Interview (Part 5): Laura Stoltz

My interview with 2023 Black List writer for her script Last Resort.

This is a special interview for me: Laura Stoltz is one of my former students. She wrote a complex, compelling screenplay “Last Resort” which was named to the 2023 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Laura about her creative background, the craft of screenwriting, and the challenges of writing a script with such dark subject matter while infusing it with considerable humor.

Today in Part 5 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Laura talks about what her experience has been like being named to the annual Black List.

Scott: I want to talk to you about your process. I’m not going to give away the ending because it’s terrific. Did you always have that ending in mind? For both Georgia and Jared, or no?

Laura: No. For better or worse, I had to let the characters tell me where they wanted to end up, and that’s where they led me. That’s what they told me they wanted to do.

Listen, at one point I had her lighting the whole place on fire. [laughs] I could not force it. She did not want to do that at the end. It’s…

Scott: Wow. Sounds like you should be familiar with a book called “The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling.” [laughs]

Laura: I am! It is dog‑eared to hell right over there on my nightstand.

Scott: Let’s talk about your process a bit more. How’d you go about structuring this story? Are you a fan of sequence theories, and do you work with cards? How do you do the prep work?

Laura: No. We did cards in the Marvel world. When we’re crafting story, it’s all cards. I think that that’s really helpful when you’re writing with other people, at least to me, so that you can all see it, point to things, talk about it, move things around, and everyone’s on the same page. I’m so in my own head that I can’t do cards. I’ll literally lose the plot if I do that.

If there are “pantsers” and “plotters” then I’m generally a “pantser.” I sit down. I write. I try to see what the characters want to do, how they’re talking, what they are saying before I do a full outline.

So I’ll have an idea. I do the five main points. I know what I want in my inciting incident, and my break into two, and my midpoint, and then the break into three and the ending. Those five things I have roughly in my head, and then I just go for it. I write a rough draft, beginning to end. I don’t let myself stop.

Then after that, I take that and I go back and do an outline from there. I basically just go back and forth from pages to outline every time I discover new, big plot elements. If I find something in the writing of the pages, I’ll go back to the outline. But I always start with that vomit draft to find the character first.

Scott: Your writer’s group, how many drafts do you think you went through before…I know there’s drafts, and then there’s drafts. How long ‑‑ you started writing, I think you said, in March or April ‑‑ to the point where you’re giving it to your manager’s management company and saying, “Here it is.”

Laura: Good question. My manager is very involved, and likes to be involved from the get‑go. I try not to inundate him with too many drafts, but if I have a new big‑take on something, I’ll run it by him. I’m very grateful for that.

In the writer’s group, we submit every two weeks. There’s only four of us, so we two‑on, two‑off.

I’m trying to look up and see if I actually have how many drafts I wrote of this thing. This one was not that many. I’m writing something now that, I think, I’m on draft 15 already. It’s a little more complicated.

The “Last Resort”, it was… when I went from the thriller to this version, I would say maybe four or five total just page‑one rewrites, but I probably have 15 actual draft documents, which is not that many.

Scott: Your manager’s quite involved in this process. Heroes and Villains, that’s who your management company is?

Laura: Yeah.

Scott: Did they did they go wide with the script? Did they just slip it to a few people? Clearly, it got out to somebody because it made the Black List.

Laura: This one, we made the decision right at the end of October. It was a conversation of, “I don’t know how many hands we can get this in before the Black List comes out. We’re a little late on this.” He sent it around, and people seemed to respond to it.

He sent it to all of the people he knows that he thought would like it. I don’t know how many that ended up maybe 30 or something. I guess that’s pretty wide. I don’t know. I don’t really have anything to compare it to. It went out. It was late October, so we had no idea what…

Scott: That is cutting it close because the Black List is announced the second Monday in December. You got 11 recommends, if I’m not mistaken. That was substantial. What was the Black List experience like? Did that impact you at all? Did it generate more meetings?

Laura: It did. I don’t know how to quantify how many. At that point, I was both taking meetings because the script had just gone out and people seemed to be responding to it and then I got more meetings because it was also on the Black List. I think that kicked some people in the butt to read the script. [laughs] I’ve had many, many meetings.

We had a lovely Black List dinner at some point in December with all the people who had been on the List this year and some previous years. It was amazing to meet writers I never thought I would meet. Kiwi [Smith] who wrote “Legally Blonde” was there. I was, “Oh, my God.”

It’s been great. I’m so grateful. I read for them when the Black List site first launched more than 10 years ago, I think I was one of the first readers they had. So this is a weird full circle moment.

Scott: That must have been very gratifying to Franklin Leonard [Black List founder]…

Laura: I hope so. [laughs]

Scott: What’s the status of the project? I hope somebody’s going to make this thing.

Laura: It’s very interesting. As is, it’s not incredibly filmable on a budget. It’s in that weird no‑man’s‑land that people are scared to touch right now. There’s no existing IP. It’s not a 100 million‑plus thing. It’s not a one million super indie thing, so it’s disheartening.

I did end up writing it as a voice sample, like, “This is who I am. This is the kind of thing I like to write. I like dark humor. If you like this, maybe we’ll get along and can do a different project together.”

That’s been the impetus for a lot of these meetings. It’s less about trying to get this thing sold and made. There’s been a bit of interest, but it’s like, “I don’t know how we would make this.” If we can attach talent and they want to make it, great. Fantastic.

It’s mostly been about generating meetings, finding like‑minded creators, and then moving on to the next. Maybe someday it’ll see the screen, but for now, it’s doing good work on the ground.

Scott: I’m glad it’s serving you well. Hopefully, at some point, we’d see it because it has the potential to be a compelling and entertaining film.

I’d like to ask you a few craft questions before we jump off this call. You mentioned you have notes in your notes app or whatever. How do you come up with story ideas?

Laura: What a question. It can be a silly thing that my kid says or a funny image. God, even I’ll watch a movie and I’ll be, “Oh, I know where this is going.” It doesn’t go there, and I’m, “Well, then I’ll do it.”

I don’t know, where do these ideas come from? Dreams? I don’t know, you tell me.

Scott: Everybody’s different. You mentioned the kid thing. I remember James Hart had this story about his family was having a meal and one of the kids said, “What if Peter Pan grew up?” That became “Hook,” so it was a little kid came up with it.

Laura: I hope that that kid is getting some residuals. [laughs]

Tomorrow in Part 6, Laura shares her best piece of advice for aspiring screenwriters and how she finds time to write in a household with two small children.

For Part 1 of the interview series, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Laura is repped by Heroes and Villains Entertainment.

Instagram: @lestoltz

Twitter / X: @yostoltz

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