MARCH 2007
INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN CARUSO
by Joseph Calabrese

Recently I sat down with Kevin Caruso, founder of The New Jersey Screenwriters Network (a group I humbly belong to). We discussed the importance of writing groups and his recent win at Cinestory www.cinestory.com and his 2007 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts www.njartscouncil.org — a feat no less miraculous for the latter, since he was the first screenwriter ever to obtain a perfect score for playwriting— submitting a screenplay no less.

You have entered quite a few competitions. You’ll never get rich that way.
It's my opinion that competitions are the best way to gauge how good your script really is.  Trust me, there are no shortages of contests asking for your money.  A screenwriter should do their homework and enter a competition that is not only the most reputable, but also offers the most in furthering one's career.  Taking third place in Tommy's Discount Screenwriting Contest might not do anything for you, but advancing to the quarterfinals of the Nicholls Fellowship in Screenwriting could.  If you have sent your screenplay to dozens of contests and never gotten beyond the first cut, it might be a good idea to consider time for a rewrite.

What made you decide to enter Cinestory and the NJ Arts Fellowship and have they done anything for you yet, besides the cash?
|I am a big advocate of Cinestory They really sticks its neck out for the talented screenwriter.  It really nurtures and assists the writer to go to that next step, whether it be rewriting or seeking representation.  The best reason to enter Cinestory is to gain admittance into one of their retreats.  I have always likened it to being on a deserted island with several top executives.  For four days, they are in your midst; you eat with established agents, hang out with accredited producers, and drink beer with respected managers.  Any one of them can further your career.  It's a big deal.  And, they are all nice and simply shoot down that stereotype of the arrogant Hollywood player. The NJ Council of the Arts presented itself as a wonderful opportunity for any screenwriter and it was hard to ignore. I received both awards in short period of time recently.  I am still basking in the glow.  I have been fielding offers for reads, but I don't want to report anything yet.

How long have you been writing and what is your background?
Like most screenwriters, I started out, as a child, writing novels.  It wasn't until the early 1990s, when I saw the ratio of fiction writers to fiction sales, did I reevaluate my craft.  More screenplays are sold every year.  What I didn't realize is that, as many fiction writers there are, there seems to be ten times as many aspiring screenwriters.  I wish someone warned me.  I would have took a business class in college.

What are your favorite genres to write in?
I like writing thrillers, dramas, and comedies.  Pretty much the gamut.  You write what you like.  You emulate the craftsmen of your favorite genres.  I don't write horror or romantic comedies because I don't watch them.

What inspires you? Where do you get ideas from?
Good writing inspires me.  Nothing amps me up more than watching excellent screenwriting.  How someone like David Mamet twists dialog, how William Goldman creates a scene.  I know I liked a movie when, after the final scene, I'm staring at the screen, envious at what I just experienced.

You run a writers group here in New Jersey. What are the benefits of a writer joining a peer group?
In 2002, I started the New Jersey Screenwriters Network www.njscreenwriter.org, a collective of aspiring screenwriters out to help each other out, perfecting their craft.  I couldn't see where I would be without the group.  It has made me a better writer, a tighter writer and a more visual writer.  To receive feedback, from true colleagues, that's constructive. It is essential to the growth of anyone who puts pen to page, whether it be a songwriter, poet, or screenwriter.

I hate the fact that there are so many outlets set up to separate the aspiring writer of their money.  It's called "professional coverage."  You get some hack who has fewer credentials than you, charging you hundreds of dollars to read your script, only so they can come back and spew the basics of Syd Field's book.

I started the group because I knew there were others out there like me, seeking companionship through screenwriting, looking for constructive criticism and wanting to read scripts and to be encouraged to write on.  I have read my share of good scripts, I have read even more bad ones, but with each page I read, I myself have grown as a writer.  We have seen people filter through the group.  I call them "fly-by-nighters."  They come by, sit in for a few meetings, and when it comes to them to bring their material to a table, every one of them expect to be embraced as God's gift to screenwriting.  When they sit before their peers, and have their screenplays dissected before them, it's the rudest of awakenings.  The intention of the group is not to discourage writers, but to help those serious about the craft.  Writing is hard work.  Some people just can't grasp that.

