Interview (Part 1): David L. Williams

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Clementine.

David L. Williams wrote the screenplay Clementine which landed on the 2022 Black List. I had the opportunity to chat with David about his creative background, writing a Black List script, and the craft of screenwriting.

Today in Part 1 of a 6-part series to run each day through Sunday, David talks about how he developed an interest in writing and earned money by playing the video game Mortal Kombat in professional tournaments.

Scott Myers: Congratulations on getting that 2022 Black List on your resume.

David L. Williams: Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Scott: Let’s start with some background here. I read a bio. It says, “David’s a former Brooklynite turned Angelino who’s been writing screenplays since working at Blockbuster centuries ago.” Then it say you’re a former pro‑gamer and a Division One athlete. I definitely want to get into all that. Let’s start at the beginning. You grow up out in the East Coast. When did you start getting interested in film, TV, and writing?

David: It starts way back when I was about eight years old, maybe a little earlier than that. My grandfather got me into movies in general. He snuck me into a bunch of movies in theaters, R‑rated movies that I wasn’t supposed to see.

Thanks to him, my earliest memory in movie theaters is “Pulp Fiction.” I saw that when I was about six. Luckily, I didn’t know what was going on, except for a couple of scenes. That was quite the trip.

Scott: That’s perfect synergy. Tarantino’s mom used to take him to R‑rated movies when he was a kid too.

David: Just handing the baton on over, not that I’m going to be anywhere within a thousand yards of his kind of career. That’s funny. Hopefully, the next person who watches “Clementine” or something and then goes from there, whether or not they’re supposed to see it as a kid. That’d be funny.

As a kid, I was also already into writing. I wrote a lot of short stories, especially in 4th and 5th grade, some weird stuff. Also, in high school, I wrote a ton of poetry as well. I was into writing. I tried my hand at a couple of novels. It didn’t quite work out. I don’t have the attention span. I get bored, not my jam.

What happened, like you alluded to in the bio, is I was working at Blockbuster. I ran into “Blade Runner” and fell in love with it. Something clicked. I don’t know why it took me so long. The love for movies and the love for writing got married immediately. I was like, “Wait a minute. People write movies, don’t they?” I looked it up, and it looked like a viable career. I pursued it immediately.

I looked up the format. My first script was a sequel to Blade Runner, it was in a Word doc. [laughs] It was quite the journey. Ever since then, I’ve honed my craft. I really wanted to immerse myself in film industry, so I was PA‑ing on set. I was a script supervisor for a few years. That’s how it kicked off.

Scott: How about the pro-gamer and D1 athlete?

David: When I was between 18 and 23, those things were happening around the same time. I got a full scholarship to play football at Wagner College, but I quit in my freshman year. I was technically a D1 athlete, but I ended up quitting and they wouldn’t let me stay at the school. Kind of how I ended up back in Brooklyn, New York, and studied at Brooklyn College.

Back in New York ‑‑ get ready for this ‑‑ I started playing Mortal Kombat 2, highly competitively on the PlayStation 3, to the point where I started playing for money, and winning some tournaments. There’s literally a video of me on YouTube from over a decade ago. I was playing for money and winning some, losing some.

There were times, especially when I was working as the PA, because you’re freelancing and stuff like that, you might have those lulls between jobs where my main income was playing Mortal Kombat. I would play in tournaments, I’d place, and that’s what fed me.

That’s something that I haven’t done in a long time, but yeah, I was traveling, I played in Philadelphia, Florida, Jersey, Cali. A lot of online stuff too, though, I will say. I’d say, almost half of the tournaments I played were online. It’s the only reason I’ve ever been to Philly, was for tournaments.

[laughter]

Scott: Do you still keep up with the gaming at all?

David: No one really plays Mortal Kombat 2 competitively anymore. However, I do keep up with other games. I’m very much in tune with what’s called the fighting game community. They play Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, The King of Fighters, all those different things.

I still tune in and nerd‑out on that stuff. I have a friend who lives round the corner that I play with as well.

Scott: Oh, that’s great. Where did the screenwriting component come in? It sort of clicked for you, of course, that script for Blade Runner, written by David Webb Peoples.

Were you studying that at Brooklyn College or was that afterwards?

David: It was actually between leaving football and studying film is when I had that kind of epiphany. It was because I realized it was something I wanted to pursue that I ended up going to Brooklyn College to study filmmaking and screenwriting, so yeah, I did a bit of studying on it in college.

Brooklyn College is almost like the forgotten stepsister of NYU ‑‑ not quite to the same caliber and about one one‑hundredth the size, but yeah, I was studying it and just writing. I was just really compelled to write movies.

My professor, J. P. Auerbach, he ‑‑ great dude ‑‑ the thing I think I took the most from college was keeping things simple. That’s kind of my mantra these days. Whenever I have ideas swirling around my head, it’s whichever one is the simplest that wins, and that’s because of him.

I wrote a few features in college. They kind of sucked. They were readable, but just like most writers who are starting out, execution wasn’t quite there. I just kept writing after college.

I left college early and kept writing even though I was freelancing and on set and stuff like that. Found time to write even after long hours.

Scott: Would you consider yourself mostly a genre writer?

David: Yeah, definitely. I’m pretty flexible, but yeah, I mostly a genre writer.

If you think David is kidding about his pro gaming career, here is just one recording of him kicking ass playing Mortal Kombat.

It’s probably no surprise that David considers himself an action genre writer.

Tomorrow in Part 2, David discusses the inspiration for his Black List script Clementine.

David is repped by Verve and Gramercy Park Entertainment.

Twitter: @storytellerdave

Instagram: @davidgem

For my interviews with dozens of other Black List writers, go here.