Film Courage: How did you learn story structure? Zach Zerries, Screenwriter:
Initially learned in NYU. I had a screenwriting professor by the name of Stephen Siegel
who was tough but fair and he was a stickler for
not just story structure but format. To this day I still have his voice in my head a little bit
when I 'm writing. I became maybe at times too wedded to certain formatting
but he really taught me the bare bones of how to write a script. I think
when I was young again it was that urge just to start writing not to really think about
the story and plot it out. I think it became much clearer to me about how to again story structure,
character development as I got older and got out of film school but he definitely planted
the seeds that I then sort of sewed later on as I again evolved as a writer.
Film Courage: When you left film school did you…I know you said that you realized at
some point that New York was probably not for you at the time… did you think that you would
get a job working in a production company, what was in your mind that you as a career?
Zach: For me it was to just be in the business and see where I could go I was pretty fortunate
because when I came out here I had a lot of interviews right away I had so my first job
out of NYU had been at Writers and Artists which I was purchased by Paradigm probably maybe even 20
years at this point but they had a New York and LA office and they had a a nice stable of like
James Gandolfini at the time was repped by them they had some other fairly name actors
and the New York the New York agents rep like they I think they actually had may have had
half the cast on Sopranos so they wrecked a lot of broadway and film and tv actors
so that was my first job out of school when I moved to la I initially was
interviewing at management companies and other agencies I knew I didn't want to be an agent
but I thought just getting the experience and learning the business was most important
I worked at I cm for
about a second it was literally a second it was probably three days I worked for a very
big talent agent there and quickly realized that I was just not going to cut it so
My roommate at the time I was I remember walking out I cm and just breathing a sigh
of relief because I had I feel like a monkey had been off my back so I 'm like okay I know
there's no way I 'm going to work in the agency business at all or Matt as a manager that I
just can't do it I'm not cut from that cloth there's a certain type and I am not he or she
so my roommate at the time for whatever reason he had been sent a job opportunity as a writer's pa
on this fox show at the time and I went in and I interviewed I got the job and then the first
day my first day there the show was canceled oh no so it lasted a couple more weeks and
it was they the same production company was producing this comedy
and it was a sitcom that they are they were developing uh it was an Ed Burns pilot and
I remember because it was the same company they were saving on supplies so we brought
the supplies from I was at sony at the time I moved the supplies to uh the cbs radford
and I walked in I said hey you guys are starting do you need a a pa a writer's pa they're like
actually we need a pa and I was like great here's my resume and I got the job and I worked for about
a month and I was a night pa and I have to say like I've worked some very interesting jobs but
driving in LA at night was just this it was a it was a I don't want to use the word mystical but
it was it was definitely an interesting experience because at that time this was just I mean people
had email but a lot of executives and other writers wanted the actual script delivered
so I was going from Pasadena to as far out as I may have gone to Malibu and this was
like I think I worked like 27 hours straight but it was but it was wild it was fun like I
learned the lay of the land doing that at night it was I was kind of on my own I was
driving probably 80 90 miles an hour in my little Chevy Cavalier all around the town
but it was an experience and it was really it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot and anyway
long story short that pilot was uh being shot and I had a friend who was working at law and
order at the time and he said there's a writers a writer's production assistant job open on
this new law and order show there it was criminal in tent and they said do you are you interested in
I 'm like yes I would love to because I think this this pilot I s ending and I they're shooting the
pilot it hadn't been picked up at that point I was like yes if it's permanent I love it and I wound
up getting that job and I was a law in art on the law worked on the law and order shows for close to
two years so I had that background in television and then from there I got in to research and
I worked and working at fox for many years as a research analyst while I was still writing and it
was my day job but I always was able to find jobs that supported my writing and and I was able to
one fed the other and yeah it was it was definitely uh back to your question about the
business and and getting in to it it was it was definitely I I always knew I wanted to write and
the but keeping an open mind on the day job type led me to in a lot of different directions and I
had a time where I did temp and attempt in marketing attempt in post-production
I worked in post-production I had an array of different jobs and while I was still writing and
always always putting in the time and and that's now I s has definitely paid off but anyone
who's coming out and trying to get in the film business I would say sign up with the temp agency
work in an agency or management company you may like it maybe writing's not for you and you may
decide you are cut from that cloth to be an agent uh but it 's a I think it 's just a matter of
keeping as open mind as possible in learning all different aspects of the business while you're
continuing to hone your craft did the driving job the driving pa job did that in spire any stories
for scripts no no it was it was just again I was pretty new to la so I was still like
again just I think I was just focused on learning the terrain at the time
and I do remember I was working on a script that I again earlier in my career one of the
mistakes I made was working working scripts over and over and over again until it 's like
look enough you've written this written 20 different drafts it 's all coming out the same
maybe just need to put this in the drawer and step away and start go for something else
beating your head against the wall isn't I I don't obviously I s not productive and I know
that if you have a really great idea and you love it and you're you're you're really wedded to it
that's great but sometimes the best thing you can do for a script that
you're wedded to and you really want to tell but it 's not working I s just
to take a step back and put it away and start and work on something else I know again early
in my career I should have done that with a few scripts where I 'm like I 'm just focusing I 'm
I 'm beating my head against the wall and and that was that was about working harder
not smarter at the time and in hindsight those scripts the best thing those things
those scripts could have used was was better structure better uh better plotting and more and
a better outline and I hadn't really fully evolved to that place where I was able to really put to
write an effective outline and and really explore the story that way I think I was just so quick to
go right to jump right in to the screenplay and it leaves yourself open to a lot of problems.
Questions For The Viewers:
How did you learn story structure?