Interview (Part 6): Cesar Vitale (2017 Black List, Nicholl Winner)

My 6-part talk with the writer of the script “The Great Nothing”.

Today in Part 6 and the final installment of our week-long series, Cesar shares some writing tips and his advice on how aspiring screenwriters should go about the process of learning the craft.

Scott: Congratulations again. A terrific script and wonderful news that you’ve won the Nicholl and made the 2017 Black List. If we could segue into some craft questions, I’d like to pick your brain there, if you don’t mind.

Cesar: Yeah, absolutely.

Scott: This is one that actually kind of flummoxes some writers when I ask it, but it seems pretty basic. How do you come up with story ideas?

Cesar: Oh, wow. [laughs] I have no idea. For “The Great Nothing,” like I said, I wanted to write about death. It was a matter of finding what the story was. Usually, I don’t remember where I was and what I was thinking about when a story occurs to me. More often than not, it will start with a character and then the story will happen around that character.

I think the best stories, at least the ones that resonate the most with me, are the ones where I might not remember anything that happens in the plot, but I remember every character. I think starting with a character is a good way of coming up with a story.

Scott: How much time do you spend on prep writing and what do you focus on? Brainstorming? Character development? Plotting? Research? Outlining?

Cesar: The early days, when I have an idea that I feel is worth exploring, I’ll spend some time ‑‑ days, sometimes weeks ‑‑ with it in my head, just playing around with it until it gets to a point where I’m comfortable enough to write some stuff down.

Then I’ll maybe start with a very basic outline and then just leave it at that for a couple more days and play around with the idea in my head for a little bit more. Usually, before I start writing a draft, I’ll have a ton of notes that I’ll write on my phone because I’m usually thinking about stories wherever I am, not just when I’m writing.

I’ll be in line at the bank, or just in traffic, or walking and I’m thinking about the story. “Ooh, this character could meet this one,” or, “This character can have this arc.” I’ll just write it down in my phone.

There comes a point where I have so many notes and random thoughts that I sit down and put them all together, and it forms an outline, or even I’ll just start a draft and start from there.

Scott: Do you have any specific techniques or tools you use to develop your characters like interviews and biographies, or where you sit down with them and let them do monologues, or any of that kind of thing?

Cesar: Not really, no. I’ve never done those exercises like coming up with a character’s past life, or a biography, or a family tree, or putting a character in a situation where he would never be — like get Dan’s character and put him on Star Wars: A New Hope and see what he would do there — to try to develop the character more.

Which is not to say that I don’t think it would work, but I just never tried it. I don’t really know how, what the process is like. Sometimes I’m writing a character and, 20 pages in, I’m like, “This character is not good. His voice is not strong enough,” and I’ll just throw away the whole story sometimes.

Sometimes a voice that I like just comes through and I think, “This is a great character,” and, as I write, and the character just gets stronger and stronger. Sometimes I have to change the plot, because this character that I really like now would never do that, which has to happen for the story to move forward, so the story will change because I prioritize the characters.

Scott: What about dialogue? Is that something that’s pretty innate to you, or do you think about it, or actually work with the characters in trying to find their voice?

Cesar: Yeah. It’s probably my favorite part of writing ‑‑ dialogue. I also don’t have a specific way that I approach it. Usually, I think if you have characters that are well‑developed enough, dialogue almost comes through instinctively. You just know what that character is going to say if you know the character well enough. That’s how I approach it.

Usually, I like stories that have humor in them, even if they’re not comedy necessarily. I really like dialogue humor, so usually I’ll try to include lots of characters that would say quirky, or ironic, or funny things because that’s fun to me as a writer, which is how Dan and June are. They’re both characters that are very prone to funny bits of dialogue.

Scott: How about the theme? Do you start with that? Do you find themes along the way? How important is that in your writing?

