Interview (Part 5): Adam Best

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for his script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing.

Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Adam Best about his creative background, the craft of screenwriting, and his Black List script The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing.

Today in Part 5 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Adam provides advice to aspiring screenwriters and adds a coda to our chat: What it was like to witness this year’s Super Bowl where the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed again.

Scott: How do you go about developing your characters? Are there some specific exercises or techniques?

Adam: Yeah. I subscribe to the Syd Field thing of doing very brief character biographies sometimes. I don’t want them to be too exhaustive. I’m pretty plot-driven, and want to have the liberty to tweak characters, if necessary, to accommodate the plot.

That’s a little bit of a dance, where I don’t want to go in blind, with no knowledge of who these people are. I want to know them on a general level and get what makes them tick. How they’re flawed, what they want in life, maybe a little bit about their past. I wouldn’t say that part of my prep work is exhaustive.

Scott: You mentioned 25-page treatments, and you mentioned a writer’s group. Are you submitting the treatment to the writer’s group for their feedback?

Adam: Yeah, I do. Now that I have a manager, we go back and forth too. I try to condense stuff or focus on certain elements so I’m not handing them the same thing over and over again. But yeah, when I finish my treatments, I show them to my writers’ group, aka The Antagonists. They’re five talented people that I respect. One of them recently won Page.

Basically, everybody in that writers’ group does some form of beat sheet. Some of my writing group mates are more like 10 pages. And there’s been some exploration of just jumping into the rough draft. What’s the phrase? A pantser, flying by the seat of your pants.

It’s nice to have different kinds of writers to bounce things off of. I’m very fortunate that people will read my treatment. But also, I actually find it’s easier and quicker to get people to read a 20-page treatment than it is to get them to read your script. Sad as that sounds.

Scott: The treatment is like you’re writing it as prose. It’s not a beat sheet or an outline, right?

Adam: Yeah. I enjoy writing in prose because I always want to be excited about the project. I always want my stuff to read well and get other people excited. It comes back to having fun when I’m writing. That means the person reading it might have fun too.

If it’s only a nuts and bolts outline, that feels like homework. Maybe you do a quick one of those, but I don’t dwell there. The other thing this longer treatment permits me to do is experiment, to take left turns I wasn’t expecting.

It’s a big enough format that I can inhibit the characters. “Oh, now that I’m in it, this character would actually do this.” I tend to follow that path, and there’s a lot of diversions. It’s very much a literary document versus an outline.

Scott: I would add that, too, it enables you to explore tone, writer’s voice, narrative voice.

Adam: It does. There are lines of dialogue, sometimes even descriptions, from the treatment that I copy and paste. Really, it’s a guide, but sometimes treatment stuff does end up in the script.

Scott: That’s that data value of what you call pre-writing. One last question for you, actually two. One is, where are you going to be on Sunday for the Super Bowl? Where are you watching it?

Adam: I’m watching it from here in Alabama where I live, and I’m doing the postgame show on our YouTube channel. Tickets are too expensive to go again. I crossed that off my bucket list. Also, I get pretty nervous. I love Super Bowl parties, but when the Chiefs are playing, that’s the last place I want to be.

Scott: That way, if you’re at home, you can be muttering epithets, throwing things around the room…

Adam: Exactly! No, I’ve mellowed with age, and covering the team, you have to be a little bit more level-headed. So I think that’s helped. Also, they’ve won so damn much that if I’m throwing tantrums when they lose, come on, that’s kind of ridiculous. Every other NFL fan base would trade places with us. We’re kind of the new Patriots. You don’t want to be too spoiled, right?

Scott: Yeah, and no deflate gate for the Chiefs.

Adam: No deflate gate, no spygate, no player scandals yet, no cheating, even though people bring up —

Scott: The refs?

Adam: Yeah. People bring up the refs a lrot.

Scott: Who cares about the refs when you’ve got Taylor Swift as your Number One fan, so you got that going for you. One last question. What advice do you or can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft, breaking into the business?

Adam: Don’t think of screenwriting as a normal 9–5 job. Think like an entrepreneur. Plan out the future you envision. Hone your voice and vibe to create a brand. You are the brand and your spec screenplays are the product. Like Apple, Call of Duty, Lululemon, whatever. You want folks to see a clear vision and anticipate a steady stream of releases.

That’s how you stay relevant and top of mind. My professional screenwriting journey is still in the early stages, just getting started. So I definitely don’t have all the answers. Nobody does! But this mindset got me repped and on the Black List. Drawing from my entrepreneurial past is how I eventually discovered “The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing.” It’s how I’m going back to market soon with another script that feels fresh.

Also, I got sick of the contest circuit, so I decided to become more proactive. Thought back to how FanSided got in good with Sports Illustrated and Time. Remembered that we made that partnership happen from our side — it didn’t land in our lap. We chased it down.

I found my manager through a Roadmap Writers mentorship program. My gut said I was ready, but contests are a crapshoot. So I researched every single manager Roadmap listed as an option, found one I thought was a great match and spent some coin. It was assertive. Which is why it worked. That and some luck. But Roadmap is great at helping writers.

Lastly, I wasn’t brainstorming or soul-searching enough. There was always a rush to move on to the next spec script idea. Before “The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing,” I really challenged myself to write something nobody else could write. And chased the center of the Venn diagram between my interests and the interests of audiences. Just being brutally honest about choosing something unique yet marketable. Challenge yourself. What is your specific lane and is that lane wide enough? That’s how to find the right product.

After this year’s Super Bowl, I followed up with Adam.

Scott: So, your Kansas City Chiefs did it! Won the Super Bowl and in dramatic fashion. What was that experience like for you?

Adam: As a fan, it’s pure ecstasy. Going back to back rarely ever happens. Now the Chiefs can become the first NFL team ever to three-peat. If they do that it’s arguably the greatest run in league history.

As a writer, it confirms my hunch that the Mahomes Chiefs are a once-in-a-generation “holy shit” kinda team. It’s football Michael Jordan and his even more famous running mate. So I’m super excited and believe the world needs “The Wolf in Chiefs Clothing” to capture the zeitgeist. We’ll keep pushing!

For Part 1 of the interview series, go here.

Part 2, go here.

Part 3, go here.

Part 4, go here.

Adam is repped by Writ Large.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3CdquRsu60VZcbGMfr1WgQ\
https://arrowheadaddict.com/
https://twitter.com/adamcbest

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