Former actress/director Christina Hamlett is a media relations expert and award-winning author whose credits to date include 30 books, 152 stage plays, 5 optioned feature films, and squillions of articles and interviews. In addition to being a professional ghostwriter (which does not mean she talks to dead people), she is a script consultant for stage and screen (which means she stops a lot of really bad plots from coming to theatres near you).
Screenwriting for Teens is somewhat of a misnomer. Although it's targeted to the largest movie-going audience in the world - teenagers - it not only covers everything an aspiring writer of any age needs to know about writing a screenplay but also includes 300+ story-starter ideas that can be used by novelists, playwrights, short-story writers and journalists.
SCI-FI-LONDON caught up with Christina recently to talk about Screenwriting for Teens.
SFL 01. For the benefit of those who aren't familiar with the book, can you describe it for us. Give us the pitch!
CH Teenagers comprise the largest movie-going audience in the world and, not surprisingly, a lot of them want to learn how to make movies of their own. Not only do the bite-sized chapters in Screenwriting for Teens give them all the tips, tools and terminology they need to take their ideas from page to screen but the 300+ brainstorming exercises between its covers also have application to playwriting, novels, short stories, social studies, communications and journalism. Teachers are especially effusive about its use in the classroom and the development of lively lesson plans that keep students engaged.
SFL 02. Why teenagers? Pretty much all of the advice in the book is directly applicable to anyone who wants to learn to write, so why target teenagers in the title?
CH The title is definitely a misnomer. Screenwriting for Teens is also actually the second screenwriting book I’ve written for this age group. For years I’ve been doing workshops and mentoring writers of all ages around the world but made the discovery back in 2002 that the screenwriting books that were on the market were targeted to adults and had very little content relatable to a high school mindset. That year I pitched the concept for ScreenTeenWriters to MWP. It was rejected. Four months later it was enthusiastically published by one of my longstanding play publishers (and continues to sell!).
Three years later, MWP put out a call to see if anyone knew how to write for the teen market because they wanted to publish the “first” book geared to that age group. Yours truly stepped up to the task, the biggest challenge being to come up with the 100 principles referenced in the subtitle. (I think there are really only about 37...)
SFL 03. One piece of advice you give right up front is to read, widely and often. A lot of writers tell me they don't really get time to read anymore so do you still read, and if so what do you read, what writers inspire you?
CH I’ve been a voracious reader ever since childhood and can remember many a night of reading Nancy Drew mysteries under the covers long after bedtime with my Girl Scout penlight. I’ve also always been a speed-reader, which means that I usually go through 2-3 books a week. These run the gamut from mysteries to biographies to historical fiction to chick lit to business books to - well, you get the picture.
In addition, my husband and I like to read aloud at the dining room table (we recently finished Les Miserables), and especially enjoy reading plays. We’ve both been on stage (I acted/directed for 16 years and he sang opera) and are adept at doing accents. If the windows are open, I’m pretty sure our neighbors think that at least 17 other people are living with us.
As for inspiration, any writer who can make me laugh out loud, get a lump in my throat, learn something I didn’t know before, or frame concepts in an imaginative fashion is going to have me as a lifetime fan.
SFL 04. What were your writing influences growing up and how have they changed as you’ve gotten older?
CH As an only child in a wealthy family, I spent a lot of time entertaining myself by reading books and writing dialogue for my puppets and Barbie dolls. I even wrote what I thought was a very heartfelt letter to the Mouseketeers and invited them to come and live with us. (I assumed they were orphans because [1] Walt was way too old to be their father and [2] they always wore the same outfits.) Unfortunately, the mailman brought it back; I’m guessing it was because of my hand-drawn stamp on the envelope.
Throughout school I was fortunate to have instructors who encouraged my writing talents. Even my history teachers were amused with my answers on essay tests. When asked, for instance, to describe the events leading up to the battle of such-and-such, I’d often rabbit on in great detail about what the soldiers had for breakfast (usually waffles), what the weather was doing, and the names of their horses. (I’m sure this was an early sign of destiny that I’d one day become a media spinmeister since I artfully neglected to ever give a year, a place or who, exactly, they were fighting.)
