Interview (Part 2): 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 2 of a 6-part series to run each day through Sunday, David discusses the inspiration for his Black List script Clementine.

Scott: Let’s talk about this script, Clementine, which did make the 2022 Black List. Definitely a genre piece. It’s an action‑and‑a‑half piece.

David: [laughs]

Scott: It’s a really ‑‑ what’s that called? ‑‑ page‑turner, man. It’s just woom‑woom‑boom.

David: Thank you.

Scott: Here’s a plot summary.

“Set in real time, a Colombian mother barely escapes a pawn shop shootout and goes on the run from her violent ex‑husband, a terrifying mob boss, and a bloodthirsty hit woman sent to collect an overdue debt all while trying to keep her diabetic daughter safe.”

What was the inspiration for this story, David?

David: This is a case where it happened so quickly. I was reading a friend’s heist script in 2020, and he had to build up to the heist. It was around the midpoint.

Just randomly, because this is how my brain works sometimes, I just imagined, “Man, what if this heist just went terribly wrong ‑‑ as bad as possible ‑‑ and everyone got shot? What if everyone was shot and there was one survivor and we follow that survivor, and say he or she was bleeding out for an hour‑and‑a‑half and we follow them? What if?”

It was just a bunch of what‑ifs, and I fell in love with that idea so much that that night of coming up with that idea, I had about 25 pages written. The whole story came to me so quickly. Within, like, minutes, the entire story came. It was just so clear to me, and by the end of the week, I had a draft. That’s how that happened.

Scott: Oh, wow. Those magic words again, I always tell my students ‑‑ “what if?”

David: Yeah.

Scott: You wrote it in a week and it pulses with that propulsive energy. I wrote this note. I said, “The script begins hot with action. It stays hot pretty much throughout.” Literally, the first line, in caps ‑‑ “ROAR OF A MOVING CAR THAT HAS SOMEPLACE TO FUCKING BE.” No fade‑in.

David: No.

Scott: No fade‑ins. Just go, man. Did you always intend just to drop the reader straight into the action, like no setup, just boom ‑‑ here you are, figure out where things are going as you go along?

David: It depends on the story. For this kind of genre, just what I was feeling ‑‑ I guess I was still in that moment of when I read that scene in my friend’s script, and so I guess part of me was almost branching off into my own story, my own version of what happens after that heist. It felt natural that I was being dropped in [laughs] when that was happening.

I would say, yeah, I love it, especially for action and crime stuff, especially involving characters like Driver from “Drive” or the Wheelman in all those different movies. I think the story benefits from throwing people in, because the protagonist in this story is in over her head, so why not make the reader feel as though they’re completely out of their element, out of their comfort zone.

I would say, for this genre, for this kind of story, absolutely.

Scott: It’s an interesting thing, David, it seems like audiences like that nowadays. Get things started, put us in there, and go. It’s almost like a way that movies can replicate a bit of the videogame experience, where you drop people in and you’ve got to figure things out. It’s very effective.

The first scene in your script, they say that it’s a heist that goes awry and all hell breaks loose after that.

What about the real‑time thing? Because it literally is like, you could set a clock, and there’s no jump cuts in this. It’s just, boom, boom, boom, boom. Was that always there too, that first inspiration for the story?

David: I will say, yeah, that was maybe one of the very few things about the story that was planned. Basically, I was inspired to write a movie that I wanted to see. I feel like I hadn’t seen a real‑time, one‑take movie ever since Victoria back in 2015. It had been a while. I was inspired by that movie.

I wanted the reader to feel every second of those 90 minutes. I went in thinking, “I’m going to try to challenge myself to write a script that’s not only in real‑time, but could be shot all in one take.” I wanted to have that kind of feel to it.

Scott: You mentioned Drive, which was a movie that came to my mind too. I was also thinking Collateral. Were there other films that inspired you? You mentioned Victoria, you mentioned The Wheelman. Any other films that were an inspiration for you?

David: I would say Victoria. That was probably the one. I was inspired by all the different kind of motifs that I had experienced throughout the movies in the same genre.

I know that, in hindsight, some people have compared it to Good Time or Uncut Gems, which is a huge compliment. I would say, retrospectively, yes, those are movies that inspired me that I probably didn’t even realize at the time, so yeah, those kind of movies.

Scott: Let’s talk about the key characters here, starting with Clementine. This is how she’s introduced: “Flickering dawn light hastens over wide‑eyed Clementine, 25, sitting in the back seat. She’s Colombian, aged with stress, her face features a pale shiner and busted lip.”

You did something I’ve never seen in a script. You not only drop us in the middle of this thing, you don’t even explain the shit that she’s in until page 48.

How would you describe Clementine, in terms of her background and who she is as a person and a character in the story?

David: She’s a very sweet, artistic person who got caught up…She fell in love with the wrong guy and went down a wrong path. It’s so easy. From my experience of going to school in East New York, up there in Brooklyn, and stuff like that, there are some good people who are impoverished or their environment isn’t very conducive to living what’s an ideal, safe lifestyle.

That’s what imbued Clementine to someone who is into that game. She’s as sweet and nice and innocent as anyone else, but she got caught up with Rico. One bad person leads to one bad situation, which leads to one bad decision, and here we are.

She’s a badass in her own right, but honestly, she’s way, like I said, in over her head. This is not her thing. This is why she doesn’t even carry a loaded gun for a part of the movie, because she doesn’t want to have to shoot anyone. That’s the kind of person that Clementine is.

Scott: That gives her a little bit of an arc because, spoiler alert, she becomes mama bear with an AK‑47.

David: Exactly.

Tomorrow in Part 3, David explores what were the creative roots for some of the key characters in Clementine.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

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.