Steve Barkanic
What initially drew you to screenwriting, and what keeps you passionate about the craft?
For me, writing is about bringing a vision into reality. I’ve published some short stories and novels–all thrillers–under the pen name Stephen Kimball. When one of my novels, Death Duty, was optioned by Gale Anne Hurd and Paramount Studios, I began writing screenplays, which, I believe, offer an entirely different means of expressing a vision. What keeps me passionate? If I could design a T-shirt it would read: So Many Ideas So Little Time.
Can you walk us through your creative process when developing a screenplay?
Each screenplay I’ve worked on has involved a different process. I first conceived of The Oracle as a play, but since I’m not a playwright, I wrote it as a novel. But the more I thought about it, I knew I wanted to approach it as a TV series, allowing for significant character development and subplotting. I must have rewritten it thirty times, but always keeping to the original concept.
Where do you find inspiration for your stories, and how do you decide which ideas to pursue?
Again, with The Oracle, I knew I wanted to do a story about the oracles after visiting Delphi in Greece when I was a teacher in Istanbul. “Awesome” is an overused word but it aptly sums up the impression Delphi can have on visitors there. The extraordinary setting on Mount Parnassus. The brilliant restoration of the temple, stadium, and other buildings. And Julian Jaynes’s description of the oracle in his wonderful book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It was a story I had to write.
What has been the most rewarding project you've worked on so far, and why?
The Oracle. In describing Bernini’s sculpture of Saint Teresa, the art historian Sir Kenneth Clark said that spiritual ecstasy is the rarest and most precious of all emotional states. With The Oracle, I wanted to recreate not only spiritual ecstasy as experienced by the oracles but, more importantly, how everyday people react to raw mysticism when confronted by it. In Delphi, the ancient Greeks encountered the god Apollo directly through his oracles. I wanted to capture the mystery of that experience in this series.
Screenwriting can be a tough industry—how do you handle challenges and setbacks?
I imagine screenwriting to be like most creative endeavors in that there is the artistic side, which the creator controls, and then there is the commercial side which is another story altogether. Once you decide to commercialize your work, you have to be prepared for rejections, long periods in which you wait for responses from publishers or producers, or no responses at all. I’ve built up some scar tissue from years of writing novels and screenplays, but it’s never easy. You have to have faith in your work.
In your experience, what makes a screenplay truly stand out to industry professionals?
Freshness of concept; vivid characters; crisp, believable dialogue; and, probably most important of all, a story arc that grabs the audience and doesn’t let go. I’m seeing that producers are increasingly looking for works that cross genres, such as historical thrillers.
Are there any particular themes or messages you always strive to include in your work?
That varies from one work to the next. In The Oracle, my protagonist is undergoing a spiritual crisis while being called on to perform a task that could change history. How does he balance his public duties against his personal responsibilities? Should he trust his own instincts as opposed to those of others who might seek to harm him? What does he do when helping another might put his life in jeopardy?
How do you see the future of storytelling evolving, and what excites you most about it?
In my view, one of the more exciting developments is how TV is attracting top talent from the film industry. When you have a director of the caliber of Guy Ritchie and a distinguished actress such as Helen Mirren working in TV, it demonstrates how the medium has advanced as an art form.
What advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters looking to break into the industry?
Embarking on a screenplay or a novel takes enormous commitment that means focusing on that project at the expense of others. You have to believe in your work because if you don’t, you shouldn’t expect others to do so.
What's next for you? Are there any upcoming projects or goals you're excited about?
I have a series bible for The Oracle I would love to see into production. I’m also working on a script for a film I call an eco-thriller. And I have ideas for about a dozen other projects I would like to write.