Interview with Marti Noxon

This week's interview is with writer/producer Marti Noxon.

A versatile writer/producer who works fluidly through genres and mediums, Marti Noxon's feature film credits include I am Number Four, Dreamworks/Disney’s Fright Night, The Defenders with filmmaker Jon Hamburg for Kurtzman Orci Paper Products and Masi Oka. She is also adapting Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for Lionsgate, Ouija for Platinum Dunes and Hasbro, and writing Tink for Disney and Elizabeth Banks.

Noxon has written and executive produced for many critically acclaimed shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, Point Pleasant, and Still Life. She has also acted as consulting producer for Mad Men, Prison Break, and Angel. She is a consulting writer/producer on the third season of the hit Fox series Glee

Under her Grady Twins Productions banner that she co-runs with longtime collaborator and friend Dawn Olmstead, Noxon proves to be an all-around talent building a thriving production company. She is currently producing projects for Lifetime, FX, the CW, and NBC.

Our interview questions come from Austin Film Festival Office Manager Marcie Mayhorn and Amanda Keach Martin, Austin Film Festival's "On-Story" Development Director.


AFF: What is the biggest difference between writing for film and writing for television?

Marti: Television is a collaborative medium. You work out story with other writers and sometimes write scripts together. Writing features is more solitary. But it can also be very gratifying because I'm not as much of a slave to demands of ongoing production. I get to take more time with it and really disappear into another world. Also, I can tell a complete story from start to finish. A TV show can get cancelled mid-story and you never get closure with your characters. One big upside of TV, however, when you're on a show that's on the air, is that you get to MAKE what you write. That's less often the case in the movie world. I've written way more scripts that never see the light of day, no matter how well the material was received.


AFF: Glee and Mad Men are two totally different story lines. Do you find it challenging to jump back and forth between concepts (i.e. going from music/teenage issues to 1960’s adult drama)

Marti: That's what's so fun about being a writer. I get to explore different worlds, tones and parts of myself. I think it's really exciting to move from genre to genre, and I believe every experience keeps me more fluid -- I don't get "stuck" writing just one way. I almost always have a few projects going at once that are very different. Personally, I like the challenge of doing things outside of my comfort zone and actively seek those kinds of projects out.


AFF: For shows like Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy, how much outside research did you have to do (particularly in medicine)?

Marti: We had doctors who were on the writing staffs of both shows. They helped us enormously with medical research. We also had people come and speak to the writers from different specialties. And, of course, there was lots of time spent on the internet, although it's limited in how much you can trust the information and there's always more nuance when you speak to a real person or visit a real place. I do a fair amount of research on the things I write that are based on any kind of fact. Then there are projects that are more personal, and the "research" is just dumb things I've done and said in my life... Lots of material available there.


AFF: In it's 8 year of airing Grey's Anatomy is facing the possibility of losing its two main character, Meredith Grey played Ellen Pompeo and Derek Shepherd played by Patrick Dempsey. As a past writer for the show what is the thought process that goes into writing this large transition without losing audience appeal?

Marti: It's always hard for an audience to let go of a character they love. Some shows get through it, and some shows kind of die on the vine. I think the key is casting and preparation. If you know somebody is leaving the show, you lay the groundwork by developing the supporting characters, bringing in some new blood and great storylines. And you try to find a really exciting piece of casting to replace the outgoing person. That softens the blow. Sometimes.


AFF: Do you contribute to the song writing (or song suggestions) for Glee?

Marti: We all pitch song ideas all the time. Ryan Murphy has the final say on what goes in the show. I've had a few suggestions get through and it is really exciting to see "your" number come to life. I feel a bit of ownership, even though I've done absolutely none of the hard work. Like the arranging, the clearances, the choreography, the recording, the performing. I just said "hey, what about -- XX?" So that sense of ownership is completely unearned. But you take what you can get.

Thanks, Marti!

As we gear up for the 2012 Festival & Conference, we're posting interviews with our incoming panelists here, on our blog. The questions come from our registrants, fellow panelists, facebook fans, etc., so if you have questions for any of our incoming (or past) speakers, just send them to our Conference Director Maya Perez at maya@austinfilmfestival.com you just might see your interview on here!

The Hollywood Games

The current state of Hollywood could not be more clear this month, with two bright, shining examples of why certain films get made and others get bypassed. JOHN CARTER, a film based on a short story so old and obscure that it’s just about the closest Hollywood comes to “original idea,” opened with disappointing numbers despite a shimmering cast/crew (Andrew Stanton! Michael Chabon! Bryan Cranston! Willem Dafoe!) and the marketing reach of the Walt Disney Company. Meanwhile, THE HUNGER GAMES, based on the mega-best-selling young adult novels proclaimed as the new TWILIGHT or HARRY POTTER, is already selling out screenings nationwide despite a cast of young no-names. 

These results are essentially foregone conclusions. CARTER had been tracking poorly for weeks, with journalists and industry veterans writing it off as a legendary flop before it even had its first public screening. THE HUNGER GAMES, on the other hand, was destined for glory, as it has been in the hearts and minds of the all important teen and 18-25 demographics for months now. 

What has emerged from the stories of these two films is not simply a battle for box office but a war for the future of Hollywood filmmaking. When people involved with JOHN CARTER took to Twitter to beg people to go see their film, they weren’t asking simply to improve their profit margins or avoid embarrassment. They truly felt that CARTER’s success at the box office could prove to the industry at large that an original (or quasi-original) idea could sell tickets, which would open doors for more original ideas. Instead, CARTER proved to be the disappointment that everyone expected, which communicated to studio execs that working off of already popular brands and franchises is still the way to go. 