Cesar: To me, that’s really important. I get really frustrated when I watch a film and I can’t really tell what it’s about, even if it’s some vague sense of emotion. I have to feel like, “Oh, this film is about this,” even if it’s not a rational thing. For example a film that conveys the feeling of nostalgia, or the joys of youth. It can be subjective, but I still have to feel that the film has purpose, that it’s not just shooting everywhere hoping to hit a target.

Sometimes I’ll watch a film and it seems like the theme is going toward this or that direction, that it has intent, and then there’s this one scene that kind of negates all that, and it’s always frustrating. I’m a big fan of consistency.

So yeah, definitely, every scene that I’m writing, every character that I’m developing, they all work under the umbrella of the central theme that I’m trying to explore.

Scott: How about when you write a scene? Do you have any specific goals in mind?

Cesar: Not apart from the goals that are in the outline, like “In this scene, Dan’s going to tell June about what it feels like to be dying.” Sometimes my outlines are as simple as that. Just one line ‑‑ “This has to happen” ‑‑ and then I’ll write the scene. A lot of other stuff might happen, too, but the essential thing to me is to hit the bit that’s in the outline to move the story forward.

Scott: What about you finished your first draft and now you’re faced with the inevitable rewriting process. Is there a specific approach that you have, or how do you go about rewriting your script?

Cesar: I’m not a big fan of rewriting. It’s an essential part of writing, but I don’t really like it. Usually, when I finish a first draft, it’s not really a first draft because I rewrite as I write, which works for me. I’ve heard people say that they can’t do that, but, to me, it works.

If I have 50 pages of a script and I go to bed, then the next day I’m going to continue working on it, I’ll read the whole 50 pages again and I’m going to make changes to it and then continue. By the time I finish the first draft, it’s really like more of a third draft, so usually there’s not that much to change in it.

Scott: I don’t know if you know. Eric Roth ‑‑ probably most famously wrote Forrest Gump ‑‑ he does the same thing. No matter where he is in the script, 75 or 90, he starts off on page one and rewrites it up to that point.

Cesar: Yeah, I do that.

Scott: What’s your actual writing process?

Cesar: I usually write at home. A lot of my writing is done when I’m in public places, taking notes on my phone, like I said. I have ideas and write them down. When I get home, I put them in a script.

The actual writing process, I usually do at home and no music. I’m very easily distracted. If I have a cellphone near me with an Internet connection, I’m going to stop every five seconds to check Facebook and all that. If I’m in a coffee shop, I’m probably not going to be able to concentrate enough.

Scott: Two last things. One is an observation you made at the Nicholl ceremony, basically talking about how that life is rather random, and chaotic, and, in some ways, out of our control, but there is one thing we can control ‑‑ the stories we choose to write and tell. Could you amplify your thoughts on that a little bit?

Cesar: I think it pairs up with the themes of ‘The Great Nothing’ on how these two characters have events they could not control completely turn their lives upside down. Like I said in the speech, life is like that. You’re doing something, then life gets in the way, and your life is turned upside down. That happens a lot.

It’s scary to be alive, because you don’t get to control the things that happen to you, or you do, but to a very small extent. A lot of things are beyond our control. But stories are completely within our control.

As a writer, anything that you want to happen in a story can happen. And as a reader or a film-goer, you can choose to only read happy stories if you want and only watch happy movies, or you can choose to watch movies about death and read books about death.

There’s a sense of ‘fiction is better than real life’ a little bit in that, in that we have full control of the messages that we want to tell one another through our stories. I think there’s some beauty to that.

Scott: Finally, what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into the business?

Cesar: Read. Everyone says that, but there’s a reason why everyone says it. Just read a lot and then keep reading some more. You’re only as good as the stories that have inspired you.

If you don’t like reading that much, chances are you’re not going to be a very good writer. Just read as much as you can, watch as many movies as you can. Dissect the movies. Dissect the scripts and the books. What worked in that story? What didn’t? What made me happy, or sad, or cry in this story? Do that a lot, then write your own story, and then write another one. And then another.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Cesar is repped by APA and Untitled Entertainment.