As an adult, I was blessed to be mentored in the craft of playwriting for 20 years by the late Sylvia Burack, founder of The Writer and Plays Magazine. She taught me everything I know about crafting an entertaining story, peopling it with interesting characters, and putting words in their mouths. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel her looking over my shoulder and either nodding in approval or raising an eyebrow and saying, “Are you quite sure that’s your best work?”
SFL 05. So who is Nick Morgan, how come he figures so prominently in Screenwriting for Teens, and why doesn't he smile in photographs?
CH The summer before Screenwriting for Teens debuted, I had the pleasure of teaching a talented group of high school students at Lyndon Institute in Vermont. (It was a building that looked like the clock tower in Back to the Future, and the only place I could get a cell phone signal was standing between two trees overlooking the Lyndon cemetery.) Nick was one of my younger students and had an absolutely infectious enthusiasm for anything and everything cinematic.
When I began writing the book, I recognized the importance of teen-testing it as I went along. I recruited Nick, who not only did all of the brainstormer exercises but also recommended films he thought his peers would like and wrote extensive critiques of each chapter. Some of his remarks were even longer than my 2-page chapters and demonstrated to me that he would either grow up to be a fantastic screenwriter or the next Roger Ebert. When the book was published, Nick even had his own book-signing in Vermont and then went out for pizza afterwards with all his friends who showed up for it.
As for not smiling, I think it’s just part of the teen mystique to look deep and introspective.
SFL 06. Did you always want to write films, or did it start as books and then get re-routed somewhere along the way? And when was the turning point where you knew people actually write films for a living?
CH Actually I wanted to join the circus. When I was in first grade, my life-size doll Katherine and I rigorously practiced our acrobatics act with grand plans to channel Toby Tyler and become famous performers. The act involved my grabbing Katherine’s arms as she stood in front of me and flipping her over my head so that she’d land directly behind me. Alas, our rehearsals came to an abrupt end the day her limbs came out of their sockets and sent her airborne body to the top of my canopy bed. Still holding her pink plastic arms aloft, I must have looked like airport ground crew helping a plane taxi to its gate. But I digress...
Although I always knew I’d grow up to be a writer, writing movies was never on my wish list. In truth, it’s still pretty far down the list because I much prefer writing plays and books. As for my expertise as a script consultant, I largely fell into it by accident as a result of my analytical skills. (My major was in Communications with an emphasis on audience analysis and message design.) My opinion started being solicited by writers who wanted to write better stories, and by agents and independent producers who had an overflow of manuscripts and wanted someone who could do detailed notes on originality, character development, dialogue, pacing, structure, budget and marketability. What distinguishes me from other consultants is my ability to recommend whether a writer’s wordsmithing talents and/or storyline might be better suited to a different medium.
As for making a living, I grew up in an era where just about anything in the performing arts was dissuaded by parentals (my own included) who thought that such radical, flippy-dippy pursuits were akin to coming home one day and announcing that you were going to become a Democrat. My first paycheck – and each one thereafter – has proven that when you’re doing something you love, it never really feels like work.
SFL 07. How did you go about breaking the craft of screenwriting into 100 principles, and was there anything that slipped though the net, that afterwards you thought "Aah...!"
CH I basically made a list of the 37 principles I knew were real and then agonized for the next two months trying to come up with 63 more. Am pretty sure that nothing slipped through the net, thanks to Nick Morgan’s eagle eye.
SFL 08. You're published in a multiplicity of genres. What's your favourite and why?
CH First, foremost and always, it’s playwriting and, in particular, writing plays for high school students. Giving teens the chance to do something fun, memorize lines, put on makeup, dress up in costumes, learn how to improvise, be part of a creative team, gain self-confidence, and hear that first, addictive sound of applause for a job well done – it’s all about the magic. I often wonder how many of those students who perform in one of my plays for the first time will grow up to be a playwright, an actor, a director, or a producer.
SFL 09. What single piece of advice from your own book do you wish someone had given you early on in your writing career?
