Interview (Part 1): Kate Marks

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Kate Marks wrote the original screenplay “The Cow of Queens” which won a 2020 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Kate about her creative background, her award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl Award has meant to her.

Today in Part 1 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Kate talks about growing up in a household with her father’s “tall tales,” how she shifted from playwriting to screenwriting, and a short film she wrote and directed which has gotten tens of millions of views on YouTube.

Scott Myers: In a bio I read that, “You come from a long line of tricksters and grew up listening to tall tales.” Who was telling the tall tales and what do you mean by trickster?

Kate Marks: Well, specifically my dad. My dad was always telling tall tales, and I was never really sure what was true and what was an exaggeration. And my grandfather was notorious for his pranks. One time, when he was taking a train from NY to Chicago, he brought a pet white mouse on a leash and walked it up and down the aisles, just to shock people. He also built his own makeshift electric chair that he would drag out at parties and trick people into sitting in, so they’d get a little shock. He was always doing really bizarre, funny things like that.

Scott: Do you think your own trickster mentality comes by way of DNA, or is it more of a nurturing thing via your grandfather and your father?

Kate: My dad definitely taught me to find moments of comedy and levity in hard times. Whenever I would have a problem he would say, “Cheer up. If it’s the worst thing that happens to you, you will live a long life.” He was always trying to find the bright side. I don’t know if that’s a DNA thing or if it’s just something I learned. It’s a good question.

Scott: It’s certainly exhibited in your Nicholl script, “The Cow of Queens,” which we’re going to get to in just a bit. I want to talk more about your background. I watched a short film you made as writer and director, a wonderful eight-minute movie called “Pearl Was Here.” I just checked this morning. Almost 64 million views on YouTube.

The logline on that: “Answering the call of plush animals and seeing an opportunity to escape a troubled family, a scraggly girl slips away from her mother and climbs into the safe and sealed environment of the claw booth. Mommy doesn’t take this too well.”

Pearl is a little girl. She’s a terrific actress, by the way, I mean, the performance. She’s a protagonist. She’s a trickster, isn’t she? She’s getting into trouble.

Kate: Definitely.

Scott: Might we go further and…I’m looking at her, maybe I’m seeing a view when you were that age.

Kate: Well, I did eat a piece of gum off the ground. [laughs] But I don’t know if I was ever as bold or audacious.

Scott: You mentioned that you’re a stilt-walker. Do you still do that?

Kate: Yeah.

Scott: I’d say that’s pretty audacious.

[laughter]

Scott: Let’s get a little bit more into your formal background. You went to Brown University. What was your major there?

Kate: English, with honors in creative writing.

Scott: Does that speak to your longtime interest in reading, movies, and TV?

Kate: Yeah, when I was at Brown, I studied with some ground-breaking playwrights who were really formative for me. Nilo Cruz, Aishah Rahman, Paula Vogel…

Scott: Your interest in the theater, that’s why you segued to New York pretty much after Brown?

Kate: Right. I always loved movies, but it never occurred to me that I could make them. It seemed like a very different skill set and the tools intimidated me. So after Brown, I continued doing theatre in New York City. I loved writing, directing, and performing, but theatre wasn’t the perfect fit for me. Theater thrives with stories that are dialogue-based and I wanted to write more from imagery. So I took a screenwriting class and as soon as I started writing in that medium, I felt much more at home. I love the internal space that film offers you. You can really get inside a character’s head.

And then I just started experimenting, making small videos on a Handycam, which I used for my application to CalArts where I went to grad school.

Scott: That was for directing, right?

Kate: Yes, but at the time, you didn’t have to choose a track so I was able to write and direct all my shorts. This was a fabulous way to learn screenwriting because right away, I was writing to shoot and I could see how things translated from the page to the screen. I had great relationships with all my teachers. They really listened to what I wanted to do, but at the same time, they challenged me to explore new angles. I loved telling stories that were fantastical but the program at CalArts really values cinéma vérité and the teachers pushed me to find that kind of emotional realism in my work.

Here is Kate’s short film Pearl Was Here:

Tomorrow in Part 2, Kate reveals the inspiration behind her Nicholl-winning original screenplay “The Cow of Queens.”

Kate is repped by The Kaplan Stahler Agency and The Radmin Company.

Here website: LINK.

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

For my interviews with Black List writers, go here.