Interview (Part 5): Miguel Flatow

My interview with 2022 Black List writer for his script Viva, Mexico!

Miguel Flatow wrote the original screenplay Viva Mexico! which landed on the 2022 Black List. I had the opportunity to chat with Miguel about his creative background, writing a Black List script, and the craft of screenwriting.

Today in Part 5 of a 6-part series to run each day through Sunday, Miguel offers some thoughts on the craft of screenwriting.

Scott: Congratulations, again. I’ve got a few craft questions for you. I’d be interested to see, given your rather more instinctual approach to writing, so let’s start with that… You mentioned Stephen King’s On Writing, he talks about how to come up with story ideas. He says, “They’re like fish floating overhead. You just stick your net out, and you grab one.”

So, how do you come up with story ideas?

Miguel: Honestly, I have trouble not coming up with story ideas. The more I do it, the more it’s become, at this point, a disease. I’ll be in any social situation, and somebody says something, and I just go off. [laughs] I can see myself doing it. It’s like, “Ahh, I’m already gone.” I’ll just follow the idea.

I’ve become very good at pretending I’m still listening to the conversation, but in reality, I’m like, “Oh, that could work here. I can try that. I can mix that with this and put it together in the third act.” Everything has a potential story, so I’m always collecting ideas, to the point where its becoming troublesome because I drift a lot in my thinking and struggle to be present.

But yeah, I have more ideas than I know what to do with. Usually, I let them compete in my writer’s brain for attention. I start developing them in my head as much as I can. Some of them turn blue and die. Others are persistent. Which means I keep thinking about them. Once I start figuring them out more, the ones that are ultimately ready to hatch, are the ones I start writing. It’s a natural selection process that happens in my head. I don’t have a problem getting ideas. I have a problem choosing which ones to focus on.

I don’t really go after a specific thing. I write what I feel like writing. I don’t pay attention to the market. I pay attention to whatever idea outlasts the other ones. That way I’m always writing. If one of the ideas I developed doesn’t work in the current marketplace, that’s fine, I have a whole assembly line of scripts following the one whose time hasn’t come yet. Maybe someday it will. The important thing is that I’m writing every day. It keeps me healthy. If I’m not writing, the rest of my life falls off a cliff. I stop exercising. My diet gets worse. I have less energy. I’m less creative overall. So as long as I’m always working on something, I feel good. I’m new to Hollywood, but I’m not new to writing. You have to learn what your creative process is. What works for you. All I know is that I’m very prolific and I’m getting better and I’m now on the Black List. [laughs]

Scott: You said maybe you start to develop the story. Do you have a set process for that, or is that, again, more intuitive? Do you start with index cards and character development? How do you go about breaking the story?

Miguel: It’s changed since I got it repped, and since I sold the show. It was already changing a little before, I guess. If I’m writing a spec, which, I should say, is how I’ve been writing for most of all my life until very recently, then for the idea that finally wins, and is ready to hatch, I write a sequence analysis — I guess it’s an outline, scene by scene — all on a notebook.

I have a lot of notebooks. [laughs] I literally just stare at a white wall, figure it out in my head, then write in the notebook. It’s a nice time because I can go to a café and get out of the house. I write that by hand. Usually, if I’ve finished a notebook, I know I have the script. But a lot of notebooks turn blue and die halfway through. So sometimes even the idea that outcompeted all the other ideas can die on me in the notebook. But if I finish the notebook, I know I have the script. I know that’s a movie. That’s usually the longest process. It’s old-school. That will take me a few weeks to finish.

Once I have that, I translate the notebook onto the whiteboard with post-it notes. I usually have different color post-its for each scene. And each color represents a character from whose POV I’m approaching the scene. It ends up looking very pretty. Then, once I have that, I start writing the script. Then I write very quickly.

I usually knock out a 100-page script in about three weeks. I don’t stop until I finish. I live in that world for two or three weeks. Nothing distracts me. All of reality seems to be about my story. It’s a weird state to be in. I’m not the most enjoyable person to be around. I’m very detached during that time.

But now my process is changing. I’m developing a lot more. And I’m starting to do my outlines directly on the computer, which is sacrificing the café visits for speed and practicality. It feels like I’m turning pro, for better or worse. Producers are expecting things. I have deadlines. I’m now mostly skipping the notebook part because it took the longest. But I like how it’s going. As long as the quality doesn’t diminish, I don’t mind going faster, even though I’ve always been fast. Writing at the Studio level is just a different game. It’s actually an insane amount of writing. But also because I’m always writing a spec on top of developing stuff with producers and doing rewrites.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Miguel gives some advice to aspiring screenwriter.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Miguel is repped by CAA and Rain Management.

Instagram and Twitter: @miguelflatow

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