Go Into The Story Interview: Byron Hamel

My interview with the 2021 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Byron Hamel wrote the original screenplay “Shade of the Grapefruit Tree” which won a 2021 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Byron about his creative background, his award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl Award has meant to him.

Here are links to the entire 6-part which has run this week.

Part 1: “It became important to tell non‑romantic stories about love between people of different races.”

Part 2: “Almost every single horrible thing that happens to the kid in the screenplay happened to me.”

Part 3: “I always consider my writing poetically. What can I do to distinguish the realism from the simple slice of life?”

Part 4: “I’m going to borrow from Melvin van Peebles here, and just say the theme of this fucking story is that I win.”

Part 5: “If I don’t have protagonist, goal, obstacle, good twist, I’m not interested in writing that story.”

Part 6: “Stop trying to write like anyone else and do it 100 percent you.”

Twitter: @moviepoetry.

For a MovieMaker podcast interview with each of the 2021 Nicholl winners, go here.

To learn more about the Nicholl screenwriting competition, go here.

For my interviews with every Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner since 2012, go here.

For my interviews with Black List writers, go here.