KIRBY TIMMONS

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11 Questions with Kirby Timmons. A WILDsound FALL 2008 TV Screenplay Finalist

1. What is your screenplay about?

My CSI episode revolves around Greg Sanders and would be classified as a "crisis of faith" story, I think. Greg severely messes up a victim's processing. In the course of this, Greg has a minor blackout experience, and spends the rest of the story trying to figure out what happened. When he's suspended for the infraction, Grissom gives Greg a book to read, about an 1840's viennese doctor who first discovered the underlying cause of infectious illness. So, the book becomes Greg's "window" for uncovering the truth of his own situation, the bungled victim processing, as he unravels both "cases" simultaneously. The "B" story involves industrial espionage in the clean room of a high-tech superconductor manufacturer, and due to Greg's absence, must be handled by the remaining CSI team. Just to stir up things, Greg is also suffering from an unknown infection which results in some fairly bizarre hallucinations, including believing that he has become the viennese doctor himself. Needless to say, it was a complicated spec script to write for one of the most technically complicated TV shows on the air, not to mention routinely being the number one show! So, I'm particularly proud to have made a mark with this particular spec script, and count the WILDsound honor among my most appreciated awards.

2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay?

Dare I say it? My wife watches CSI every week. As I was coming off a 20-year career in instructional media, I was feeling the need to step up my scriptwriting challenges. About a year before I left my instructional work, I researched the story of Ignaz Semelweis, the viennese doctor who, in the 1840's, discovered the underlying cause of infectious illness. He did this in a time when established medical authority knew nothing of germs or blood-borne illness. Semelweis realized that it was, in fact, the doctors themselves who were causing illness, by going directly from their autopsies in the morgue to their patients! Of course, washing wasn't even considered at that time, the blood on the physician's gown being considered a sign of "surgical experience"! Semelweis bucked the prevailing medical opinion, however his discovery wasn't acknowledged for another half-century.

As I cast about for a story idea, I realized that the Ignaz Semelweis story had parallels with the process and intentions of the CSI team. It was a long way from seeing the parallel to working out the dovetailing of the two storylines, and to do that in an hour-long format! It's a testament to the CSI concept really that a true story such as that of Semelweis mirrors the search for the truth that is at the heart of CSI.

3. How long have you been writing screenplays?

I had some early success as a young writer selling a script to THE WALTONS in the late 70's. I was still pretty new at it, and my later efforts to crack other shows were mostly unsuccessful. I look back and realize that I really needed to develop my craft and mature as a writer. A couple of decades working in instructional media and high-end corporate video was a great learning ground. I got to work with some first-class writers and directors, such as Ron Underwood ("CITY SLICKERS"), Brent Maddock ("SHORT CIRCUIT"),and actors such as Michael J. Fox, Rene Enriques, David Naughton, George Wendt, and many others. I probably wrote several hundred scripts during those years, all with different characters, different situations, and varying plotlines. Call it a 20-year anthology series! But I always knew someday I want to go back and crack the "big time" world of TV and movies. This CSI spec has given me confidence that it can happen!

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

Favorite all-time TV show? I'd have to go with THE WALTONS. For what Earl Hamner set out to do with that show, and the level of drama and humor and atmosphere and everything the show was able to rustle up week after week for a decade -- I'd have to give them the nod. Of course, it helps that I worked on it for an episode. And honestly, it was a kick to work with people like Andy White ("THE REAL MCCOYS") and the other TV veterans who came onto that show, took hold of the premise, and helped Earl develop it into the robust family document that it ultimately was. Come to think of it, whatever's my second favorite is a distant one.

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

Anthony Hopkins astounds me with his ability to transform himself into character after character, and I would l love to watch him breath life into words from one of my scripts. Just when I thought I'd seen all his work, I rented THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE the other day and there's Sir Anthony playing cereal-magnate Kellogg, with buck teeth and a perfectly-flat american midwest accent! He makes a flimsy movie interesting, and an interesting movie captivating.

6. How many screenplays have you written?

Other than THE WALTONS episode and a few early TV treatments, most of my work has been in the instructional media and corporate video arena, where I wrote a script every week or so for twenty years! Talk about building your craft! Over that time, I dabbled in feature screenplays, writing a couple, as yet unproduced. The spec script success I've had is encouraging me to tackle something of the 2-hour variety, though. I've got some rights optioned for a true-life story. Stay tuned.

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

In five years, hopefully I will have a feature or TV MOW credit under my belt, and be a "go-to" writer for true-life book adaptations, biographies, etc. In a career where I've honed my skills making the most mundane workplace skill points entertaining, working with truly dramatic material seems comparatively easy!

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

I'm a structure guy, through and through. And really, if you saw some of the customer service tripe that I've had to fashion into intelligible screenplays, you'd understand I come by my reverence for structure honestly! I use 3 by 5 cards routinely, and should probably buy stock in whoever makes them because, when I get a new direction for a story, sometimes I'll rewrite ALL the cards, just to solidify the new storyline in concrete form! I like to write "out", by which I mean out at restaurants, parks, etc. People ask me if the noise like at the mall doesn't interfere with my concentration, but it's just the opposite -- because it's anonymous noise. Unlike the phone ringing at my home office, which I suspect is a bill collector anyway. Try writing with that thought in your head.

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

My wife, the CSI watcher, is also a teacher. And she's made the observation, more than once, that what brought us together is that, in a sense, we're both educators. At first I thought that calling a writer an "educator" was to totally exagerate the writer's importance. But I now find that my instructional design experience (from 20 years of writing instruction) is definitely a plus in making complicated storylines understandable. So, perhaps my wife is right. I also pick up writing tips from gardening, jogging and tennis.

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

I came across the WILDsound script competition pretty much by accident, and was glad I did. The feedback I received from WILDsound on an earlier draft was absolutely dead "on", and is responsible for the improvements in the script that led to its acceptance as a finalist, I'm convinced. I've been involved with some other festivals since my early experience with WILDsound and have encouraged other festivals to follow WILDsound's lead in providing written feedback, and I think that will be the wave of the future in script competitions.

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

"Never give up"; I know it's a cliche. But if you believe in your script, you MUST keep working on it, making it better, and keep submitting it to script competitions! There are other contests out there and, while not as prestigious as WILDsound, they are opportunities to get your work read by competent professionals! After that, I would say to always be looking for ways to broaden your scope. If you consider yourself primarily a screenwriter, then develop a children's book. Work with a student artist to provide illustrations for it. The focus on "words" and their impact is never a peripheral activity! And the success you can have putting out even a minor writing effort will enliven your spirit and inspire you to bigger and better works in the future. Who knows? Even a WILDsound finalist award!

Kirby Timmons, Kirby Timmons, Kirby Timmons