Peter Katz, Story Driven CEO: I think it's a tragedy when you're trying to do performance art
and pretend you're somebody that you're not, trying to make things that you don't like,
I think that's the real tragedy. I think that's a real waste of time.
Film Courage: We hear a lot about the 99 percent of screenplays written today
are quote unquote horrible. What's been your experience with screenplays that you've read?
Peter: Yeah, I don't think that that many are just total trash. I think that for me when I look at
it as somebody to either represent a writer or producer the project, that it's not something
not completely on the level, it's more does it align with my taste? I'm not
being shocked by the bad scripts I'm reading and maybe I'm not being exposed to really bad ones
but for whatever ends up on my to-do list to read it typically is actually pretty good.
Film Courage: There's never been anything where
you were surprised that someone would submit something that wasn't finished?
Peter: I tend to not just take on submissions that the email
doesn't prick my interest. I have to see a log line of something that makes me want to read it
and it's presented professionally in the email or I get a script from a trusted contact
or Coverfly or find something on Blacklist and it's got good feedback on it,
it's probably pretty good. It's not there isn't a incredible deviation
from what I'll imagine it to be to what it is and how horrible it is.
What I rarely find is writing that gets me in the mindset of oh my goodnees this is something that I
have to get involved with, that's the difference. It's not about wow it's all bad, it's more of
what's going to make me care more because I do have to look at all my other responsibilities.
What's going to make me want to open up space in my mental bandwidth and on my schedule to really
get behind a project? That's what we're talking about but it's not I'm seeing so many bad writers
and maybe through my filter systems because I'm engaged with a network maybe I'm just not seeing
those what do you think 99 percent of screenplays get wrong I don't know what they get wrong
because I don't know the ratio of scripts that I and then at a certain point
it's also a tasting because they're perfectly talented writers that will find managers that
have different tastes than mine or I might find a writer that some other manager doesn't so
I can't say in a as a number in a sense that this percentage won't won't get it I could just
say that it's just my sensibilities and those things those those things are just subjective
and they guide my curation so I can't tell writers to write exactly in the way that I connect with
because that's their voice and that's how they want to write so if there's something that
I fall in love with that's great but just the stars aligning so it's more of an organic
type of thing that I have as a manager where I'm wow this is really special
and this is what I want to watch on tv or I want to see in the theater
and that's more of that subjective taste than it is that there's just all these
bad writers making mistakes it's it's in the same way I at home I have unlimited options
to stream practically what am I choosing to watch that's more of a reflective of the sense
of are these do I connect with these writers or not is what would I actually sit back and watch
what am I gonna what am I gonna enjoy on the weekend so but I don't wanna
speak to all these writers and say look you're all messing up as much as I have
certain taste that defines my my business can you explain “meta” to me the the sense that
there is a if you think about I don't know Deadpool there is a a commentary on the superhero
genre within his his his performances his jokes the the character is constantly commenting on
the the type of world that he occupies or if you look at Scream the characters in some
ways are commenting on the slasher genre so I mean that's my I guess
take on what medic could be I'm sure there's ways to deconstruct that or explore that
concept but that's what initially comes to mind do you think that's more prevalent now
I do think that was definitely a movement in the horror genre and the
with Scream I think Scream was definitely an approach but it's a device so I mean I'm
sure it's used across genres currently but it's hard to say if it's an exact
wave that is starting to become dominant or it's picking up or it's just
part of the the culture and we're just kind of experiencing it off and on but it's not there's
all these meta creators that are just driving this movement I don't know how does a writer
know they're too late to a genre they're catching it when it's on its way down and it's been done
too much and they think that it's a wave they want to ride but the waves are already about to crash
I think that there's a pastiche that sometimes is popular and it's hard to really have a handle
on it exactly but you just feel it it's not an intellectual thing you feel certain things
an ebb and flow of an approach but I don't think anything ever dies
I think it's just find another way into into the minds of of creators and audiences and maybe it's
not the trending idea but it still exists I mean if you think about fashion you'll see fashion
resurface all the time I mean everything's 90s now so yeah stonewash it's all about that it's
a good thing we saved the jackets yeah exactly so 90’s never died it's just there's just a
there's always been ebbs and flows of ideas and identities and and types of characters
and stories we see but I don't think that anyone's too late to party I think the problem sometimes is
that the the the messaging to some script writers is it's done almost it's a
tech startup where it's just here's the space we gotta occupy it oh no this is crowded or and it's
this very business and very pragmatic mindset that you apply to potentially another field
but I think that as a writer you should write what you love and how much you align it with
being pragmatic that's up to you or your reps but I do think getting too caught up in the the stock
market or the trending of what entrepreneurs are selling this it starts changing the mindset of
the creative process and it's very hard to write a script so if you're looking at Deadline
Hollywood or Variety or any of those things and they're I gotta write this or write that
