ANDREW KELM

ALSO ON SITE

1. What is your screenplay about?

Snatchers is very human story about alienation in which the main character just happens to be an alien. He / she / it discovers that no matter how he makes himself over physically, she can’t escape who she is on the inside. Ironically, the chain of consequences triggered by the lives the alien destroys along the way catches up to him just as she begins to feel at home.

2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay?

The idea for Snatchers came out of the blue as I was working on a couple of other projects that were getting bogged down in research. I loved the idea of working on something where my own imagination was the prime authority. It started out as kind of a joking response to other alien movies, but as I worked on it, more serious implications became attached. I wanted to write something that could be taken as pure entertainment but contained various flashpoints seeded throughout. At one point it is almost about child abuse, almost about terrorism, almost about teenage bullying, but the connecting throughline is this surreal, dissociated central character trying to make his way through the “real” world. I liked the challenge of creating a character that would have to seem somehow consistent through six or seven incarnations including an alien spider.

3. How long have you been writing screenplays?

Six years

4. What is you all-time favorite film? (name only one)

Sunset Boulevard

5. What artist in the film industry would you love to work with?

Clint Eastwood

6. How many screenplays have you written?

I have completed four first drafts of feature screenplays. None of them have been produced yet. I have written one produced short film and worked as story editor on a couple of others.

7. Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years?

In five years, I would like to be making my income from writing screenplays and have earned enough respect in the industry that I can work in both Canada and the U.S.

8. Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?

I write for two or three hours every morning. I develop the story and structure as much as possible before writing actual scenes. I write several polishing drafts and I like to get feedback from lots of people.

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

The things I am passionate about tend to feed my writing and I think those are fairly typical for our era: the environment, politics that caters to special interest groups rather than the greater good, and religious fanaticism. I am fascinated by people’s choices that seem to be fed by delusions more than rational thought, and I am particularly interested in controversies around sex and sexuality.

10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Script Contest?

I became aware of WILDsound via the internet and was advised by other people in the industry that entering the contest was a good thing to do.

11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers?

I find that the better handle I get on structure the better screenwriter I become. Recently I have been very influenced by classes on DVD by Michael Hauge and Christopher Vogler – The Hero’s Two Journeys.

Andrew Kelm, Andrew Kelm