What kind of members are in the group?
Mostly, writers who one day hope to quit their day jobs.  The talent of writing is a passion as much as it's a curse.  Many of us don't write because we want to, we write because we HAVE to.  Big difference.  We don't have free time -- free time is time supposed to be for writing.  The group is more like a support group.  I wanted to call it Screenwriters Anonymous.  But, the point of being a screenwriter is to get your name out there, so that was struck down.

What is the NJSWN? Anything special planned.
We just launched our website at www.njscreenwriter.org.  We are also trying to organize some live stage reading to help promote our members.  I think having writers view their work, having professional actors speak their lines, is incredibly beneficial to the screenwriter.

You just got an assignment to write a script for a rap group? How did you land that gig?
By never burning my bridges.  Several years ago, the director of the film contracted me to write a screenplay off an idea of his.  That script went no where, but we stayed in contact.  He went on to direct videos for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Christina Aguilera, and Farsyde.  Around Thanksgiving of last year, he contacted me with this new project.  I pounded out a screenplay in record time and the film started production last month.  It was exciting.

Writing a rap group story isn't exactly your cup of tea. Is it difficult to write on a subject you know very little about? What kind of research did you do?
What is a writer's cup of tea?  I can't limit myself to what I like, otherwise I am limiting myself to the work out there.  I took it on as a learning experience.  It was an opportunity to peer into a world that I had not known.  I picked up an appreciation for hip hip music, mostly in the mastery of their lyrics.  There is a whole world in rap music, it has its own language, style, and life.  I looked into the group itself and into their lyrics.  That's where I found most of the dialog used for the film.

Tell us about the scripts that got you the Arts fellowship and the win at Cinestory.
Two totally different scripts, two totally different genres.  EXPOSURES OF WAR, one of my first scripts, is a war drama set during Vietnam and tackles the ageless theme of love conquering all.  What if an American serviceman feel in love with a villager, and she, in turn, was the enemy.  The screenplay has advanced in several contests, including Nicholls, Austin, and Cinestory.  The Artists Fellowship was its first win.  It was singled out as being the only entry to earn "the rare and prestigious" prefect score.  It was quite humbling.

THE RUT is a family drama, a coming of age story about the extremes a young girl would go to earn her father's love and respect.  It's my wife's favorite of all my scripts.  It's simple.  No extravagant locales, no cast of thousands.  When it won Cinestory, it was a big deal for me because EXPOSURES had placed as a finalist five years before.  Another script, RUNNING, a crime thriller, was right behind THE RUT in the finals.  A completely different script with a higher body count.  It was the first time two scripts from the same writer advanced to the finals of Cinestory.

What's next for Kevin?
My wife and I are expecting our first child, so I am preparing for the next chapter of my life.  Other than that, I have a script optioned and am currently working on rewrites.  I have a bevy of other projects waiting for the light of day.  Other than that, I look forward to fatherhood.

Any tips for writers to get their best foot into competitions?
My best tip -- write a great script.  Then, find a screenwriters group and have other screenwriters read it.  Then, take your great script and rewrite it.  Then, sit on it for a couple months, and rewrite it again.

Joseph Calabrese moderates the online screenwriters forum at www.absolutewrite.com and is a screenwriter who consistently places in the top 10% in the competitions he enters. He modestly boasts a Slamdance win, a few options and rewrites for hires as well and is always actively pitching himself and his work. One of his latest spec scripts, The Eyes of Mara, is currently being made into a graphic novel for a late 2007 release with hopes of the screenplay being picked up by a studio. “Hey! It worked for Spiderman!”

More on Joseph can be found at www.josephcalabrese.com.