Interview (Part 5): Kate Marks

My interview with the 2020 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Kate Marks wrote the original screenplay “The Cow of Queens” which won a 2020 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Kate 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, Kate talks about her plan to direct “The Cow of Queens” and offers some insights about how she comes up with story ideas.

Scott: I don’t want to spoil the ending because I think it’s perfect. It’s actually an interesting bookend to the very opening where we talked about how you drop us right into the middle of something. That raises a screenwriting question we face with every scene: “When do you enter and when do you exit?”

The ending of your script does the thing in inverse. It ends it before the ending, right? It’s intimate. It intimates the ending of Del and Sonya’s storyline, but we’re not going to see it. Did you always have that ending in mind?

Kate: Do you mean how we don’t see the dad die?

Scott: Yeah, right. That and we don’t see the cow. It’s basically you’re choosing to end it before. You let the audience infer the ending. Do you know what I mean?

Kate: I always knew I was going to do that because the journey is, how do they accept the reality of death, as opposed to the actual moment of dying. The dramatic moment for me is when Del and Sonya say goodbye.

The acknowledgment of death was more important to me than the actual death, and I think with the cow, I like the idea that you can imagine for yourself that moment when the cow roams free in the free woods. It’s a fun thing for the audience to be able to fill in.

Scott: Let’s talk about winning the Nicholl. Because of the pandemic, I know you didn’t get to do the whole LA trip thing, but still, the experience must have been an exciting one.

Kate: Yes, it was.

Scott: You’ve won other awards, you’ve got short films that have played all around the United States and in Europe, but I’m going to imagine this would be a particularly validating type of thing.

Kate: Yes, definitely, especially to be validated as a writer.

Scott: What’s the status of the script at this point?

Kate: Well, I’m going to direct it, and I’ve recently started working with Krista Parris who is a brilliant NY indie producer. So now, we are on that mysterious and murky path towards making the movie. [laughs]

Scott: I’m really glad to hear that you’re directing it because I can’t imagine anybody else doing it as well as you could, so congratulations again. I’d like to ask you a few craft questions if we can?

Kate: Sure.

Scott: Apart from overhearing people talking about cows on the loose in Queens, how do you come up with story ideas?

Kate: There are a couple of ways. Sometimes I start with a single image that excites me and the writing process feels like solving the mystery of that image. Sometimes, I find an untold story from history. Sometimes, I think about an issue that I’ve dealt with and want to explore. Sometimes, I start with a character that fascinates me or makes me laugh.

But the idea doesn’t become a movie until I find an unusual container or vehicle to tell that story with. I look for something that sparks my imagination and makes me feel a little bit of magic. With “Pearl Was Here,” I knew I wanted to write about a wild child in an abusive home but I didn’t want the film to be melodramatic. Then I heard about a kid who climbed into a claw machine and I thought, “Oh, that’s how a kid might create a safe space for themselves.” The comedy of a kid stuck in a claw machine became a funny and disarming way to talk about child abuse.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Kate provides advice to aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

Kate is repped by The Kaplan Stahler Agency and The Radmin Company.

Here website: LINK.

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

For my interviews with Black List writers, go here.