Interview (Part 5): Beth Curry

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Beth Curry wrote the original screenplay “Lemon” which won a 2020 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Beth 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 5 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Beth answers some questions about how to develop characters and how to write dialogue.

Scott: Let’s jump into some craft questions here…

Beth: Hold on. This is so much fun. I haven’t talked this in-depth about a script in so long. My husband gets over me when I talk about writing too much. This is like Christmas for me. This is great.

Scott: That’s why I do it, because it’s fun. I love talking story. I’ve done it with every Nicholl winner since 2012

Beth: I know. I read all your articles. They’re so good. They’re so inspiring.

Scott: Okay, so apart from bothering your husband about his personal history in subletting and Florida, how do you come up with story ideas?

Beth: I’m very visual. For instance, my Nicholl script that I’m working on right now, I had this image of this woman on a…Do you know what a penny-farthing is?

Scott: Yes.

Beth: The bike with the big, huge front wheel and the smaller back wheel. I had this image of this older woman on a penny-farthing in a blue and white stripe bathing suit in the ’30s. I’m like, “What the fuck is that?” It kept nagging at my brain.

Then I look up “women on bicycles.” Then I see oh, that’s very interesting. It kind of mirrors the female suffrage movement. Then I found one incident in 1888 where these not very noteworthy women come together and ride down Pennsylvania Avenue being the first time women are seen on bicycles. I was like, “That’s amazing. That’s the end of the film.”

For me, an image can be a little gift…that starts an entire journey. Lemon started out with a story and my own personal needs. The beginning sees for me are usually an image, a feeling or a theme.

Scott: The image thing is interesting. I’m a huge fan of the Coen brothers. For example, Miller’s Crossing, which is this really complex crime drama, began with one of them — I can’t remember who — having an image of a hat being tossed in the woods. That’s where it all started.

Beth: I love that.

Scott: How about prep writing? There’s the diversity of opinion. Some people just start in with Fade In, which I think it’s pretty insane. Where are you on this? How do you go about developing a story before you type Fade In or do you just jump in and start writing?

Beth: I usually know the first ten pages, I would say. I can see that in my head. Then I will sit down and do a very, very rough outline. I’m not somebody who likes outlines. If I’m ever paid for a treatment or outline, I’ll have to write the whole script and then do an outline.

I’m somebody who is instinctual and will discover moments in the story as they unfold. I can’t see it in an outline all the time. For me, it’s a very, very rough outline. I know OK, this is the midpoint. This is the all is lost moment. I still use “Save the Cat” somewhat. [laughs]

It reveals itself as it goes. It’s a blob of clay. My first go at it is like, “Oh, what is that? A mushroom? No.” You keep carving and discovering things as you go. It’s never clear on my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth draft. It takes me a long time to arrive at what it actually is.

Scott: I always tell people there’s no one way to write. Every writer is different. Every story is different. That said, I know you’ve got at least a couple TV projects going.

Beth: We have a script with Heather Graham attached. For the pitch, we’re doing a 10-episode series. Of course, I had to like go, “OK, what are these episodes?” I had to investigate what that characters’ journey was. For me, I’m character forward all the time. I’m flawed character forward. If I have a flawed character, I feel like there’s just so much ground I can cover.

Scott: Let’s talk about that. To me, it’s all about character, the plot arising from them. You mentioned, for example, let’s specifically say a character like Michael, who at first, and Lemon, you said was more of a device.

When your manager said, “Hey, we need to know more about this character,” how did you go about then developing Michael so he became more thoughtfully flushed out character?

Beth: It was also, “We can’t attract anyone without it being a juicy role. We need a name for this, so you need to go a little deeper.” I was like, “Right.”

I made Michael an addict, because for me, I’ve definitely had my own addiction struggles. As have the people around me.

I’m always fascinated with what we do to avoid feeling what we need to feel. Be it food, be it drugs, be it alcohol, be it gambling, be it sex. Whatever it is, I’m fascinated with that avoidance. For me, Michael was that. What lengths do I go to avoid feeling what I have to feel?

Scott: That was your key into him in terms of developing more fully?

Beth: Absolutely, yeah.

Scott: Given your background as an actor and studying theater, does dialogue come naturally to you, do you think, because of that or is it something that you have to work at?

Beth: Dialogue is probably the easiest thing that comes to me. I feel like I, as an actor, you know what feels right when you say it. You just know what you’d want to say as an actor and not those lines where you’re like, “Oh, God. That’s terrible.”

I’ve always been into banter. I remember in seventh grade, it was my superpower. I was an awkward kid and looked like freaking Eric Stoltz in “Mask.” I wasn’t the cute girl. So… banter was my superpower.

For me, the dialogue, if I’m doing a comedic script, which I just finished an action rom-com, was fun because I love to banter. I like dialogue. The part that I struggle with is structure, a lot of the times. I need to take your class.

[laughter]

Scott: The nice thing about Lemon, a lot of my students who are good with dialogue tend to really rely on it. I keep telling them, again what we were talking about earlier, I said it’s primarily a visual medium. Why talk about something when you can visualize it.

Beth: Let me tell you. I have to strip away dialogue because my Achilles heel is on-the-nose dialogue, or these moments that are not very camouflaged or obvious. It takes me a while to bury some stuff. I get excited about a moment, and then I just want to tell you ALL about it.

Scott: How do you take a moment that you’ve written where the character said the point on the nose, and then how do you move it into the realm of subtext?

Beth: You just delete the line and find a look, or find a “smooths her skirt,” or, “curls her lips,” or whatever it is that’s making her self-conscious. As an actor, that’s maybe where it helps because as a character, when you’re acting, everything you’re saying is sometimes not what you’re saying. It’s interesting to embody the character as an actor as well.

On December 3, 2020 the Nicholl ceremony included a table read featuring excerpts from each of the five winning scripts. The actors: Stephanie Beatriz (“Brooklyn Nine- Nine”), Michael Peña (“End of Watch”), Lou Diamond Phillips, (“The 33”), and Taylor Russell (“Waves”). The ceremony was hosted by Aldis Hodge (“Hidden Figures”) and directed by 2011 Nicholl fellows Burlee and Abel Vang. Here is a video of the table reads:

Tomorrow in Part 6, Beth provides advice to aspiring screenwriters.

Beth is repped by Jenny Wood and Raquelle David at Elevate Entertainment.

Beth’s website: LINK

Totsy website: LINK

Twitter: @bethcurrywagner

For Part 1, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

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

For my interviews with Black List writers, go here.