Interview (Part 1): Kristen Gray-Rockmaker, 2017 Nicholl Winner

My 6-part talk with the writer of the script “Last Days of Winter”.

Kristen Gray-Rockmaker wrote the original screenplay “Last Days of Winter” which won a 2017 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Kristen about about her background, her award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl has meant to her.

Today in Part 1 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Kristen and I discuss her background working in documentary and reality TV.

Scott Myers: You live in New Jersey, is that right?

Kristen Rockmaker: Yes.

Scott: Is that where you grew up?

Kristen: No. I actually grew up in Rhode Island, but I was living and working in New York City for many years. I just recently moved out to Jersey about three years ago because I had kids.

Scott: Three kids, right?

Kristen: Yeah, I have three kids. Once I had the third, there was no way I could stay in the city any longer. [laughs] We moved out to New Jersey.

Scott: How old are your kids?

Kristen: I have twins who are six, and I have a four‑year‑old.

Scott: Wow! I look forward to asking you later on how you find time to write, but we’ll get to that in a little bit. How did you wind your way into an interest as a writer?

Kristen: I’ve always been interested in writing. I’ve known I wanted to write since I was a kid, since I was, literally, 9 or 10 years old. I won a short‑story contest when I was in fourth grade, and I got published in the newspaper. I think I won $10 and I knew right then, I was like, “Oh, this is for me,” because I love making up stories.

That was the first time I think I realized, “Oh, you can get paid for doing this. That’s pretty wild.” I started writing right out of college. I actually had an agent. The first thing I wrote I co‑wrote with a friend of mine when I got out of school. It got shopped around a bit but, ultimately, did not get produced.

Scott: Was that a script or a novel?

Kristen: It was a script. It was a screenplay. It was being shopped around as a TV movie, actually. It didn’t wind up going anywhere. My agent was in Los Angeles and I was in New York. Then I started working in television just to pay the bills, unscripted television. The more that my career grew in unscripted television, the less I was writing.

I just went back to writing in the last three years, maybe. I made a decision that I wanted to go back to writing and give it another shot.

Scott: You say you came out of college with a script. Where’d you go to college?

Kristen: Syracuse University. I was at the Newhouse School. It was a great place to go.

Scott: I see the Tribeca Film Institute in your background…

Kristen: Yeah, that was another script I had co‑written with a friend of mine. It got accepted into the All Access program, but, again, it’s another project where there was some interest, but it never really went anywhere.

Scott: You found yourself with this burgeoning career. You’ve written and produced things for PBS, Discovery, Health, A&E, TLC, Outdoor Life Network. Could you talk about what’s involved as you’re producing that kind of content?

Kristen: I’ve worked on a variety of documentary programs and reality TV shows. I’ve done a lot of different jobs. I’ve gone out in the field. I directed shoots. I come back, and I put the show together with an editor, and make all the creative decisions.

Most recently I’ve been post‑producing a verite true crime show. Field producers film in different cities with the police department and the footage comes back to us in New York where we go through it and turn it into episodes.

Scott: “The First 48”?

Kristen: That’s The First 48, yeah. Generally, I get hired by production companies to produce shows. Somebody else is creating the idea and they’re pitching it. I come in and they’re like, “OK, we have an order now for a series and we want you to produce” however many episodes of the show. That’s where I function.

Scott: You continue to do that as your day job.

Kristen: I do, yes. I’m hoping to switch over.

Scott: If I got the math right, I think you said you have children six and four and about three years ago you got the bug to go back and get into writing, which means that you’re talking about kids who were three and one, something like that.

Kristen: Yes.

Scott: Now we can get to this thing. How do you find time for writing, keeping up the work that you do with the unscripted stuff, and be a mom and a wife?

Kristen: It’s really difficult. [laughs] It’s very difficult. I do a lot of writing… now I have this train commute and I’m able to write on the train. It’s a solid block of time on the way in and on the way out of the city every day. That’s when I do most of my writing.

Most of my brainstorming is on the train. I was never really able to do that on the subway because the subway’s so chaotic, but a New Jersey transit is much more calm, and it’s really very conducive to just letting your mind wander and being able to come up with stories. For me, most of the work is done in just outlining and just knowing where your story’s going to go.

The train has been really great for that. That’s where I do the bulk of my writing. Then, sometimes on my lunch break I’ll take my laptop to a café or something and I’ll write for a while. Occasionally, I’ll come home at night and write, but not too often.

I have to be in a groove to do that because usually by the time I get home and I get the kids to bed and everything, I’m super tired, so not much is done then.

Scott: How long of a commute is it?

Kristen: It’s a good solid 35‑ to 40‑minute ride, so there and then back. It’s just whatever, a few pages at a time.

Scott: I was a house dad for about a year‑and‑a‑half and found that you could get a lot done in a half‑hour.

Kristen: Yeah. Yeah, if you’re focused, you totally can.

Here is video of Kristen accepting her 2017 Nicholl Award in December of last year:

Kristen is repped by The Gotham Group.

Tomorrow in Part 2, Kristen reveals what inspired her to write “Last Days of Winter” and how she brought her experience in documentary television to bear on her screenwriting.

For my interviews with 28 other Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting writers, go here.

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