Interview (Part 1): Colton Childs

My interview with the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Colton Childs wrote the original screenplay “Fake-A-Wish” which won a 2024 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Colton about his creative 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, Colton describes his background growing up on a cattle ranch, then attending college to study playwriting.

Scott Myers: I’ve interviewed every Nicholl recipient since 2012, but this is a first. I’ve never interviewed a Nicholl recipient who was also selected for the Black List Feature Writers Lab. I think it’s safe to say 2024 has been quite a year for you. I’m just curious, where’s your head at after all those accolades?

Colton Childs: It’s been a whirlwind, for sure. When you’re emerging as a screenwriter it can feel like you’re writing into a void. So when your work is recognized, it’s incredibly affirming. Especially seeing how that work is resonating with people.

Scott: Congratulations on both fronts. Of course, I was very excited to work with you and your fellow writers in that Black List Lab in October as one of the mentors. I was quite familiar with the script (Fake-A-Wish). You knew then that you had won the Nicholl?

Colton: I did.

Scott: I’d like for the readers to get some background on you. As I recall, you grew up on a cattle ranch, is that right, in Texas? Is that where you started the whole journey?

Colton: Yes, in South Texas, north of Corpus Christi.

Scott: How long were you living on a cattle ranch?

Colton: Until I was 17. It’s a long story to get into, but my dad worked for a non-profit that provided childcare to kids in need. I lived with my biological family, but there were a series of foster homes on the land I grew up on.

Scott: How did you get into writing?

Colton: I always knew I wanted to write but didn’t have the tools. Initially, I gravitated to theater because it felt more accessible. I moved to New York for college and took some playwriting classes, but I still hadn’t found my voice. I felt like I didn’t have stories to tell yet. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I began to trust my voice as a writer.

Scott: You went to Pace.

Colton: I did.

Scott: You majored in theater arts and gender studies, correct?

Colton: With a minor in film.

Scott: And a minor in film. Did you do any screenwriting as part of that program?

Colton: There were only two screenwriting classes at the time, and I took both of those. I took a lot more playwriting classes, which were all great.

Scott: You’ve had some dramatic experiences later on, if you wouldn’t mind talking about that. You’re a cancer survivor.

Colton: I am.

Scott: It’s hard to ask you to unpack what that experience was like.

Colton: I don’t mind. To backtrack slightly, I lived in NYC for nearly 13 years before making the big, scary move to Los Angeles. Just a few weeks after I arrived, COVID-19 hit. I spent most of lockdown in Los Angeles, then I moved to Texas for what I thought would be a brief sabbatical from city life. Not long after, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It was like an onslaught of terrible things happening in my life and in the world. I was lucky to be around family during that time, but it was a rough couple of years.

Scott: That’s fortuitous in a way then that you moved back and then found out this diagnosis, so that you did have that family support.

Colton: Yes. Definitely.

Scott: I went back and I reread your personal statement, the one you supplied for the Black List Lab, and I saw this quote.

“One day, when a friend was checking in on me,” this is when you were going through cancer treatment, “I made a joke about how sad it was that there was no Make-A-Wish for aging gay millennials. The next week, I was hard at work on my feature script for Fake-A-Wish.” That really was the origination of the idea?

Colton: For the most part, yeah. I always wanted to write a queer road trip movie, but I never really had the core idea for one. When I made that joke I started thinking about what my Make-A-Wish would be, which I found humorous. I followed the seed of that idea until I arrived at the concept.

Scott: What was it about the idea of writing a road movie that interested you?

Colton: When I was undergoing cancer treatment, I was longing to escape, but I couldn’t leave. I physically couldn’t go anywhere. I started wondering if there was a way to escape through a story. In an odd way, I was able to use the characters as avatars to make a run for it.

Not to mention, I just love a classic American road trip movie, and it’s rare to see a gay one.

Scott: That’s like a double layer of escape. One is you’re escaping to the story, but then you’re also on the road with your characters, too.

Colton: Exactly.

Tomorrow in Part 2, Colton delves into the two central characters in his Nicholl-winning script “Fake-A-Wish.”

Colton is repped by 42 Management & Production.

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