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Rob Young Interview


Rob Young

Writewords talks to Rob Young, stage and screenwriter, whose first movie ‘Miranda’ is released November 2003, starring Christina Ricci, John Hurt, Kyle McClachlan and John Sim.

What’s your writing background?

I’ve written 7 screenplays and 7 theatre shows. My first film, Miranda, is released in November 2003 (starring Christina Ricci). I’ve done a musical for Working Title 2 and am now writing a Kung Fu movie. My last theatre show was called ‘The Man with the Absurdly Large Penis’ which baffled audiences at the Young Vic Studio.

How, when and why did you first start writing?

I like sitting in a room and making myself laugh. When I started out, I didn’t know any theatre people, so I staged my first play with some mates in a Mexican restaurant. Diners were shouting, “F*** off, we’re trying to eat our dinner”.

Who are your favourite writers/writing and why?

I once read a book by David Cook and was crying by the end of the first page. I had a hangover.

How did you feel when you first started sending your writing out into the world?

Excited. The whole thing is really exciting. Even the waiting bit is exciting. It took one theatre two and a half years to reply, with a short rejection letter. I felt really excited when I saw their logo on the envelope.

What was your breakthrough moment ?

I was reading a poem to “not many” people when an agent signed me up. She came because I wrote her a polite letter and didn’t harass her. The agent passed the poem onto a film company who wrongly assumed it was a movie pitch. They commissioned it. They even loaned me the money to buy a computer, so I could write it. I went into WH Smith and bought a screenplay (because I’d never seen one before, so didn’t know how to format it). Three years, 70 drafts, 2 other writers and £4 million pounds later, it got made. I gave up my no-brainer job in a bitchy office and have been writing full-time ever since. If I’d known all that was going to happen, I’d have written a better poem.

How do you handle rejections?

By sulking.

Do you approach screen writing differently from stage and how?

There was this play, where the actor turned to the wings and shouted, “Olaf, come down from the mountain”. How crap is that? Theatre plays are easier because if you write films professionally, you’ll have 6 script doctors analysing your every word. It makes you really paranoid. It’s like getting dressed in the morning and having six people say, “I don’t like those trousers”.

What excites you about a piece of writing- what keeps you going, both as writer and audience?

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