Screenplay.com Interview with Ted Tally

With each new film screenwriter Ted Tally continues to push the line of excellence a notch further into the realm of sheer genius. Ted received the Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation after penning Silence of the Lambs. His latest film All The Pretty Horses - directed by Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton and starring Oscar winner Matt Damon - has already been awarded Best Screenplay by the prestigious National Board of Review.

In this exclusive Screenplay.com interview, Ted Tally discusses his career as an award winning screenwriter.

SSI: What influences inspired you to become a screenwriter?

Ted: I actually started out in the theatre, first in high school and summer theatres, then in college and drama school, and finally as a professional playwright doing Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions (and even a few productions abroad.) I was always a big fan of movies, loved to see them, but it terms of creativity, I didn't "dream" in movies, but rather in plays. I think this was mostly because growing up so far from anywhere that movies were actually being made (I was born and raised in N.C.), they just seemed part of a different, impossibly distant, inaccessible culture - whereas I could be part of plays in my own hometown.

So when I finally was hired to write some screenplays, it was because people knew my theatre work, and the theatre was still my frame of reference. An early influence in movies was the great writer/director Robert Benton (Kramer Vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart, etc.), with whom I had become friends in New York City, meeting him through mutual acquaintances. He was a fellow southerner, fellow exile in NYC, and I admired the enormous intelligence, sensitivity and craft of his work, and aspired to be like him. I actually wrote the screenplay for The Silence of the Lambs in an office space I borrowed from Benton.

SSI: How did you learn the craft or perfect your talents as a screenwriter?

Ted: As mentioned above, all my writing training came in the theatre. My experiences working there with actors, directors, producers, designers, etc., especially in rehearsals, and with getting a feel for audiences, rewriting after previews, etc., proved to be invaluable when I switched over to full-time movie writing. I never studied film or movie-writing in classes, workshops, books, etc., but I think such study could be very useful. However, nothing's ever as useful as "hands-on" learning.

SSI: What was your first big break?

Ted: In the theatre, getting my MFA thesis play, Terra Nova, professionally produced right out of drama school. In movies/TV, my first break was when a TV movie on which I did rewrites ended up getting produced (for NBC), and I got a WGA co-writing credit on it (The Father Clements Story, starring Lou Gossett, Jr., Carroll O'Connor, and Malcolm Jamaal-Warner.) I guess that was about 1986-87. Shortly thereafter I finally managed to get one of my feature scripts made, White Palace. It had taken me about 7-8 years since I started writing film and TV scripts to get something finally made.

SSI: What unique qualities do you feel distinguish your writing from those of other screenwriters?

Ted: If I have any particular distinction in this way (highly debatable), I feel it might be that because of my particular background in the theatre, I have a very practical, pragmatic, seat-of-the-pants sense of "what will play;" i.e., I try to give the actors, designers, director, etc., the tools I know they will need to put these scenes on their feet. Writing a script is never simply a "literary exercise" to me: it' s practical craft. And I try to keep my eye focussed on the overall production (the forest) rather than just my scenes and lines (the trees.)

SSI: Are there any particular challenges a writer faces when adapting previously written material into a screenplay?

Ted: Sure, but these vary greatly from project to project. They range from irate living authors (mercifully rare, in my experience, but they exist), to weaknesses in a book that need to be repaired, to general audience expectations (if a book has been a huge public success, for instance, the screenwriter may feel the need to make some changes just to re-surprise people who think they know the story very well), and so forth.

Sometimes - the best times - the only real problem is that the novel to be adapted presents an embarrassment of riches, and the screenwriter's biggest headache is simply deciding which of the too-many great scenes to try to keep in the script. (This happened to me on Silence and also Pretty Horses.)

SSI: Is there greater studio pressure to write scripts that matter more at the box office, rather than scripts that tell a quality story?

Ted: I think this pressure has pretty much always been there, throughout Hollywood history. The problem, as William Goldman points out, is that "nobody knows anything." Nobody can really predict what's going to be a hit, not with any consistent degree of accuracy, or which small quality "sleeper" film is going to be the next Full Monty and make a fortune. For the screenwriter I think what's important is to leave that kind of headache-inducing thinking to the studio "suits," and just concentrate on the job at hand. I try never to worry about the commercial prospects of my scripts. (I'm getting paid to write them either way, so my own commercial prospects are just fine, thank you.)

In the end, whatever kind of writer you are (novelist, screenwriter, professional, amateur, etc.), you can really only try to write that which moves and excites and pleases YOU, and then hope some other people might turn out to share your taste.

SSI: What type of characters and stories interest you?

Ted: All kinds. I like wearing very different "hats" in terms of genres - love stories, dramas, historical dramas, etc. Mission To Mars was a science fiction movie, and All The Pretty Horses is a western. I really like trying new things. But if I have any steady gig, I guess it would be thrillers. That's a genre that allows so many different kinds of story routes and themes, and a thriller usually provides the writer with a great narrative motor (which is sometimes harder to locate in other kinds of stories.)

In terms of character, I seem to be drawn to movies with strong women characters (I would find an all-male story impossibly boring), elements of humor, if at all possible (most of my theatre work was comic, though the few mainly comic screenplays I've attempted haven't been produced), and I guess, in some indefinable way, I'm also drawn to stories that brush up against my own biography, or that remind me strongly of people I've known. And finally, I would say the single greatest trait that draws me to a particular character is his or her courage.

SSI: What elements attracted you most to All the Pretty Horses?

Ted: The book is a masterpiece. It's a great "yarn" and unfolds with cinematic sweep and narrative drive. I loved the southern/western characters and how they talk and relate to one another. I loved how the book tackles some of literature's greatest, most timeless themes, but always in the context of entertainment. I loved the book's humor. I loved the setting, and the opportunity to do a cowboy movie, which fulfilled childhood fantasies.

The director, stars, etc., were all elements that came along later, years after the script was written; I'm thrilled with them, but they weren't part of the initial attraction.

SSI: What memorable experience can you recall while writing or being on the set of All the Pretty Horses?

Ted: Writing it was just writing it. Day after day at the computer for four or five months. But every moment I was on the set, for a total of about two weeks (two separate trips), was completely magical to me. I've been on other movie sets, of course, but the extraordinary beauty and majesty and mystery of this setting (in New Mexico) made it really special, almost dreamlike. Plus, Santa Fe, where the movie was based, is one of my favorite towns.

Also, everyone on the set was so great to spend time with; there was just such a warm, loving, joshing "creative family" atmosphere. Matt Damon has said, "I wish I could make this movie forever," and that really sums up how we all felt.

SSI: What helpful advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters?

Ted: Write. Write and write and write. Don't just THINK about writing, don't talk out all your best stuff to your friends, but actually apply the seat of the pants to the chair and write it. Don't despair because you're pre-judging that "this one will be hard to sell," don't stall over "maybe I need to do more research," etc. - get something down on paper and worry about the details later. NO TIME SPENT ACTUALLY WRITING IS EVER WASTED (even though what you're learning, the ways in which your craft is growing, may not be immediately apparent.)

See every movie you possibly can, trying to figure out what worked for you and what didn't, and why. And finally, most importantly, write from your own heart. (I don't say "from your own experience," because I think the power of imagination is more important than any kind of strictly personal biography.)

And good luck to one and all! Hope I'll see you at the movies.

- -Ted Tally