbia, I began with five student actors in workshop playing the characters. I had them simply hanging out and discussing a variety of topics. There was no plot to speak of in the first set of pages.

Do you outline the whole story before you start writing a script? ERIC BOGOSIAN: No. I use outlines when writing a screenplay. But when I write a play or novel, it is very important to let the interaction of the characters lead me through the story. I'll have some sort of idea of an initial conflict, a starting point, but I won't necessarily know where it's going.

How did you create the characters? ERIC BOGOSIAN: The characters are there within me. They are the archetypes I "need" to conceptualize my inner world. In the case of subUrbia the cast of characters derived almost directly from the cast of characters who, in my mind, represent my friends from my high school days.

In some cases, the characters are transpositions of myself. There are parts of myself in Jeff, Pony, Sooze and Nazeer.

How much backstory do you create for each character? Do you write it down? ERIC BOGOSIAN: I'm not interested in backstory beyond its importance to what's onstage. In subUrbia, backstory becomes part of what we're watching. It was important to the play that we hear autobiographical stories from Sooze, Tim, Nazeer and BeeBee explaining who they are. Their own sense of history powers their story forward.

How important is having a theme before you start to write? ERIC BOGOSIAN: I always begin with a theme. It usually morphs as I'm writing but in the long run, the theme must have importance for me in the present, as I'm writing. I need the theme to do my writing, but I don't mind if the audience doesn't see the theme or misunderstands what the theme is.

In the case of subUrbia I don't think many people "got" the theme as I originally conceived it. (And what is that? you might ask.

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