Interview (Part 6): Jonathan Levine

My interview with the 2022 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner.

Jonathan Levine wrote the original screenplay “Operation Gemini” which won a 2022 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. I had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan about his creative background, his award-winning script, the craft of screenwriting, and what winning the Nicholl Award has meant to him.

Today in the final installment in this 6-part series, Jonathan offers advice to screenwriters.

Scott: When you were at USC, were they teaching the eight-sequence theory there for screenwriting or no?

Jonathan: I don’t remember. I know it and I definitely use it when abstractly thinking about laying out all the different sequencing. I don’t remember if they taught us that. I know they did those basic structure things like act one, act one midpoint and act two, all those basic things. I don’t remember if they did the eight-sequence technique. I don’t remember that.

Scott: How about developing the characters? You had these amalgam or these variations of them. Do you have specific techniques or tactics or exercises you do to dig into the characters? Or is it more of an intuitive organic process?

Jonathan: I guess, it’s probably more intuitive. I think the thing that I learned while writing this was the idea that character can come out of conflict very clearly. You don’t have to have the character stop and tell their backstory. You’re putting them through this ringer and the way they’re reacting will tell you a great deal about them. That can give the audience or the reader enough.

I didn’t want to have any flashbacks or have any prologues or anything like that. I wanted the story to move, always driving forward. People seem to respond well because got who the characters were, which is great.

Scott: What about when you’re sitting down to write a scene, do you have specific goals in mind?

Jonathan: This might sound super analytical, but I know that I don’t want the scene to be long. Obviously, the scene has a purpose that I’m trying to go for, but the only thing I’m conscious of, or the only thing that will cause me to go back and cut a scene down or delete a scene is it’s just feeling too long and throws off the pace.

Either let’s split this over a couple of scenes, or let’s have it be very simple. Maybe that scene becomes about something new or I realize it’s taking me too long to get to the point of the scene and I need to cut out the beginning and cut out the end, which is that old trick that everybody says. Keep it simple and keep it moving.

Scott: How about theme? Is that something that you are concerned with? If so, is it something that’s upfront in the process, or is it something that evolves as you were writing the story?

Jonathan: I always try to think about that from the beginning. I normally like to say, “What am I trying to say?” What is the point of the movie? Every scene, every character should be influenced by that theme. Everybody exists to unify around, to make that theme clear. If I don’t know what the theme is, I’m lost. I don’t know what to do.

For “Operation Gemini”, when I first started I wrote down some questions at the top of my outline, right at the beginning:”What does saving these twins mean to these characters?” How does it heal them? How does it allow them to rediscover who they are? Sometimes themes will change and it will shift especially as you focus in and find maybe what your movie is. Listening to your story, listening to your characters, is important.

I don’t necessarily need to know how it ends on a plot level but I absolutely need to know how it ends emotionally and psychologically.

Scott: Your script ends with that title, the super. “Over 20,000 civilians from 52 countries joined the Ukrainians to fight during the Russian invasion, making one of the largest voluntary foreign enlistments in modern history.” That theme runs through there, specifically. One last question for you. Let’s say you’re meeting writers who are trying to emulate what you’ve done and are doing. They ask you, “How do you go about learning the craft? How do I go about becoming what you’re doing?” What advice do you have for folks?

Jonathan: [laughs] As somebody who was on the other side of this conversation a few months ago, it’s a funny question to be asked. Again, there’s the practical aspect of it which I mentioned earlier: you want to be easy on your reader. You want to write something that will keep people reading because the first step is to get people to finish your script. You can write a drama that’s propulsive. That word can apply to any genre..

Then there’s the emotional aspect of it. I had to tell this story for some reason. It spoke to me emotionally. I would say that, if you are responding to it emotionally and if you feel that there is something that moves you in this story, whatever that story is, it’s worth writing because the people who will read your script and react emotionally, in the same way, will be your brothers and your sisters in the writing or producing world. They’ll connect with the script the same way you did, and then you’ll have allies.

That was the main thing about this script. It was that emotional connection that led to this creative burst of inspiration. Sometimes we’ve got to write when we’re not in the mood, of course we do, so having an emotional connection to it will get you up in the morning to write, or motivate you to stay up late and write after a long work day. If you don’t have that emotional motivation, then that’s a good sign that you should think of another idea.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

For Part 5, go here.

Website: infinitivefilms.com.

For my interviews with every Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winner since 2012, go here.