Go Into The Story Interview: Joey Clarke Jr.

Interview (Part 1): Joey Clarke Jr.

My interview with the 2018 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Joey Clarke Jr. wrote the original screenplay “Miles” which won a 2018 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Joey about his background, his award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl has meant to him.

Today in Part 1 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Joey and I talk about how he developed an interest in screenwriting, moved to Los Angeles, then left the city only to find success while writing in Missouri.

Scott Myers: You grew up in Missouri, then did a bit of wandering, and ended up back in Missouri.

Joey Clarke: That is correct. Yes, I grew up in St. Louis, went to school here in St. Louis, moved out to LA to try to write and pursue the entertainment industry after college. I was out there for about six years, doing smaller entry level jobs and then writing on the side. I honestly did not take writing that seriously, and then I didn’t give it…I was in my 20’s. I wasn’t taking it as seriously as I needed to be. I had to get out of my 20’s.

Then I started dating a girl who I knew from high school, who lived in Colorado. I was getting pretty sick of my job, so I moved out there to see if it would work. If it did work, we were going to move back to LA after a year.

We ended up staying for two and then found out we were going to have a baby, so we moved back to St. Louis, just much more affordable and to have grandparents around. We’ve been back here about two years.

Scott: Where did you live in Colorado?

Joey: A town called Carbondale, which is outside of Aspen.

Scott: Oh, I know it well. I lived in Aspen from ’78 through ’80. I played music there.

Joey: Oh, you did? Awesome. That’s probably around when Hunter S. Thompson was running around.

Scott: Oh yeah. I met him one time. He ran for mayor just before I got there. He actually won in Aspen, because it was just a bunch of hippies and ski bums living there, but he lost the vote in Pitkin Valley.

Joey: That’s hilarious.

Scott: When did you start to develop an interest in movies, TV, and writing?

Joey: I’d say, movies, I was interested in watching movies from very early. I started trying to make my own movies when I was probably about 12. I don’t know. I liked being in front of the camera when I was a kid, but I realized that wasn’t where my talent was pretty quickly.

When I went to college I was thinking I was going to be a photography major, coupled with my interest in film, I thought about cinematography at that point, but I ended up taking a couple fiction writing classes and then screenwriting classes, so that’s where I started transitioning in the writing side. When I moved out to LA that was the intention, but, like I said, I didn’t give it the effort I needed to be giving it.

Scott: In college, were those screenwriting courses or creative writing classes?

Joey: It started with fiction, and then I was a film major, which is mostly film theory at that school, but I did take screenwriting. I’d probably taken three fiction classes before I took my first screenwriting class. I took either two or three screenwriting classes.

Scott: When you were in Los Angeles, I imagine you were trying to augment your education about screenwriting. Were you reading books?

Joey: I’ve only ever read two screenwriting books. I read a lot of scripts. I read a lot through your site. I read a lot of interviews that writers give. I follow people’s careers, whose careers I’d want to have. I try to figure out how they got there. I watch a lot of movies. I try to go to the theatre once a week.

I’m an advocate of reading actual books, as well, so story and prose. Action lines are a bit of prose, so I’m an advocate of reading books, also.

Scott: As you know, I have that mantra that I repeat quite frequently, which is, “Watch movies, read scripts, write pages.” That’s the key.

Joey: Yeah. Tarantino once said, “I didn’t go to film school. I went to films.” Just go study the actual product and figure it out. More fun that way anyway.

Scott: In your Nicholl speech at the Academy, you thanked many people who had served as script readers over the years. I thought that was interesting. How important is it to you, in the process of you growing as a screenwriter, to have people read and critique your material?

Joey: It’s definitely important. One, because you get so close to it, you start to see what’s in your mind, rather than whats always on the page…I’ve gotten better at this, where I can see where my scripts aren’t good, where scenes need work, and whatnot.

There’s still parts where you think you’re getting the point across, or you think you’re getting something across, and then someone else’s eyes just looking at it will catch it really quickly. They’ll point it out to you, and you’ll go, “Oh yeah, right.”

It’s important to have a trusted group of friends who are also writers, or at least interested in film, to be able to read your stuff, give you feedback, and figure out where your script needs work.

Scott: Speaking of friends, you had another comment in your acceptance speech where you said, “I wanted to quit and have quit a number of times, but a friend kept pulling me back in.” What’s the backstory there?

Joey: That’s a friend of mine. His name’s Howie Kremer. He was actually one of my sister’s best friends growing up. He had moved out there after me. He’s a couple years older than me. We wrote a Web series together back probably eight or nine years ago. We stopped writing together soon after that, partially because I didn’t want to take it as seriously as he did.

He’s in TV comedy. He’s starting to do a little bit of movies. I would just stop writing and he’d always just be like, “Why are you out here if you’re not writing? You got to write things. You can’t just keep coming up with ideas and talking about writing if you’re not going to actually write.”

When I moved to Colorado, he kept sending me scripts to keep me in the loop. He kept asking what I’m working on. And, once I was in Colorado is when I finally started writing every day. He’s always the first person to read anything I do. Either me or his wife is the first person to read everything he does. We still trade stuff back. We talk all the time.

Scott: Is he in Los Angeles, in the business there?

Joey: He’s in LA. He’s been a writer’s assistant for various shows. He’s had a couple episodes of stuff. He had a couple cartoons he wrote. Now he’s a script coordinator on a show and been working on his first feature spec.

Scott: That’s good to have friends like that.

Joey: Yeah, for sure. I guess knowing that at least one person who knows what they’re talking about believed in me was enough to never entirely give up, even after I moved away. Just having it in the back of my mind that someone believes in me other than my mom and my dogs.

Here is video of Joey accepting his 2018 Nicholl Award in December of last year:

Tomorrow in Part 2, Joey and I dig into his Nicholl winning script “Miles,” and the inspiration for the story’s lead characters, a pair of young siblings.

Joey is repped by Fourward.

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

For my interviews with 53 Black List writers, go here.