Interview (Video): Tom McCarthy

A hour-long conversation with fellow screenwriter Josh Singer.

I first became aware of Tom McCarthy when I saw the wonderful movie he wrote and directed The Station Agent.

When I interview Mary Coleman, senior development exec at Pixar, she told me that based off her recommendation of the movie (by the way, it was McCarthy’s very first screenplay), the company ended up hiring him to work on their movie Up for which he received a story by credit. As I understand it, his feedback sparked the genesis of that movie’s character Russell.

McCarthy, who studied acting at Yale and has 40+ acting credits to his name (including a stint on the acclaimed HBO series The Wire), has written and directed several notable movies including The Visitor, Win Win, Spotlight, and the recent film Stillwater.

Here as part of the Writers Guild Foundation’s ongoing Writers on Writing series, McCarthy has a conversation with moderator Josh Singer, whose writing credits include Spotlight, The Post, and First Man.

For more videos in the extensive Writers Guild Foundation archives, go here.

For 100s more interviews with screenwriters, TV writers, and filmmakers in the Go Into The Story archives, go here.