Interview (Part 3): Kevin Sheridan

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for his script Backcountry.

Kevin Sheridan wrote the screenplay Colors of Authority which landed on the 2022 Black List. Then his screenplay Backcountry was named to the 2023 Black List. I had the opportunity to chat with Kevin about his creative background, writing two Black List scripts, and the craft of screenwriting.

Today in Part 3 of a 6-part series to run each day through Sunday, Kevin talks about one of the core themes of Backcountry: “How many times have we done something in our lives that we think is going to fix us in some way?”

Scott: You’ve got several other characters who are involved in this ad hoc community once they get up on the mountain. There’s Teddy, who’s Brooks’ brother‑in‑law. He’s going to be filming this thing. Then there’s Annie, his sister. There’s a personal connection there.

Then I thought it was quite clever. As a writer, you’ve got to figure out, “OK, what’s going to compel Brooks to recreate this skiing experience that was so traumatizing?” Enter Rick.

It’s not a nemesis character, but someone who provides a challenge to Brooks to revisit the past. Rick’s son, Zack, and Rick, for whatever reason, has got in his mind because Zach is so consumed with his feelings about what Brooks’ extreme skiing that Zach wants to replicate that run. Rick is very wealthy and willing to pay a lot of money, and by the way, Brooks is broke.

I thought that was quite interesting how you orchestrated that. Could you maybe unpack how you came up with that Rick / Zack story element?

Kevin: I thought it was really cool, the idea of this kid who’s going to be the next Brooks. It added value to the portrayal of how great Brooks really was at skiing. That here’s this young kid who is gonna be the next Michael Jordan of skiing, and who does he idolize — Brooks. And here is Brooks, working on the loading docks.

It was just a great way to get Brooks back on that mountain. Of course, they need the money and all that, but I think deep down — Brooks was always going to ski it again. It was just a matter of when, and what the circumstances would be.

The idea of Rick, you’re absolutely right — it brought back Brooks’ past. And there’s an adversarial thing where Rick is a few years older than Brooks. One of my favorite things I wrote in the screenplay is when they first reconnect, and Rick apologizes.

He’s like, “I was a dick to you, but I was a dick to you because you were three years my younger, and you were kicking my ass.” I think we’ve all felt that. I can remember being an actor, and seeing some actor or actress and just thinking — “they got it.” That inherit, undefinable thing. And Rick also believes that his son has that undefinable thing that makes an athlete truly great.

Here’s Rick, doing everything he can to make his son’s dream come true. You could argue that he’s pushing his son too hard. You could go down that road and painting Rick that way, but it was really important for me to paint just how much he loved his kid.

Scott: It would have been very easy to paint Rick as a jerk, repressive guy.

Kevin: Rick is a complicated character. His wife passed away when his son was very young. He had no idea how to raise his kid by himself, so they just skied together. And that became how they communicated with each other.

There’s a lot of friends that I have who talk with their fathers and their language is football. They can’t talk about anything else, but football, with their dad. That’s how they express their love to each other. Skiing is how Rick expresses his love for his son.

Scott: Let’s talk about Zach because he’s a really important character. On one hand, you can see why. Brooks being offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this thing, and he needs that financial security. That’s surface. But Brooks connects with Zach. He sees something in him. It’s almost like Zach is a younger version of Brooks in a way.

Kevin: A thousand percent. Brooks sees the talent. We have a super talented director on board for Backcountry — Ben Younger. One of his notes early on was he wanted to live in the relationship between Zack and Brooks a bit more. To make Zack earn the chance to ski Alder Creek with Brooks.

Some wonderful scenes came from Ben’s note. We developed Zack in a way that he’s skiing very clinically, like a scalpel. Brooks isn’t like that all — skiing is more an expression of the soul. He takes Zack on this mini journey of — “losing the scalpel and having fun.” That’s the mantra shared between them.

Once Brooks sees Zack finally lose his scalpel and discover something deeper in himself… Brooks knows that Zack is ready. Brooks can take Zack up that mountain now because his skiing has deepened.

Scott: That’s Zach’s arc. He has his own arc. You could look at it and say what Zach learned from his father, because they did not have a dramatically deep relationship, he learned how to ski, but not in the spiritual sense.

Kevin: When I was talking with Ben Younger, a surfer came up in our discussion named Tom Curran. He’s a soul as it gets. Tom would be the guy that would paddle a hundred yards away from where the waves were breaking, and everyone would be like “Why the hell is Tom over there?” And then, all of a sudden this freak wave would come right where Tom was sitting, and it would be the wave of the day. That’s who Brooks is. He’s got this innate thing in him that either you have or you don’t. I think Brooks helps unlock that in Zach. And it’s just a small shift in perspective.

Scott: You didn’t use the word, but it’s almost inevitable that Brooks is going to have to go back and face this thing. As a teacher, I’m always looking for language to try and convey things to my students.

I talk to them about, I call it, the Narrative Imperative. The journey the Protagonist takes is the journey they need to take. That’s what it feels like with Brooks. What’s so interesting is, again, it’s not the infamous run. He does that with Zach and it’s like, “OK, great.” But no, he doesn’t feel any emotional release or sense of resolution.

Kevin: How many times have we done something in our lives that we think is going to fix us in some way, or give us that thing that propels us over the edge in terms of our career? “Once I do this, my life will be changed.” But you’re still the same person. You’re still dealing with the same issues.

There’s so many stories about people saying, “Well, once I get famous, everything will be different.” Then they go into major depressions because fame, the thing they worked so hard for, didn’t solve their problems. It’s in line with that.

Scott: Contemporary audiences seem to want things to happen quickly. “Let’s get this thing going!” But the key event in your script — the avalanche — literally doesn’t happen until midway through the story.

Perhaps conventional wisdom would be, “We’ve got to have that avalanche by the end of Act One.” But you spend a lot of time with the characters, so when the avalanche does happen, we’ve spent enough time with and learned enough about the story’s key characters, we care about them.

Kevin: Of course, you could say that audiences want that avalanche to happen on page 25 or page 15. That’s the big event. I wanted to make this more about the people, the community… and then this avalanche happens. And hopefully there’s enough thrills, enough juicy moments to sustain audiences who are expecting to see the avalanche. Star Thrower never put the pressure on me to tell that type of in your face disaster story. They wanted me to tell the best story possible, and were supportive the entire way.

Scott: I think it’s very skillful how you approached it because there is this building tension on the script, plus, there’s a prologue. “During the winter of 2021, the United States recorded 37 avalanche fatalities, the highest number ever on record.” Assuming that goes as a title page, you’re planting that seed.

Kevin: Then comes the quote from Doug Coombs? It’s one of my favorite things in the script and I didn’t even write it.

Scott: I’ve got it right here. “You know, the mountains are full of dangers, and they swallow you up, but mostly they give.”

Kevin: Yeah.

Scott: Great quote.

Kevin: Doug Coombs is really an inspiration for Brooks too. How he skis, his passion for the mountains. Mountains are so incredibly dangerous. But what they can also give us can’t be measured. At the end of the movie — both Brooks and Zack receive something powerful from Alder Creek.

Tomorrow in Part 4, Kevin digs deep into his research about avalanches and how they are not only action events in the script, but also carry metaphorical meaning.

For Part 1 of the interview series, go here.

Part 2, here.

Kevin is repped by WME and Bellevue Productions.

Twitter: @Sheridankevin

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