Interview (Part 6): Jack Waz

My interview with the 2024 Black List writer for his script Decoys.

Jack Waz wrote the screenplay Decoys which landed on the 2024 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Jack about his creative background, writing multiple Black List scripts, and his approach to the craft of screenwriting.

Today in the final installment of this week’s interview series, Jack provides advice to those seeking to learn the craft of screenwriting and trying to break into Hollywood.

Scott: Okay, how about prep writing. How do you break a story?

Jack: From Genesys, let’s say we’ll use Baby Boom as a comp, I’ve seen something about gender reveal party causing a wildfire. It’s like, oh, that’s crazy. It’s sticking in the back of my mind, it’s sticking in the back of my mind. This is in March of ’21, and thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it.

While I’m there, I’m writing my movie Worst. Dinner. Ever. In the back of my mind, like, this gender reveal thing seems really fun. Then it’s January ’22. I’m like, I got to do something with this. It’s been building my mind for nine months now. It has to come out. I just start thinking, what is this world? Who are these people? Who would go to a gender reveal party?

Are they the ones throwing the party? Are they the ones attending the party? Why is this meaningful to them? At the same time, all my friends are having kids. Do I want to be a dad? Do I not want to be a dad? Do I feel responsible enough? That all coalesces into what if two people who aren’t sure whether or not they want to be parents are thrust into a situation where they have to grow up immediately?

Then that all formed into the basic blob of stories. Then the actual process is, I’ll just beat out everything in my notes app, then I’ll throw it in final draft. Usually, it comes fully formed while I’m beating it out. I’ll do, let’s say, a 10 to 20-page outline, then I’ll usually smooth that out to a 40 to 60-page script. It’s just like here are the key scenes. Here are the set pieces. Here’s key lines of dialogue.

My movie is basically three quarters written by the time I actually go to write it. Then I always go sequentially, start at the top, go through the entire thing. I usually overwrite. I try to write at least 120 to 140 pages because I know I’m going to cut it down significantly. Put every idea I have into it, do a vomit draft, put it down for a minute. They’ll come back to it maybe a week later, and then start cutting.

That’s usually one of my favorite parts of the writing process, is I know everything’s there. It’s just weeding it out. It’s just, how do I trim up this topiary into being an actual story? Cut it down. Cut it down. Cut 10 pages. Cut 20 pages. Switching dialogue, is this thing working? Not really. I’m going to have to rethink.

The logic isn’t working here. How do I connect this? It’s basically putting as much into it at the top as I can so that I can then start trimming and finding the thing that really exists in there. Once it emerges, then it feels fully formed.

Scott: Could you talk about character development? Do you have a set of exercises you use to develop them, or is it more feeling your way into them?

Jack: It’s feeling my way to it. Like I was saying earlier, I always try to put a big part of myself into whatever I write. What is a part of my psyche that is raw? What is something that I haven’t really dealt with myself? For DECOY! Like I was saying, there are two guys who feel like frauds. What does it mean to feel that way?

What does it mean to put on a brave face, muddle through the day, have everyone think you’re doing OK, and then behind closed doors, be an ancient’s wreck? That’s how I and most other writers, I’m sure, feel 90 percent of the time. Whatever is the thing that is bothering me, that usually informs the characters of the piece.

Like I said, with Baby Boom, at the time, all my friends are having kids. What does it mean to be a parent? What does it mean to start a family? What does it mean to be responsible? All that swirling around in my head. Basically, every time I write a protagonist, I’m putting my own anxieties into them.

Then through the expression of that, I’m able to take it out of my own body, put it into them, and then cross off my list. It becomes something that becomes less swirling in my own psyche and is able to live in a character. It’s basically my entire writing process is a form of therapy journalism.

Scott: Therapy journalism. I like it. What about theme?

Jack: Theme always emerges from whatever the story is. I figure out the story I want to tell, then I figure out why I want to tell the story. it’s like, oh, I think this should be a really cool story. Then going back, but why is this important? They’re like, why is this the most important moment in these people’s lives? What is it that brings you to this?

