CURTIS NELSONSearch WILDsound
 Though I have a BA in Sociology (with a minor in history), writing is the focus of my professional life. My credits include the 1998 nonfiction book Hunters in the Shallows: A History of the PT Boat, published to rave reviews by Brassey’s (now Potomac Books). I have also written two PT-related articles that appeared nationally in Naval History magazine. Additionally, I have several years of print catalog and Internet copywriting experience, as well as a background in radio copywriting and newsletter writing and editing. But screenwriting is my overriding focus, having completed coursework at Film in the Cities and the Loft Literary Center, both in Minneapolis. Since then I always have a feature or short script in the works, partial results being the optioning of one short horror script (unproduced) and a 3rd place win in the 2006 Hollywood Creative Connection Short Comedy Script competition. Currently I am writing a spec feature script, based on the true-life experiences of a PT-boat skipper in World War II, under the watchful eye of Jim Davis, Executive Producer of RiverDream Productions in Shreveport, LA. I live with my wife and two daughters in the Minneapolis area, where I work by day as a mild-mannered advertising copy editor. 11 Questions with CURTIS NELSON. A WILDsound SUMMER 2009 Short Screenplay Finalist 1. What is your screenplay about? A tree-hugger chemist, obsessed with reforestation, turns a multi-corporate, anti-global-warming drive into a leafy hell when he tricks three million employees worldwide into drinking a formula that causes small branches and leaves to sprout all over their bodies. That’s what happens. The script’s intent is to ask the classic question: Does the end ever justify the means? In this case the end is a noble one—to fight the scourge of global warming, to be part of the answer, not the problem. The means is to turn each one of us into a walking CO2 absorption device. Is this a descent into hell or a drastic but ultimately necessary way to mitigate a problem that could, if left unchecked, result in our eventual demise? 2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay? I’ve long been receptive to the warnings of scientists and others about global warming. The debate seems to no longer be over whether global warming is real, but over what we should be doing about it. Just how far are we willing to go to combat it in terms of expending wealth and resources? What price are we willing to pay in terms of jobs and economic growth lost? What long-term effects are we willing to live with? I wrote this as a way of pressing home the point that we need to make a sober cost/reward assessment of this situation the same way we do any other situation—that there is only so much we can or should be willing to do. 3. How long have you been writing screenplays? I first wrote screenplays for a time back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, before redirecting my efforts towards getting a master’s degree in naval warfare studies and writing and finding a publisher for a book I wrote on a topic in naval science. (It came out in hardcover in 1997.) I returned to screenwriting about five years ago and have since written several, mostly features, which I market online. 4. What film have you seen the most in your lifetime? I have a pretty extensive movie collection, and since I enjoy watching many of them over and over I really can’t think of which one I’ve seen the most times. The movie that looms largest in my imagination, however, is the old Walt Disney adventure film “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” with Kirk Douglas and James Mason as Captain Nemo. It is on one level an exotic tale of adventure on and below the high seas, but is at base another “Does the end justify the means” morality tale, with Captain Nemo killing men in a personal war against war. 5. What artist in the industry would you love to work with? Everybody and anybody who has anything to do with the new “Star Trek” movie. I grew up on the original series and consider myself an ardent fan even though I actually do have a life. 6. Who was your hero growing up? John Wayne. I didn’t necessarily approve of all his politics, but I was attracted to his sincere patriotism and his inspiring blend of heroic charisma and soft-heartedness. 7. Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years? Writing feature scripts full time. 8. Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing? Once an idea takes hold (and I seem to have no lack of them), I make an assessment of its apparent compellingness and originality. If I think there might be room for it out in the industry I write up an outline/scene list, so that I have a pretty fair idea where I’m heading before I sit down to write. I try to write a couple pages every day during the work week and refine what I wrote over the weekend. I tend to write off-beat kinds of scripts that touch my heart and soul, even if I suspect they might be controversial or make people uncomfortable—and therefore might not be the most salable. 9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about? I’m most passionate about history, especially military history. I’m also passionate about the sea and water in general, which explains my life-long interest in naval history, sailing, snorkeling and competitive long-distance lake swimming. Singing is another passion, though I have to be content to watch my daughters doing so in public. 10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Script Contest? I liked the idea of the contest being monthly, as opposed to a once-a-year thing, so there would not be a long delay in hearing the results. I also liked the idea of getting good-quality feedback as part of the submission fee. But the main thing is that there was a chance that the script would actually be read out-loud by actors on stage to an industry audience, thereby giving the script real exposure. 11. Any advice or tips you’d like to pass on to other writers? Enjoy the process! I love to write, especially during those moments when I write something I think is funny and laugh out-loud or something especially insightful that makes me tear up. But the only way you can survive the pain of rejection until you finally write that one script that gets noticed is to thoroughly enjoy what you’re doing and believe you’re always getting closer…
Curtis Nelson
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