Does this mean we will see fewer and fewer original films? I’m not that pessimistic. There will always be a place for thoughtful, new ideas. But they will become harder and harder to make, and studios like Walt Disney will be less likely to throw $250 million at them when they can make TWILIGHTs and HUNGER GAMEs for much less. 

Which isn’t such a bad thing. Looking back on the history of filmmaking, there have always been ebbs and flows. From the New American Cinema of the 70s to the indie craze of the late 80s/early 90s, filmmakers like Coppola, Scorsese, Cassavetes, Soderbergh, Tarantino, etc. have always found ways to bring original ideas back into the public eye in a big way. So, let’s not be discouraged by JOHN CARTER but instead look forward to what the next wave of new ideas will bring us. In the meantime, let’s also admit that not all unoriginal ideas result in bad movies. See you on Friday for 21 JUMP STREET?

Interview with Alec Berg

As we gear up for the 2012 Festival & Conference, we're posting interviews with our incoming panelists here, on our blog. The questions come from our registrants, fellow panelists, facebook fans, etc., so if you have questions for any of our incoming (or past) speakers, just send them to our Conference Director Maya Perez at maya@austinfilmfestival.com you just might see your interview on here!

Alec Berg at the 2011 Austin Film Festival

This week's interview is with Alec Berg. Alec Berg’s television credits include Seinfeld where he was a writer and executive producer, and Curb Your Enthusiasm where he currently serves as a writer, executive producer and director.

His feature film work includes writing the screenplays for The Cat in the Hat (which was made into a terrible film) and Eurotrip (which he produced and co-directed and is excellent.) He recently wrote and produced "The Dictator" for Sacha Baron Cohen. He has also done extensive rewriting, having worked on films for Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Will Smith, Ivan Reitman and Robert Zemeckis.

Alec has been nominated for numerous Emmy awards, a WGA Award, a DGA award and a Razzie (yes, for The Cat in the Hat, it’s that bad.)

Aspiring television writer Christopher Levi is our interviewer.

Chris: Sacha Baron Cohen seems to love controversy, so when you wrote for The Dictator, was there a sense of nothing being off limits topic or joke wise? If so, did that free your writing process?

Alec: Obviously Sacha's sense of humor runs toward the edgy and the extreme. He likes political and satirical and he enjoys punishing hypocrisy. My partners and I have similar comedic tastes so when we hatched the idea for The Dictator we knew it was perfect for Sacha. It checked all of the boxes I just listed, and I think that's why he sparked to it and agreed to do it.

From the beginning the process was pretty natural. For the most part when something worked it was pretty obvious to all of us, and when it didn't it was equally obvious. It's a completely subjective process so obviously there are a lot of things you fight over along the way, but for the most part the things that made the cut were things that we all agreed worked.

And in terms of things being off-limits, we always assumed this was going to be an aggressive R-rated film. Sacha's audience expects that, and everyone at Paramount knew that's what we were going to deliver when they bought it from us. Because of that the limits were almost all self-imposed. Just because you can do anything doesn't mean you should. It can be in questionable taste but it's got to be funny enough to merit it. And you can be savage to people as long as they deserve savaging. Like on Borat and Brüno, we had a lot of conversations on Dictator about the targets of the humor: are the people we're bashing deserving of that treatment?

Continue reading after the jump...

Toto, I don’t think we’re in film school anymore…

Marcie Mayhorn

As a film school alum, no cinema question phases me in the slightest.  “What’s your favorite Billy Wilder film?”  SOME LIKE IT HOT.  “Who is your favorite foreign director?”  Easy – Pedro Almodovar. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Please – writer/director and probably a producer, especially if I want to have my own production company.

I can shoot off answers to questions like these all day long.  But sometimes, questions come along that require a little more thought.  One of the interns here at the office asked me one day what I’d like to do in the future.  Again, no hesitation whatsoever: “I’d like to write and direct my own films, and essentially own my own production company.”  I didn’t even stutter.  “Oh wow,” she replied, “well, what type of stories do you want to write?” “I –…” I paused.  The immediate answer didn’t come to me.  So many options ran through my head: good stories, of course, but not cheesy good, really feel-good stories, ones that make you feel your heart in your throat.  But not leave a theater sobbing…

What type of stories do I want to write?  I had to tell her I would get back to her because I didn’t honestly know.  Ever since she asked me, I have thought long and hard about this.  I finally realized I should examine a few of my favorite films for this answer.  The one that truly stuck out in my mind was THE WIZARD OF OZ.  Do I want to write a story about a rural girl who gets whacked in the head and dreams she’s in a magical land?  Not exactly.  So what is it about this film that makes it one of my favorites?

It was the first time I had really ever dissected a story, really got into the cracks to see what makes it so appealing to me.  And there, I discovered my answer: I used to watch this film all the time as a child.  I would sing all of the songs, and make believe that I, too, could travel somewhere magical.  I used this story as a basis for wanting to dream, for wanting to explore places that I could only imagine, and maybe even go there someday.  But like Dorothy, I remembered the importance of home and how much family means to me.  I vividly remember watching this film the night before I left for college and crying my eyes out, because I knew that my life was about to change.

And it hit me: those are the types of stories I want to write.  The ones that evoke memories, that trigger that deep feeling and emotion within us that only we know.  I want to write stories that make someone remember the importance of all the people in their life, and how taking a risk can be worthwhile.  I want to write stories that make someone realize that it is perfectly alright to be exactly the type of person that they are.

I’ll have to tell that intern that I finally know the answer to her question!  But for today, I also challenge you to answer the question of: what kind of stories do you want to tell?

-- Marcie Mayhorn, Austin Film Festival Office Manager