What are going to take away from this? It’s never, I want to write a movie that’s…It’s never theme four. It’s always who are the characters, and then the theme emerges from the characters. I don’t know. It’s a difficult question when I always get hung up on. Whenever I’m asked about theme in pitch meetings, it’s always something that trips me up. It’s intangible. I can’t quite describe it.

It’s not something I consciously think about as I always think of who are the characters, why do I care about them? Why did they exist in this place? Then the themes usually emerge from there.

It’s completely intangible. I think it’s something that would be in the back of any writer’s mind of they know what they want to say, but they don’t quite have the way to say it until there’s the finished product. Then you look back, I was always clearly writing towards that, but I didn’t know I was writing towards it while I was writing towards it.

Scott: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Perfect world, do you have any ambitions of directing? I know you mentioned earlier that that was what you were doing at film school.

Jack: I do. That’s the thing, is I love what I do. What I want to be doing in 5 to 10 years is continuing to be paid to write. It rules. It fucking rules. I love creating. I love collaboration. One second. I do want to think through this. It’s funny. It’s not something I ever consciously think about, or it’s not something I’ve had to consciously think about because being a writer so often is about survival mode.

It’s not about what’s 5 to 10 years in the future. It’s what’s five months or five weeks in the future. There’s so much. It’s like, how do I jump from thing to thing? I’ve been blessed recently to be somewhere where I am able to take a longer-term look at my life and my career. I’m still coming to terms with what do I really want out of it.

There’s the stock answer that everyone has, which is, I want to direct, so I absolutely do. I want to create the kind of movies that I want to watch. I want to create big, fun, dumb, popcorn features because that’s what always brought me joy. When I was growing up, movies were an escape. They’re a way to figure out the world around me. They’re a way to escape the world around me.

They’re a way to make sense of myself. That is something that I’ve always tried to do with what I created is, what would appeal to a teenage me? What would appeal to the young me? What would get my ass in the seat of the multiplex? It has to be cool, but it also has to be resonant.

You have to feel something while watching it. Again, a long, bullshitty way of saying 5, 10 years, let’s say writing the “Fast” movie and somehow winning an Oscar for it. I want to write the first Oscar winning “Fast and Furious” movie. Let’s go with that.

Scott: One final question here for you. What advice can you offer aspiring screenwriters? What’s the one thing you would say is critically important for someone trying to learn the craft and hopefully break into the business?

Jack: Relationships. I occasionally look on screenwriting Reddit and see a lot of people. They’re like, how can I get an agent? How can I get a manager? How can I do this? Where are you? Are you in LA? No. Have you ever worked in entertainment? No. It’s really fucking tough.

The only reason I have the career that I do is because — the past 20 years, since I was 16 and worked at G4 — I spent the past 20 years of my life meeting everyone that I can, establishing as many relationships as I can, cultivating those relationships, nurturing them friendships. Some of my best friends in the world are people I collaborate with and people I’ve been collaborating with for years.

I know it’s a very long-term view of it, you have to have a long-term view of writing. It’s not a sprint. There are not overnight successes. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, but every overnight success is 10 years in the making. It takes a long time to get good at this. It takes a long time to get OK at this. I was rereading DECOYS! Before we hopped on here. I was like, oh, I would change everything.

I haven’t read the script in five months. I’m like, oh, shit, here’s repeated word in two sentences. I’m shit. That’s bad etiquette. I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve changed this. I should’ve changed that. Oh, I can make this stronger. I think I’m an OK writer. I think I’ve been very lucky to get where I am.

I think I’ve been able to do that because of the people I’ve worked with and the relationships I’ve cultivated for the past almost two decades. It’s all about you have to buy in. There’s no cheat code. There’s no easy way in. You have to struggle. You have to work.

You have to be willing to be a PA and jump into an industrial dumpster because your boss threw out a receipt for something, or be chased around town by the paparazzi while bringing an actor somewhere. You have to be willing to do anything to learn and make yourself better.

For Part 1, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Jack is repped by UTA and Fourth Wall.