Because I'm getting to tell
stories. My scripts and fiction are both finding homes, finding
audiences, and that's what I wanted all along.
My inspiration to write
SAVING GRACE OF NUMBERS.......
When my daughter, who is twenty now, was born, she had to wear a heart-apnea
monitor for her whole first year; she would simply stop breathing and the
alarm on the monitor would alert us, startle her back to breath. And I did, I
believe, count every breath she took until the doctors cleared her at her
first birthday. I never realized how afraid I was for that year until ten
years later when I wrote a short story along similar lines.
*****************************************************************
FilmMakers Magazine:
What inspired you to write?
Mary Carroll-Hackett: I've always written, been compelled to
write. Just took a long time for me to make a life of it.
FilmMakers Magazine: How did you prepare yourself to
write your first script?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
I've always watched movies, the best preparation I think, but I also
read books on the craft, took classes, and read tons and tons of
scripts; the ones I loved I read again and again, trying to figure out
how the writers did what I loved.
FilmMakers Magazine:
Is this your first script and how long did it take you to write
SAVING GRACE OF NUMBERS?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
No, I've written probably fifteen or so, most of which I'd never show
anyone, shorts and feature-length. As for time, I draft really
fast--this one in a couple of days, then spend much, much more time
revising.
FilmMakers Magazine: Do you have a set routine, place and time management for writing?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
I'm a
single mom of three who teaches full-time, so I cram in writing time
whenever I can get it--drafting notes at cross country meets or during
my office hours when no students come by. I try to keep an early
morning routine--4:30 to 6, usually manage to do that at least four
times a week.
FilmMakers Magazine: Do you believe screenplay contests
are important for aspiring screenwriters and why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Exceptionally important. For those of us who love screenwriting but
can't be in LA, contests provide vital opportunities, to share our
work, to get feedback, to compete at all. I learned a lot from the
contests that provided feedback from seasoned readers to whom I never
would have had access otherwise.
FilmMakers Magazine: What
influenced you to enter the
American Gem Short Script Competition?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
When I was first coming back to screenwriting these last few years, I
did a lot of research on contests before I started entering. In every
case, I found writers' responses to American Gem to be glowing. So I
entered last year for the first time; I found the staff,
communication, everything about the competition to handled
professionally, expeditiously, and with obvious respect for the
writers. So I came back for more. Glad I did.
FilmMakers Magazine: What script would you urge aspiring writers to read and why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Anything
by the Coen Brothers--whether they're writing drama, action, or
comedy, they're superb. Also The Shawshank Redemption. Anything by
Paul Schrader.
FilmMakers Magazine:
Beside screenwriting what are you
passionate about and why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Fiction,
teaching, my kids, my cats.
FilmMakers Magazine: Who is your favorite Screenwriter
and Why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Can't
pick just one. But, I guess, the Coen Brothers. I also love Frank
Darabont, Paul Schrader, Alan Ball, and Billy Bob Thornton. I wish he
wrote more. The details of why would be too long. Simply put, I love
all of these guys because they're fearless in looking at what fiction
writer Harry Crews called "the unspeakable and the unendurable."
FilmMakers Magazine: Name
the director you would love to work with and why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Scorcese, again, because he's fearless, and he takes on the darkness
in all of us, the violence, the guilt. Being raised Southern and
Catholic, I guess I'm drawn to guilt, violence and darkness.
FilmMakers Magazine:
Name the actor you would love to work with and why?
Mary Carroll-Hackett:
Billy Bob Thornton. Holly Hunter. Robert Duvall. Vincent D'Onofrio.
All four have done brilliant character work, inhabitation, marked
again by that fearlessness, that willingness to brave, to really
explore, to be, the facets of being human that are often the hardest
for us to see.
FilmMakers Magazine:
Any tips and things learned along
the way to pass on to others?
