Part 1.

I knew I wanted to be screenwriter........

I finished my first spec script, a 185 page fact-based Western.

I know I've succeeded........ 

I see a movie based on one of my screenplays.
 

My inspiration to write Chicago Shuffle.....

was George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” making that mad scramble home, desperate to get back to his family and his imperfect, but wonderful life. I wanted to find a way to use that same sort of emotional drive as the engine for my own story.

Part 2.

FilmMakers Magazine: What inspired you to write?

Dennis Capps: I loved movies, wanted to make movies, and knew they all started as screenplays – and realized writing was a form of “virtual” filmmaking that required minimal financial resources yet allowed you to conceptualize an entire feature film on any scale you so chose.

FilmMakers Magazine: How did you prepare yourself to write your first script?

Dennis Capps: It was a fact-based Western, so I did extensive research -- then filled a binder with college-ruled paper and started writing, longhand. After that I set the tabs on my typewriter to achieve the “proper format” -- this was in a pre-word-processing world – and banged away, all the while watching in wonder as all my scribbling materialized into something resembing a screenplay.

FilmMakers Magazine: Is this your first script and how long did it take you to complete?

Dennis Capps: No, not the first. And it’s had an unusually long gestation. It started as a 60 to 70 page treatment that got set aside for some time. Then I converted it into a rather mechanical rough first draft and set it aside again. Over the years I’d occasionally “noodle” with it half-heartedly, then set it aside again. Finally, I dug it out and got serious – and gave it to myself as an “assignment”, imagining that a Producer was handing it to me saying, “Here, I’ve got this script, but it needs work… see what you can do with it.”

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you have a set routine, place and time management for writing?

Dennis Capps: I sit down at my computer first thing in the morning before anything can distract me – a bird outside my window, an article in the paper, a chore I should be dong instead – and work until I feel I’ve “earned” a break. The rest of the time it’s constantly percolating in my head, “the movie” trying to make itself known – random thoughts, false epiphanies, character ideas, possible scenes, bits of dialogue, visuals, structural improvements, etc. Sometimes it’s productive, other times it’s just noise.

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you believe screenplay contests are important for aspiring screenwriters and why?

Dennis Capps: I’m in no position to gauge their overall “importance”, but I do have an idea what they offer: a real deadline (very important), objective feedback (if you enter one that offers it), and a yardstick by which to evaluate your work in comparison to the literally thousands of other screenplays floating around out there. And if, for example, you make the “quarterfinals” or “top ten” or have any kind of quantifiable success, you can latch onto that and use it as motivation to keep pounding away at your keyboard -- and not feel like you’re simply pounding your head against the wall (although you still may be).

FilmMakers Magazine: What influenced you to enter the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards / Screenplay Contest?

Dennis Capps: The prospect of having people outside the contest, connected to Management and/or Production companies, read my material. We’re all looking for some kind of access.

FilmMakers Magazine: What script would you urge aspiring writers to read and why?

Dennis Capps: There is no perfect script, just like there is no magic “formula” for writing one. What I would urge instead, is read lots of screenplays – particularly those of films you really like or which are in the genre you aspire to. Read some of the earlier drafts, if you can -- to see how the project evolved -- and try reading screenplays of films you haven’t yet seen, then watch the finished film and compare it to what you envisioned while reading.

FilmMakers Magazine: Beside screenwriting what are you passionate about and why?

Dennis Capps: Having a person declare what they’re “passionate” about rings false to me. That’s a label for for someone else to apply. From adolescence to adulthood I’ve invested considerable energy pursuing a variety of interests apropos to the various periods of my life – skateboarding, body surfing, board surfing, rock n’ roll, bass playing, bass players, garage bands, British Blues bands, songwriting, filmmaking, coffee, espresso, cooking, bbq, baseball, golf, mural painting, decorative art, bits and pieces mosaics, good old fashioned yard work and gardening. It’s all about balancing quality of life and finding a forum for personal expression.

FilmMakers Magazine: Who is your favorite Screenwriter and Why?

Dennis Capps: That’s a tricky question, because how do you separate the screenplay from the finished film -- or the screenwriter from the director and other collaborators? There are a number of writers who have written screenplays I greatly admire, but don’t have a large enough body of work for me to label my “favorite”. For example, I loved Nic Pizzolatto’s writing in “true Detective”, but that’s all I know of his work right now. Billy Wilder and his collaborators, Frank Capra and his, Horton Foote, Paddy Chayefsky, Robert Towne and William Goldman come to mind because you can look back at entire careers and appreciate their craft and accomplishments within the context of the eras they worked in.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the director you would love to work with and why?

Dennis Capps: John Houston. I know he’s dead, but this sort of a Cosmo quiz question, right? He was a prolific and talented writer/director/actor (and raconteur) working at a time in “our” business when films were collaborations of talented individuals, not the consensus of corporate committees they sometimes feel like today. I imagine working and hanging out with him would’ve been a very unique, educational experience.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the actor you would love to work with and why?

Dennis Capps: I’ll pick the low hanging fruit on this one. George Clooney, because he’s capable of being a “movie star” and delivering a subtle, nuanced performance at the same time -- and because he’s a gifted filmmaker with a sense of humor and an admirable sense of social responsibility. Oh, and yes, if he’s in your movie, people will go see it.

FilmMakers Magazine: Any tips and things learned along the way to pass on to others?

Dennis Capps: Oh man, I haven’t earned the right to pontificate (but I can ramble). Maybe just that old adage that anything worth having is worth working for, because it does require hard work. Also, in my opinion, the screenwriting process is less about writing than it is about about rewriting. Rewrites occur in development, in pre-production and during filming – and film editing is simply the final “rewrite”. So I guess the lesson is: don’t think anything you’ve written is so precious it can’t be improved, it almost always can.

FilmMakers Magazine: What's next for you?

Dennis Capps: Chicago Shuffle was also a Finalist in the BlueCat competition and they held a table read a few weeks ago, which motivated me to do some rewriting and cutting. When I’m done, I’ll see if it generates any interest - - a few agents/managers the BlueCat folks contacted have asked to read it – but I have a story I want to get busy working on in the meantime, and a “day job” to go back to in a few weeks to pay the bills .

FilmMakers Magazine: Where will you be five years from now?

Dennis Capps: Who can say? Wherever this road takes me. All I can do is enjoy the scenery.