Interview - Screenwriter Lyle Satok

Lyle Satok won the Comedy competition with "A to B": Ally Reed's rule about never dating co-workers includes recently hired teacher, Brett Dempsey, but with help from an eclectic group of friends, she's developing a new lesson plan. It's a mix of Bad Teacher and The F Word.

After the competition win, we spoke with Lyle about the story and the journey to this win.

How did you first become interested in a career in screenwriting?
If you grew up spending your allowance on the movies, you've thought about writing your own. A to B was the movie running through my head and I wrote it down. After some professional feedback, I kept the opening and changed almost everything else. That happened a few more times. But until I entered the HollywoodGenre Comedy Screenplay Competition, and was notified of winning Round 5, a career in screenwriting never seemed possible. Now, I'm looking towards writing C to D.

Who or what inspired you to write this particular story?
It's loosely the story of how my wife and I met. She fixed up her brother with a fellow teacher on her staff and they got married. When her then sister-in-law went on maternity leave, I got the job. Which is funny because my wife liked to tell her SIL, you owe me a husband.

What movies or filmmakers would you consider your greatest influences as a screenwriter?
Cameron Crowe in the way that he immerses you in his world. The dialogue could only occur with those characters, making every scene original. He also created many indelible moments with his choice of music.

How much planning and outlining went into your process of writing this script?
The planning part was a list of ideas from my own teaching experiences for characters, scenes, dialogue and story arcs. The narrative structure I already had in my head, but it's changed a lot since that first draft. Later, I got Final Draft software which formatted the screenplay, and helped me realize how much easier those earlier writing stages could have been. I also spent time learning about the three-act structure, ensuring rises and falls were happening at the appropriate times in the script.

What advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters who are working their first script?
Lean into feedback. It's hard to get people to read your script. So when they do, accept their thoughts graciously and use them. My first draft received the note, "It takes a long time to get from A to B." Hurtful but also helpful. The most recent draft is thirty pages shorter.