“...informative, insightful and real. If you’re looking for tips, technique or advice from professionals at the top of their craft, search no further than this outstanding series.”

- Rawson Marshall Thurber (Writer/Director "Dodgeball" & "Mysteries of Pittsburgh")

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Press

A CONVERSATION WITH PRODUCER ALEKS HORVAT
LOS ANGELES, CA - June 22, 2006:

Q: How did you first conceive of The Dialogue: Learning From the Masters? You had already established theOffice, the location of the series, as a haven for screenwriters to work on their screenplays...

Yes, I had, but there was really no chain of events per se. You could say necessity is the mother of invention. I wasn’t really looking to become a producer of a DVD series about screenwriters, but rather was searching for new ways to reinvigorate what we were doing at theOffice. Of course, I came to embrace producing The Dialogue, but it wasn’t really my original intent.

It’s sort of been that way with everything I’ve done: I was a screenwriter who would go to coffeehouses to work on my scripts, and found myself wishing they had better chairs and an environ-ment more conducive to writing. So I somehow ended up creating and opening theOffice as my ideal place to write scripts. The same thing happened with the Hollywood Creative Directory: I needed a compilation of industry resources for sending out my scripts, so I came up with the Directory.

I see a need I have myself, and then I find a way to present it to others. It’s like George Lucas said, “Don’t try to second-guess your audience. Make movies for yourself. And if you’re lucky you’ll discover that you have your finger on the pulse of your audience.”

Q: Why did you want to do a series that focused specifically on screenwriters and the art of the screenplay?

Well, I had been a screenwriter myself, but I wasn’t on a mission to put a spotlight on screenwriters. As the project evolved, though, I became more and more aware of the lack of attention on the writer, and that became a rallying point.

Q: How is The Dialogue different from other interview series, both in style and content?

 I think of it as a seminar or informative piece couched as a talk show. People can learn something practical about the field while being entertained by the conversation. It’s aimed at a particular audience - aspiring screenwriters, industry insiders and cinephiles - as a sort of mentoring program, where the viewers are vicariously learning the process by studying other writers and what they have to say about screenwriting.

What also stands out about our series is that the writers we featured spoke frankly, really opened up and talked about how things actually work in Hollywood.

Q: What do you think makes an intriguing interview?

A good interviewer! The host has to be able to bring the guest out of his shell, ask compelling questions. You also need good production value and the opportunity to go a little deeper into the conversation. Each segment in our series runs between 70 - 90 minutes, with the average being about 75 minutes. You can cover a lot of ground in that time and have a more in-depth conversation than with more conventional talk shows.

Q: How did Mike De Luca get attached to the series as co-host?

We were friends. And it was actually my wife’s idea, Jennifer Klein. She ‘s film producer. One day I simply asked him if he would be willing to do an interview series with writers and he immediately agreed. No fuss, no messs, it was an amazingly easy process. Same thing happened when we decided to do the next 21. He immediately agreed. Mike a real film lover. And I think for him it was a joy to do this. It was never about the money or the exposure. For him it was about getting into these writer’s heads and learning something – which he did.

Q: How about the line-up of screenwriters you assembled - so many talented writers, with a range of styles represented...

We got most of the screenwriters that we wanted, though some did turn us down. Most of the time it was a “six degrees of separation” relationship. Between Jennifer and I we know a lot of people in the film business. CAA and ICM in particular were very helpful.

Screenwriters themselves are also a very tight bunch and would recommend some of their fellow writers to us. To some extent, they share a common sense of being under-appreciated; there’s a camaraderie. Hence theOffice - if you’re going to be sitting alone writing a script, you may as well do it in the presence of other screenwriters!

Q: Did you aim for diversity in selecting the screenwriters?

We did, but I’m not so sure we ended up with as diverse a group as I would’ve thought. I would like to think there are a lot of women and minority screenwriters out there, and perhaps there are, but the hard facts is there are not that many whose works are being produced. Still, we did end up with some of the top women writers working today such as Robin (Swicord) and Callie Khouri.

We also ended up with a diverse line-up in terms of the types of movies the screenwriters wrote: action, comedy, character pieces, drama, thrillers, as well as diverse with respect to sensibilities. Some of the writers have written blockbusters, others more offbeat or independent fare, like Jose Rivera who got nominated for an Oscar for The Motorcycle Diaries.

Q:With such a variety of writers featured in the series, did you take note of any common threads in the interviews?

“Read screenplays!” This was probably the most common piece of advice the screenwriters had. To read other people’s scripts and to read the classics, like Casablanca or Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

I think most of all, they were all appreciative of the opportunity to talk about writing. It’s where it all begins.