Film Courage: You had early success in your screenwriting career as you had your first
screenplay optioned for a few thousand dollars in the beginning?
Danny Strong: Yes. Film Courage: And then you wrote for six
years and you were able to sell RECOUNT to HBO. So most people would have given up
in that six year period. Especially now when everybody wants things instantly. Why
didn’t you give up? Danny Strong: That’s a great question.
I mean the early success wasn’t really success [Laughs]…I would say. I wouldn’t really
call it early success. I don’t even view it that way. I view it as six years of no
one wanting my stuff and it was some random person who was very kind who was interested
in the script. But it wasn’t as if it was all of the sudden “I made it and it’s
happening now!” So it really was a six, seven year journey into selling my first project
which was recount and why I didn’t give up I think is because I had something to say
and I loved writing these scripts and they were important to me and I loved working on
stories and it just was artistically, extremely fulfilling where my acting career was very
frustrating. And I worked…I worked on some terrific shows that I’m really proud
of, but I wasn’t actually getting to act very much. So even when you’re working…you
know I would do episodes of Gilmore Girls and I would do four episodes a season and I would
work on it a day or two and that would be one of my only jobs for six months. So it’s
really about seven days on set over a six month period. So what am I doing the rest
of the time? I’m auditioning and trying to get new jobs but that’s an hour a day
maybe? So really it was a creative outlet for me
of taking my creative energy and putting it into something where I can actually just go
do it. Where as an actor, you have to be picked to
go do it and then you rarely get picked. So I just found it fulfilling but I also was
getting rejected left and right, script after script and agents, managers, production companies,
everyone didn’t want my work for six, seven years. And I got to a point where I asked
myself this is not going well. What do you want from this? What are you doing? And
I sort of asked myself would I (and it’s one of the key questions in the movie REBEL
IN THE RYE) would I do this for the rest of my life if I got nothing in return and
I thought “Yeah…I would.” And I just kept writing and then eventually, it wasn’t
as if six months later…crack the champagne! It was maybe three years later that I sold
RECOUNT as a pitch to HBO and then just kind of went on from there.
But there was a certain peace in knowing that it wasn’t about selling something or success
(even though I really wanted it. I wasn’t a Kumbaya moment but there was a peace in
knowing that well whatever happens you just keep writing. So I just kept writing and
that’s what I did. Film Courage: You included that in two parts
of the movie [REBEL IN THE RYE] that premise [keep writing even if you get nothing in return]
and that’s a real eye-opener that most people may not be ready for.
Danny Strong: Yeah. And look what J.D. Salinger did, right? He stopped publishing
at the height of his fame and then continued writing for 45 years for nothing in return
and he wrote every day and he just did it because he just wanted to write and I think
to me that’s what makes this story a profound story is the journey of the artist and he
goes from being a young many who all he wants is success to being an older writer which
all he wants is to just create his art and nothing else. And that’s the journey.
That’s the Aesop fable of this movie. Film Courage: Would you say you still spend
300 days a year writing EMPIRE? Danny Strong: No. I was the first two
seasons of EMPIRE. I was very active and then with season three I switched to consulting
and made REBEL IN THE RYE. So now with seasons three and four, I’m still the executive
producer on it, but I’m not nearly as hands on as I was for the first two seasons.
Film Courage: You probably couldn’t have written EMPIRE and REBEL IN THE RYE at the
same time? Danny Strong: Well I think I wrote REBEL
IN THE RYE the first couple drafts before EMPIRE happened. And actually EMPIRE happening
slowed my progress in getting REBEL IN THE RYE made because EMPIRE got made. So I ended
up working on that. But I ended up directing a lot of episodes of EMPIRE, so that was an
amazing experience for me to transition into directing. It just couldn’t have been
a better way to really learn that craft because you have to move so quickly and I have plenty
more to learn but it was a great start for me.
Film Courage: When you are writing…and I understand you have this writing day where
you have your breakfast, get a lot of “housekeeping” out of the way, but is it easier to write
in New York versus LA? Or the place doesn’t really matter?
Danny Strong: Well I love New York City. I love being there. I’m just so happy
there, so for me I can write anywhere and that’s kind of one of the fun things about
writing is I can be anywhere in the world and I can write. And it’s actually pretty
cool to be in some random city some where in some random coffee shop and you’re writing
and it’s like how often does someone have a job that they can do anywhere in the world?
I mean that’s a lot of fun! And I’m perfectly productive in Los Angeles.
I just love being in New York and it’s just an exciting place to be.
Film Courage: Can you relate to J.D. Salinger’s process in terms of where once he crossed
over into meditation and all of that and he needed to really barricade himself? Can
you relate to this? Danny Strong: I definitely don’t barricade
myself at all. I actually write in public places. I don’t like being in a quiet
room by myself. I have a certain amount of ADD and being in a quiet room I zone out
and I’m less productive. So I actually like having people around me. I have my
headset on, I listen to music. I write to movie scores. So I’m just listening to
movie scores and people are around and there’s an energy and I find it very helpful. And
it just helps me focus, but that’s just me. So the isolation of what Mr. Salinger
did is kind of the opposite of how I work. Film Courage: For new writers, I know they
are told to get feedback from other people. I was recently reading Anne Lamott’s Bird
By Bird and she talked about writing conferences and how they can be helpful, but at the same
time the slashing to the edits is also stabbing the screenwriter a little bit. Can you talk
about the kindest way to give someone honest feedback? So you are actually helping them,
but you are not wounding them so they won’t go on [to write].
Danny Strong: Well I think that the best way to give feedback and I very much rely
on feedback and I need notes from people and it helps me see problems and it’s a very
important part of my process is getting feedback. But I think to keep…I mean good feedback
is when it’s just about the script. It doesn’t get personal. It doesn’t talk
about bigger ideas of whether you can do this or not or you have talent or not. Where it’s
literally about how to make this script or this story better in areas that are problematic.
I think it’s really important when someone is getting feedback that they talk to a few
people. That they get feedback from maybe three people. Because there could be feedback
that someone gives you that they are very passionate about but they don’t know what
they’re talking about. It’s bad feedback and they’re just not good at giving feedback.
There’s a lot of people that aren’t good at giving feedback, right? So you want a
few opinions. And for me when I start hearing from two or three people the same problem
they’re having, well there’s probably a problem there and there is probably something
I need to address. And one of my favorite parts of
writing is when I take a problem and then I fix it
and then it’s good. That’s so exciting because you have something that was bad that’s
now good and it’s like you have a hole and instead of a ditch, you have a statue there
instead. So
I can only get there by getting feedback from people.
Film Courage: When do you start writing everyday?
Danny Strong: So I have basically the same pattern when I’m writing. Sometimes if I’m
in production it will change. But if I’m just in
a writing phase (which is my favorite
to be honest with you
because I love my schedule as a writer) I wake up,
I go somewhere, have breakfast and usually I can go somewhere and write
and then I’ll open my computer…so now it’s around 10:30