CH Seek out kindred spirits. Writing is such a solitary craft that it’s easy to lose sight sometimes of the incredible power of networking. The latter, of course, is much easier in the Internet age than it was when I first began. Nowadays, I manage to get found by swarms of people from across the country and around the world even when I’m not looking for them.
SFL 10. I'm guessing that you didn't walk out of school or college and into a writing job, so what was your path, how did you go about getting that first job as a writer?
CH That would actually be a wrong guess. My first job right out of high school was writing movie and play reviews for a weekly newspaper. I obviously didn’t have a journalism degree but I knew how to write entertaining and informative commentary about what worked and didn’t work in a production. (A bit of foreshadowing, I think, for my much later segue into script consulting for stage and screen.)
Two months after I started, my editor assigned me to go write a review of the local melodrama theater’s new show. “Even if they flub lines or sing off-key,” he said, “give them a good review. They buy a lot of advertising from us.” (Early on, I learned the politics of this business.) I’d never been to a melodrama before but had such a grand time that I wrote to the husband and wife directors that summer and asked if I could audition for them. Mind you, I had never taken drama in school or been in any plays but I figured that if they asked me if I could sing, dance and act, I would channel my inner Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl when asked if she could rollerskate. They graciously wrote back and said that they had enough actors to make auditions unnecessary but that I was welcome to attend their next rehearsal on Sunday and write up some PR for the upcoming show.
As Fate would have it, the heroine was painting her house that afternoon, forgot there was a rehearsal, and they needed someone to stand in and read her lines. I saw my chance, seized it, dazzled them, and was promptly made the understudy and written into a few song and dance numbers. It must have been fun because I spent the next 16 years onstage, half of which involved running my own touring theatre company, The Hamlett Players. Since I was writing all of the original one-acts we performed, I decided to start sending them out for publication. As of this writing, I am celebrating my 153rd script sale.
Twixt then and now, I’ve also written books (30 of them), and squillions of articles and interviews that appear online and in trade publications throughout the world. In addition, I’m a professional ghostwriter and I work for a prestigious PR firm in Manhattan (despite the fact that I live in Pasadena, California).
SFL 11. What's your working space like? Is it minimalist, calm and serene or is it piles of notes and stacks of books and empty coffee mugs? What would surprise us the most about it?
CH It is most definitely eclectic. When guests come to our home for dinner, there are two rooms to which they always gravitate – the kitchen (where my gourmet chef husband works his magic) and my home office (which abounds with its own quirky enchantment). It’s here I’m surrounded by the things that inspire me – books, art, music, and unabashed theatricality harkening back to the years I spent on stage.
The French doors to my workspace are flanked by a suit of armor (his name is Fred) and a black velvet dragon named Mischief. Holding court in the middle of my Oriental rug is Viktor the Siberian tiger (one of 310 stuffed animals I’ve collected throughout my life). My L-shaped oak desk has a high, 6-foot long hutch with lots of cubbyholes and cabinets which prompted one of my friends to remark that it reminds her of a really weird Advent calendar.
My love of books is evidenced by all the bookcases behind me, and my love of photography (we travel a lot) is reflected in the fact that virtually every square inch of wall space has something hanging on it. (I suspect one day the drywall will completely collapse from the weight of all the frames.)
And who wouldn’t be inspired having a life-sized Captain Jack Sparrow! Not only does he have my back but he’s also holding my business license in his right hand. (When the City of Pasadena told me it should be displayed in a prominent but safe place, I took this instruction very seriously. Hey, who’s going to try to wrest it away from a pirate with a sword? And even if they do, they’ll still have to contend with Fred and Mischief on the other side of the room.) I often turn on the miniature white lights in my silk ficus tree when we have dinner parties; they throw off just enough light that guests who haven’t been here before have been known to freak out that there’s a swashbuckling scallywag standing in the shadows by my chair.
SFL 12. Are you an outliner that meticulously plans everything or a 'pantser' that just makes it up as you go along? Do you think the state of your workspace and your method are related?
