Barry Staff

What initially drew you to screenwriting, and what keeps you passionate about the craft?

I always wanted to do something artistic. I’d tried art school and architecture early on, but they didn’t work out. It wasn’t until well into my thirties, on a government back-to-work scheme, that LA support allowed me to do a lot of creative work and gave access to the necessary, with the support of others on the scheme, to write, produce and direct a couple of short films. Doing so was a lightbulb moment: all my primary interests came together in film. When subsequently I landed employment that, surreptitiously, gave me the opportunity to write on the job, that screenplays came pouring out. And I’ve been pursuing them on a day-to-day basis ever since. I find I’m a bit depressed if I’m not writing or at least churning over some project in my mind. So, it’s the best therapy, the best anchor for me.

Can you walk us through your creative process when developing a screenplay?

In the early days I’d slap it all down in one great splurge and then stand back to find out what I was trying to say – and then carve that out of the miasma I’d written. Sometimes I found that there were actually two stories in there, which had to be disentangled into seperate screenplays. Now I’ll endeavour to start with a dynamic logline, driven to it by the idea that bugged me into action in the first place. That logline might take a lot of time to figure. Get it right and it saves copious amounts of time in the writing of the script. It’s your talisman, your road map. Even if you use the not-sure- where-I’m-going-with-this to the script, in the end you should be able to deduce a logline in there – which’ll then make the next draft that much easier. Most writers I know shy away from a logline – because it’s too damned difficult. They’d rather let the work ‘speak for itself.’ But this is something of a copout. On the other hand, I might have an ending that pursues me and I have to discover how to get to it in 90-100 pages. And, again, a logline and structure ought to surface during that writing process.

Where do you find inspiration for your stories, and how do you decide which ideas to pursue?

Sometimes it’s an image, which I then juxtapose with another one – and a dialectic occurs, and you find a new synthesis and start exploring the possibilities presented. Sometimes it’s an idea that bugs you and you want to exorcise it in a script. Sometimes you conceive of a great character, and you then need to build an interesting plot around them. Sometimes you see someone out and about and you think what on earth they do; what are they after? Pretty much everyone sees interesting things, has insightful thoughts. But it’s only the writers who devote the time to pursuing those things into the concrete articulation of a story. One script yet to be written is held up because I can’t get it beyond a feeling that it’s too staid. It needs to be something fresher, more original to warrant the time spent on it. So, the idea stays in limbo, in the backrooms of my mind, until that substantive leap can be made.

What has been the most rewarding project you've worked on so far, and why?

‘Rewarding’? Consistently, invariably it’s the last project that I’ll have done a new draft of. At that point you think it cannot possibly be bettered. Then again ‘rewarding’ can be construed as personal validation resulting from a script winning or getting good placement in a competition or festival.‘Reward’ can be a bit of money for an option. It’s any of those stages before others come aboard and want to change things that you can’t see the validity of – but are powerless to resist. Again, it can be your script filmed resulting only in improvement on what you’d written in the first place. Or it might be where you have something ‘in consideration’. These are the halcyon days before the shit hits the fan in which the development process with others might well bring detrimental changes proposed.

Screenwriting can be a tough industry—how do you handle challenges and setbacks?

Whatever you send out you should assume it’s going to go nowhere, even if they’ve requested a read. Without being big headed about it, if you think the piece is intrinsically good, look upon the lack of uptake as their loss, not to mention the world’s. Or it might simply be that it’s not the right fit for their slate – even though you’ve done the research to suggest that it is. Keep faith with your work – especially if it’s had recognition by colleagues, competitions and festivals. It means someone gets it. Working to imposed determinants should be savoured, not despised. Asking for a specific genre is obviously itself already a delimitation. A limited location or numbers of characters and I probably have something in my bottom drawer that fits. Or you can easily rework it – without losing anything; in fact you might even improve it. A short comedy? I’ve got some. A contained horror? Already have a well-regarded one available. If it’s a request for a MOW of a Hallmark-type, no can do. If low-budget is a requirement, most of mine are that – depending on who’s definition of ‘l-b’ is being used.

In your experience, what makes a screenplay truly stand out to industry professionals?

Economy of telling (aspire to a maximum of 100 words a page) is always useful and easy on the eye for the reader to get beyond the first page. Therefore, plenty of white space on the page should augur well. A common denominator for me would seem to be taking a familiar genre and its tropes and giving them fresh twists. The professional will know where they are when reading that genre but are given repeated sit-up-and-pay-attention moments and the desire to stay on for the ride. Adding fresh and exceptional, but spare, expressiveness/articulation also gives you the best chance of standing out.

Are there any particular themes or messages you always strive to include in your work?

They say you’re always writing the same story. Is it better or worse to know what that nexus is? Taking an overview of my projects, in the broadest sense all are about investigating the creation of new life. They’re about characters questioning why things are as they are, that there is supposedly no other way; they’re about seeking out new values, new possibilities beyond the status-quo’s mindset, which has brought us to this brink of insanity and destruction. Or is it just me who’s deluded?

How do you see the future of storytelling evolving, and what excites you most about it?

The immersive and interactive will be pushed way beyond the current delivery through a headset and flat screen. It’ll be fourth-dimensional multi-sensory experience – where you’re literally in the middle of the action. AI is currently more of a worry for producers, directors and crew being made redundant. For screenwriters, as Bong Joon Ho has put it, AI can’t – at the moment anyway – experience the ‘angst’ felt in the lived experience gone through during the writing of a script. If AI can ever take on that existential and phenomenological wrap-around while turning out a script, call it a human being.

What advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters looking to break into the industry?

Ask yourself why you want to put yourself through that torture.

What's next for you? Are there any upcoming projects or goals you're excited about?

I do have several one-offs shorts yet to write-up. And I have two more feature film ideas that I don’t know I’ll ever get round to writing. With 12 feature screenplays written (each with an associated short and spinoffs and their own mock-up poster) it would seem best to spend any time available redrafting that extant work, putting together pitch decks for them and making teasers, all while seeking out other potential receptive conduits for them. This strategy continues to work, as I have five recently taken to ‘in consideration’ by various producers.