Sean BallantyneSearch WILDsound  11 Questions with SEAN BALLANTYNE. The first WILDsound Comic Book Screenplay Winner 1. What is your screenplay about? It's a FAN-FICTION Batman piece. The Joker is murdering mobsters, leading Batman and Gordon to attempt to find the Joker?s next victim before he can. This leads to some encounters with various characters from the Batman lexicon. 2. Why did you decide to write this screenplay? For fun, and as a personal exercise. Most of my experience is in writing prose, and making the shift to scripts has been challenging. So a few years ago I decided to write a short Batman piece to help get a grasp on the structure of script writing. I'm a lifelong Batman nerd, so it was the logical choice.
3. How long have you been writing screenplays? On and off (mostly off) for about 10 years. I?ve written some one-act theatre pieces that have been produced, but even theatre based scripts are vastly different from screenplays. 4. What is you all-time favorite film? (name only one) Oh come on! Only one? That is a tough one. Okay, at this point in my life I would have to say Rob Roy with Liam Neeson. It?s such a great, mostly unknown, little movie. It came out about the same time as Braveheart, and got the shaft as ?that other film about some Scottish Guy.? 5. What artist in the film industry would you love to work with?
Clint Eastwood. The Clint Eastwood who directed Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven. NOT the imposter who took Clint Eastwood's name and directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 6. How many screenplays have you written? I guess about 10 in all. Two features, the rest shorts. I'm not really a prolific writer, but when I get an idea into my head that just HAS to be written, I eventually crank it out. I've written a few plays along the way too, as well as a novel (which is my current project, and may actually see print! I have some small press interest. Go me!). 7. Ideally, where would you like to be in 5 years? Perhaps selling some of the stuff I have written (and plan to write. Check back with me in 5 years, I'll let you know how that's coming along.
8. Describe your process; do you have a set routine, method for writing?
Yeah. I procrastinate for weeks, months and even years. I talk and talk (meaning: bitch!) about how I SHOULD be writing and only eventually get around to actually writing something when someone points out that all I do is talk about it, which wounds my pride sufficiently to motivate me enough to get something done. Rinse and repeat.
9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about? I love movies. Films that engage me, draw me in and spit me out with a new perspective. I should amend that to stories in general? I love a good tale. Whether it?s a movie, novel or TV show, poem, jokes scrawled on napkins a good story is always fun. 10. What influenced you to enter the WILDsound Script Contest? It was the call for FAN-FILMS that did it. I happened to have one, and decided to see how it stacked up. Being a Fan-Film, it's mainly written with fans of Batman comics in mind, so it will be curious to see how a general audience reacts to it. 11. Any advice or tips you'd like to pass on to other writers? Perseverance. Discipline. Routine. (All the things I don't have!) Don't shy away from criticism, and don't take anything personally. Everyone will have an opinion, some will offer gold, others not so much. Listen to and store everything, but use your own judgment as to whether it applies to your work.
Sean Ballantyne
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CREATIVE IDEAS