CH I used to be an outliner until I realized that my characters often know the story much better than I do. In fact, if I neglect them for too long, I’m frankly not surprised that they don’t just finish it up by themselves. (I’d say that’s pretty much compatible with how my workspace is arranged.)
SFL 13. Who's in your alpha/beta reading groups for your own work? Who is the first person you give stuff to read?
CH I’m fortunate to have a husband who is not only an excellent writer but also a boffo editor. Where it’s a new play, a chapter in a novel, a how-to article, or an interview with a local luminary, I can always count on him to deliver the appetizers and adult beverages for a lively table-read and smart advice.
SFL 14. What film or book has taught you more about screenwriting - or storytelling - than any other and why?
CH I learned the most about storytelling from one of my four favorite musicals – The Music Man. When the Robert Preston/Shirley Jones movie came out in 1962, there was a long line that snaked completely around the theatre in downtown Seattle. The conflict was sustainable, the characters were all plausible, the dynamics were heart-tugging, the pacing was seamless, the music was memorable, and the resolution was satisfying. It also continues to impress me that not only did one person write the entire thing but that the themes his story embraced still resonate in the 21st century.
SFL 15. If you could throw a dinner party for 12 - you and 11 guests - who would be around the table and why? (You can have anyone, living or dead, but people that are alive are more interesting to imagine together...)
CH I’d invite Oscar Wilde, Angela Lansbury, Noel Coward, Jerry Orbach, William Shakespeare, Hugh Jackman, Maggie Smith, my beloved husband, Lauren Bacall, Bernadette Peters and Greg Boyer. Their collective passion for theatre and film would make for some scintillating conversations. Yes, yes, I know you’re probably wondering who this Greg Boyer guy is. Greg is a colleague of mine in the newspaper business and is a regular guest at our house because he loves good food and is a font of funny stories. He also has a huge crush on Bernadette and a dinner party would be a nice chance to put them together. Plus, we could probably twist her arm to sing Broadway show tunes after dessert along with Angela, Jerry and Hugh.
SFL 16. Despite what we all say, writing is hard. What keeps you going during those times when you think don't have a single idea in your head?
CH I’ve always found that the need to pay bills is a good incentive. But seriously, I never suffer from writer’s block or feel as if I’m languishing in a mental cul-de-sac because I have so many things going on at one time that I can easily switch gears if a particular project isn’t inspiring me at the moment.
SFL 17. What makes it all worth it in the end?
CH Knowing that I’ve made a difference in the lives of my readers.
SFL 18. What single film, book or other thing do you wish you'd written? What is the gold standard for you?
CH Love, Actually. We watch it every Christmas and every single time I find something new to love about it.
SFL 19. What do you do when you’re not writing or talking about writing?
CH We’re travelling, we’re having dinner parties, we’re playing with Lucy (the world’s cutest dog), and I’m designing fabulous living spaces with my architectural design software. I’ve actually given several virtual houses and condos to friends as presents and they’ve remarked, “Wow! Everyone else just gave me a card from Hallmark.”
SFL 20. What's next for Christina Hamlett, and where can people learn more about you?
CH My playwriting colleague, Jamie Dare, and I have just wrapped work on a two-act Jane Austen riff called Cliffhanger Abbey: Where Perfect Manners Meet Perfect Monsters, and the publisher was so excited she has already asked us to team up on some new projects for the fall. Although I typically work alone on stage plays, this is the fourth script Jamie and I have done together. She was a screenwriting student of mine and had such a wicked wit and skill with comedic dialogue that I asked her if she’d like to work together and learn the craft of playwriting. (Our other three scripts were Seussified Shakespeare spins: Meet the MacBeths, Hamlet Hears a Who, and Romeo and Juliet’s Restaurant Wars.)
I’m currently working on a one-act about early aviatrix Harriet Quimby; a political thriller called Exit Strategy; and a chick lit titled All But The Midnight Kiss.
Readers can learn more about me at www.authorhamlett.com
Screenwriting for Teens is published by Michael Wiese and is available with free delivery from The Book Depository and on the high street from Blackwell and all good book stores.