Students in Warren Etheredge's screenwriting classes had the opportunity to hear from Eric Heisserer, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2016 for Arrival. Heisserer is the creator, writer, and show-runner for the Shadow and Bones series on Netflix (2021-2023), and the screenwriter of Birdbox (2018). This was a wonderful opportunity for CMS majors and aspiring screenwriters to hear from one of the industry's leading writers about the craft and business of writing and producing.
CMS major, Ace DeTurk, reflects on the event:
"On Monday, January 12th, CMS students and faculty filed into Mary Gates Hall for an incredible treat – a discussion with screenwriter and producer Eric Heisserer. He is best known for his time as showrunner for the Netflix Series Shadow and Bone and his Academy Award-nominated Screenplay Arrival, adapted from Ted Chiang’s novella “Story of Your Life”. Heisserer brought with him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience that students in the room were eager to tap into. The conversation was facilitated by instructor Warren Etheredge, who had invited Mr. Heisserer on behalf of his Advanced Screenwriting cohort in CMS 470.
Heisserer spoke fondly of his time writing Arrival and the conversations he had with Ted Chiang about the adaptation. Not all screen adaptations receive input from the original creator, and Heisserer was grateful for Chiang’s time and knowledge. He shared his goal for all his adapted screenplays – to give the audience the same feeling they had when reading the original work. He holds the opinion that, rather than exact plot and character replicas, the replication of the emotion in the story is the key to creating successful and meaningful adaptations.
When asked about building a career as a young writer, Heisserer’s most important advice was based on his ‘human life raft’. He recommended finding a community, not just of friends or people with shared interests, but of people who want to see you succeed, and who you, in turn, wish to push forward. Finding people who will put your name and work out there even when their own opportunities aren’t panning out is a vital part of breaking into the industry and forming genuine connections with other members of the industry. The film business is, of course, always a little bit about who you know, and building that branching community means that your human life raft will always know someone somewhere who has a script or an opportunity.
The two-hour discussion ended with a question that was on the mind of every young filmmaker in that room – what can I do to mold myself into the perfect object of a movie studio’s desire? What parts of myself must be pushed down to make room for the opportunity to work in the film industry? But Heisserer’s advice was simple – Be Yourself. The only way to truly get into writing and working in film is to highlight your individual experiences and person, and to showcase the unique ideas and knowledge you can bring to a writer’s room or set. To work in film, particularly in writing, aspiring filmmakers must prove that their contribution will be so important for the story that they cannot be removed from it. And finally, Heisserer reminded us that the best way to showcase these experiences and knowledge is just to write about them."