I think that starts to become you're becoming more reactive and I think that to really develop your
voice and really build out your your portfolio it's almost you got to exert yourself onto the
world and take up space and kind of push your ideas forward versus just counter punching
because you're just dealing with things coming at you and I think with that mentality maybe
you do make some money but you may not feel you really own it and you might not feel it's yours
and I think it's way better to stick to what you're actually care about if you really love
campy rom-coms or whatever it is and all about them you should write to that you should write to
what you love because then it on a more specific level you should write what you care about
or else it's just a weird weird game and then it's more than you're playing the business of it
but that's not going to inspire people because you're not doing something that you're feeling
you're doing something that you're thinking you're thinking that is everybody loves x or but I think
you need to be able to be comfortable with a risk when you become a writer then when you write a
script you might not sell it and that's fine and there's no there's no shame in writing things that
don't sell they might become a sample but you don't want to be constantly being informed by
trends or thought leaders and all that you just want to write about things that
you that are on your mind that you can't get out of your mind and there might be
a movie that you saw when you're younger and that that movie is a movie that like
inspired you to get into a game and you want to write to that but it's passe you should still
write to it because that's what's getting it right it's your every time you're in the game
and you're creating something you're learning it's kind of if you think about it if you're a
martial artist you're not precious when you work on your your discipline you're just constantly
perfecting it perfecting it or if you're a chef you're perfecting your cooking and it's not
this is the best cheesecake ever that I'll end all cheesecakes and I can never do another one
and that is it no you're just doing it and keep doing it and learning learning and learning and
at a certain point it may not be the projects that you think are going to be the ones that
sell maybe it's further out that you've worked worked work work worked and instantly locks in
because you're not trying to protect your time so much you're you're more learning because
you're making yourself better and as you get better and better you're better for yourself
just to generate a loan and you're also a better collaborator because you could articulate your
thesis for for what you're working on and then they connect with that who you're working with
and just build it out so I think that it's not about protecting your your your time by choosing
some get rich quick scheme over talking about themes talking about trauma that you've
experienced or commenting on the types of tv shows you grow up on those things should just drive you
and should be your compass that should always get you back to what makes you excited and just keep
going back there and go back there and not look at it as a cause and effect I do this I get that
because that's the problem is that there's all these ideas of schemes and I'm gonna do
this I'm gonna make it work there's so many professions that take a lifetime to learn
and and they are accepted to be a lawyer you don't just become a lawyer you don't get a
certificate in the mail and so you're just a lawyer after a a week of studying law it's
these things take time so I think the key is taking the pressure off your shoulders
and just accepting yourself accepting what you love and accepting what makes you different and
just making anything even if it's just an iphone video or something you're shooting on on tick tock
it doesn't matter or you're writing tweets or you write short stories it's just getting immersed in
what you love and learning and trying to find friends that share the same sensibilities
and rinse and repeat and not thinking I need a manager or I need an agent or I need this
no you just need the platform that allows you to learn and sharpen your your perspective
and if you do these things you become more valuable because then you become a
specialist you gotta be okay with the most competitive quality of any storyteller is
you got to be more me than anybody else so that's what I'm saying it's not to say I want to be the
best writer or I want to be the best director I know I want to be more me and I want to
feed those needs that I have to obsess over the directors that I fell in love with
the whatever is a comic creator or the musicians and if you live in that space
you start picking up valuable skills you start refining that way to speak now when they say
voice it's a signature what is your voice but they also say voice because you listen to my voice you
can hear what I'm trying to say you're connecting with you're communicating and it takes time but
then you communicate and it connects if you see your favorite tv shows and movies and everything
you're not looking at the low light reel of the creators you're looking at the headlines
do there's a low light reel to almost anybody we don't always look cool the richest people always
look cool the most successful artists always look cool you're not seeing them goof around
making stuff that nobody cares about we only see when it's just everything just kind of clicks
and then suddenly they're amazing and that's a problem with the 30 under 30 or this and that is
obsession with time we got to get here before this happens or we got to sell this project because
time's running out we have time until you're dead you have time so you should focus on becoming
the most you version as a creator and then if time goes by and somehow that manifests
into making all this money and being looking awesome that's fine or you don't become successful
you just became obsessed with what you love and I don't think that's a tragedy either I think it's a
tragedy when you're trying to do a performance art and pretend you're somebody that you're not trying
to make things that you don't I think that's the real tragedy I think that's a real waste of time.
Do you write only what you feel (and never to the market)?