[…] “Scott, you are the only screenwriting teacher I’ve ever had.” This is what Lisa Joy shared with me when we had dinner together in L.A. last fall to celebrate the recent sale of her spec script “Reminiscence” which Legendary Pictures acquired in a deal worth a reported $1.75M. In addition to her screenwriting, Lisa has been on staff and written for TV (“Pushing Daisies,” “Burn Notice”), created a graphic novel “Athena” which has been developed for TV, and co-wrote the pilot with her husband Jonathan Nolan for a TV series adaptation of the classic 1973 science fiction movie …read more […]

Fantastic insights throughout this interview. A couple of questions: Given that you live with a talented writer/storyteller in his own right, what is some of the more interesting feedback you've gotten from him that changed the way you approach your work? Secondly, how do you go about evaluating your own work? That is to say, what tells you this is ready or not ready to share with someone else, given your admitted shyness, reticence, and risk aversion?

This interview was great! Thanks Lisa and Scott. As a woman in her 30s balancing a day job and personal commitments with screenwriting, I loved Lisa's point about questioning the validity of the having-it-all trope--the commencement speech at my graduation from Barnard (delivered by the female Metropolitan Editor of the NYTimes) was entitled "You Can't Have it All," and I remember thinking, do I *have* to want it *all*? I'd love to get Lisa's thoughts on breaking into the industry as a female writer. I've taken classes, placed in some competitions and have a Parks and Rec spec I'm currently submitting to fellowships, but I'm finding it hard to get industry people to read my stuff, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Joy to read, thanks Lisa and Scott.

This interview really resonated with me, because my background is quite similar (I worked in financial services in Century City, before I started writing full-time). I think one of the great insights in this interview are Lisa's thoughts on writing for business and how it translates to screenwriting: "You don’t have that much space. You have to convey things very compactly.". It's something I hadn't quite articulated, but it's very true. Screenwriting is closer to writing poems and memos than novels and white papers in that regard, because every word truly counts. Also, I totally understood the wanting to remain anonymous part, because being a writer in LA usually prompts a groan (it also didn't help that my old office was caddy-corner to CAA and ICM). Thanks to you both for this, I really enjoyed it.