Interview (Part 5): Sarah Jane Inwards (2017 Black List, Nicholl Winner)

My 6-part talk with the writer of the script “Jellyfish Summer”.

Sarah Jane Inwards wrote the original screenplay “Jellyfish Summer” which not only won a 2017 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, it made the 2017 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Sarah Jane about her background, her award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl and being on the Black List has meant to her.

Today in Part 5 of a 6 part series to run each day through Saturday, Sarah Jane reflects on what her experience was winning the Nicholl and making the 2017 Black List.

Scott: So, you write this script. Did you always have the Nicholl in mind? Was that the endgame here?

Sarah Jane: I always had the Nicholl in my dreams, I would say. It’s such a prestigious fellowship, and the Academy, in general, has always been my look into the industry. When I was growing up in Minnesota, I would say the Oscars were my main look at what my dream is. From around the time I was in college, I started looking at the Nicholl as, “What a dream would that be?”

When I wrote this, I did have the intention of submitting to the Nicholl, but it was an absolute thrill to actually win the fellowship. I wasn’t quite sure if that would be the outcome because it is so competitive. It was in my heart and my mind, but I wasn’t certain how it would pan out.

Scott: What was that process like?

Sarah Jane: They do have to email when you first…I think it’s when you’re the semifinals and the quarterfinals, and those notifications are through emails. As I got those emails, I just felt thrilled and validated. I’m like, “Great. That’s fantastic. I made this cut. I made this cut.”

Then, when it got to the finalists, which is the top 10, I got a call from Greg [Beal] who helps to run the fellowship, and he told me I was a finalist. It felt very surreal and exciting. From that point onward, I felt a lot more nervous than I had at previous cuts because winning it was in reach.

At the other times, it felt like such a distant dream, but then, when it was the top 10, I felt, “Wow. I have a 50–50 shot here of getting it.” [laughs] A lot more nerves kicked in at that point. Then, when the committee — they announced it to us via Skype call — when they called, I just was absolutely thrilled. It was a very emotional and exciting day.

Scott: Then a week…

Sarah Jane: Then a week, yes.

Scott: …for the festivities, and bonding with your fellow Nicholl winners?

Sarah Jane: Yes. Honestly, that was one of the best parts about it, too, is to just meet the other Nicholl winners. They’re fantastic people. Writing can be a very lonely passion sometimes because it’s pretty personal and singular, so sharing our hopes, and our dreams, and our nerves and fears together was really great.

Scott: You make The Black List, just this week.

Sarah Jane: Yes. [laughs] Another dream come true, as corny as that sounds.

Scott: Were you tracking that at all?

Sarah Jane: A little bit. I had an inkling that it was a possibility because my reps let me know that it was a possibility, but I didn’t know for sure. I don’t think any of the writers know until it’s announced. They announced it in such an exciting, nail-biting way this year by tweeting one video at a time every two minutes to announce each script.

I felt really lucky because the two people that announced my script-winning were Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, who wrote The Big Sick. As you know from my background, I connected to that movie intensely both with the fact that it deals with illness, relationships within illness, and, coincidentally, they’re an Asian man, white girl couple. I’m in an Asian man, white girl couple. We don’t get to see that represented much, so I was so thrilled that they announced my script winning because I’m just a huge fan of them.

Scott: There you go. Synchronicity.

Sarah Jane: Yes, exactly.

Scott: You’re with Kaplan/Perrone as your managers, right?

Sarah Jane: Yes, I am. I’m also with Verve now, newly with Verve for agents.

Scott: Congratulations. What’s the status of the script?

Sarah Jane: Thanks. They’ve been great. I just feel really, really lucky to have the team I have. Right now, the script is with some producers and they are looking for a director to attach. I’m crossing my fingers.

Scott: That’s great and best of luck on that. I’d like to shift into some craft questions. This is a very basic one. How do you come up with story ideas?

Sarah Jane: It’s a little bit different every time where the stories stem from. A lot of the time for me, I’m a big-picture to specific-picture type person. [laughs] Some people go from a specific point and then explore their themes past that.

In the past, I’ve thought of storytelling and developing my stories as I’m a painter painting a picture. I would think I have a blank slate or a blank canvas and I’m going to add paint to that until it becomes a full picture or a full story. More recently, I’ve thought of it more like a sculpture.

I think of it like there is a story there waiting to be discovered and I’m just chipping away until I discover it. For some reason, that really helps me whenever I feel on a block. I feel less pressure that I have to pull something out of the thin air and more like, “OK, let’s discover it. The story wants to be a something. The story’s there, so let’s keep playing until we discover it.”

Scott: Let’s talk about that playing part of it, the prep-writing — brainstorming, character, develop, plotting, research. Where do you tend to spend most of your time on in the prep of breaking a story?

Sarah Jane: I would say, for me, it’s probably the characters. I spend a lot of time thinking about my characters, and that naturally helps develop your worlds because your characters live within the worlds.

Like I said, I usually start with more of the theme or the intent and work backwards from there. If I’m looking at the theme, for example with Jellyfish Summer, I’m looking at us versus them is maybe the theme of that.

Then, when I look at all my characters, I think, “What is their stance on this theme?” Then, let’s look back and see, “How did they get to this place? Where did they come from that they got to this stance?”

Another big thing I like to think about is — What is their baggage or their ghosts? What is the thing that haunts them, that keeps them in this place? I’d say character work is really where a lot of my development comes from and that leads me to think more about my world.

Scott: How do you go about developing them? Other than asking some of those central questions, do you do any interviews where you sit down and you just let them speak in terms of monologue? Are there any specific things you do to access your characters?

Sarah Jane: Yeah, sometimes it’s…If you really talk about the grassroots, usually something like this I’d have to do some research, like we talked about — maybe watching the videos to get an idea on dialect. I’d read some similar books in the time period or similar-themed books or movies, watch or read them, think about those stories and try to draw from that as a foundation.

Then, when it comes to more specifically my story, I usually just write almost little short stories about each of my characters — about their past, about what influences them, about what they like and don’t like.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Sarah Jane provides advice for writers trying to break into the business.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Sarah Jane is repped by Verve and Kaplan/Perrone.

Here is the video announcement by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani that Sarah Jane’s script had made the 2017 Black List:

For my interviews with 52 other Black List writers, go here.

For my interviews with 26 other Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting writers, go here.