Interview: Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith

Background and writing tips from the screenwriter of such hit movies as 10 Things I Hate About You and Legally Blonde.

I think it’s safe to say there’s not a soul in the film and television business who doesn’t adore Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith. First, there’s the talent: She and longtime writing partner Karen McCullah have Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s the Man, The House Bunny, and The Ugly Truth. Plus, Kiwi is a novelist and poet. Then there’s her personality. Kiwi is quite literally one of the friendliest people. Ever.

On a more personal level, I so appreciate Kiwi’s commitment to helping writers just breaking into the business, specifically as a mentor. For example, I have been involved with every Black List feature writer labs and Kiwi has served as a mentor and a majority of them. That says a lot about her given how busy she is.

I was pleased to see this interview pop up in my social media stream, particularly because it’s hosted by Advice To Writers. I am a big fan of the site’s host Jon Winkour as he’s a “writers on writing” quote-hound like me! I often feature ATW posts in my On Writing series. This interview is the marriage two favorite folks.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

How did you become a writer?

Growing up an only child on a sailboat without a TV, I was always inventing little stories and was encouraged to do so by my smart and funny parents. I was encouraged by teachers to pursue writing, and in high school, I worked in a library and a video store so I could be close to the art forms that fortified me the most: books and movies.

When I was at Occidental College, I was writing a lot of poetry and published in the school literary mag. I did readings on campus and began obsessively submitting my poetry to journals. I got over 40 poems published and it led me to get a writing fellowship at Breadloaf Writer’s Conference and a residency at MacDowell and others. Also at Occidental, I got an internship at CineTel Films, a small production company. I read probably close to 400 scripts there and did coverage on them — writing synopses and an analyses of the characters, story, and dialogue. It was great training for an aspiring screenwriter.

So then I was at a crossroads: do I go to grad school and pursue a poetry and academia career or return to LA and try my hand at screenwriting?

After I graduated, I was in residence at MacDowell Colony writing poetry, then returned to doing odd jobs back in LA when my boss from CineTel, Catalaine Knell, called and offered me a paid position job doing coverage, which led to a full-time job as a development executive. Catalaine gave Quentin Tarantino his first rewrite job. She taught me about script structure, and brought me into meetings with real life screenwriters! She always reminded me to keep writing and even had me write a poem for Poison Ivy 2 starring Alyssa Milano! Not to brag, but a “Poem by” credit on Poison Ivy 2 is my first credit on IMDB.

At that job, I met a writer named Karen McCullah over query letter who lived in Denver, and when she came to LA, we met for drinks and had a blast. We started writing a script on cocktail napkins that night. It didn’t sell, but then we decided to write another script: a teen movie based on a classic story. That led to us writing “10 Things I Hate About You,” which got us a manager, and the script found some fans in the industry like Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger. Finally was bought by Mark Vahradian at Disney. When I look back, there were lots of little “big breaks” that were strung together to equal a career.

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What’s your advice to new writers?

Outline before you write. Ideally try to end the day with a path forward for the next day’s writing. Set small attainable goals. Beating them will feel better than not achieving the big impossible ones.

Next time I see Kiwi, I’m going to ask about the “growing up as an only child in a sailboat” saga!

For the rest of the Advice To Writers interview, go here.

Here’s a link to the main ATW site.

Twitter: @KiwiLovesYou, @AdviceToWriters.

For 100s of other screenwriter and filmmaker interviews hosted at Go Into The Story, go here.