Chuck Hughes, new member, brings to the Iowa Scriptwriters Alliance a wealth of success and experience with screen writing and production. He lived in California over eight years before moving back to Iowa, his home state.
Chuck is a member of both the ISA and IMPA. He noted that the IMPA is busy pulling together it's awards program (with the kick off to a HDTV raffle) which will be held on April 24, 2004, at Iowa State University.
Chuck answered the following questions for the Spotlight:
Why do you concentrate
on screen rather than stage plays?
I grew up watching movies at the old Crystal Theater in Manning, Iowa. Of course
as anyone of the pre-video/dvd/cable TV era knows, going to the movies back
then was something akin to a religious experience. Elvis Presley, John Wayne,
Adam West—it didn't matter who was going to be up on the silver screen,
most every Friday I would be there. Even today as the previews end and the screen
goes dark before the beginning of the film, I feel that eager anticipation of
being launched on a journey. While I have written stories and stage plays, I
don't think I really have a choice but to come back to writing movies, since
that is where the magic always seems to be for me.
How have you managed to get your writing
into production?
First of all, I think it takes a certain amount of luck to get anything produced.
By living in California I was able to meet people who were able to help push
my work along. I was also fortunate to be able to hook up with people who were
able to actually get things into production. People make a very good living
getting things into development, but things have to go just right to get a project
made.
That being what it is, I think the single most important thing for any screenwriter is to be able to write very, very well. Nothing opens doors like a great script. And nothing will make a career like great follow up scripts. I believe that regardless of where you are, if you have a great script you will eventually get noticed.
The three films I have written were mostly low budget. The last of these three was Ed And His Dead Mother with Steve Buscemi and Ned Beatty. This originally came out ten years ago in a few theaters and then on the movie channels and on VHS. Just this year it finally made it to DVD.
Currently I'm involved with a larger budgeted project tentatively called The
Suicide Club. It is a script I wrote based on a Robert Louis Stevenson
story. It has been in constant development in one form or the other for over
five years. While it has been a frustrating experience, I am fairly confident
it will eventually be made.
What's the most important things you've
learned about polishing your skills?
Write every day. Read everything you can get your hands on. The act of writing
almost daily makes me better at it and steadily improves my technique. It’s
a slow process, but that’s just the way it works.