Amy Hutchins

Screenplay Finalist
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"Delia"

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1. Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?

Just outside of Austin, TX in Dripping Springs.
 
Your script stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your story and why did you write a script instead of a short story or a novel? 

The people who I care about most (namely my wife) have incredible life stories and I find myself constantly writing down the most intense snippets or memories they share with me. I think simple or complicated anecdotes from our personal histories make for the best storytelling. Real things…that can turn into sci-fi, tragic drama, horror, etc..I have worked in or adjacent to film/tv for a while and studied film and screenwriting in school. In the last few years, I’ve finally sat down and tell a story in screenplay format after I’ve had some life under my belt.
 
How long did it take you to write your script...and what is your writing process? Do you outline...use index cards...white board...or just start with FADE IN? 
I started Delia during a low point, a sudden unemployment…In fact I did use the index card method after I did a free writing first session after I had the basic idea down in my head. I sat for 2 hours and wrote stream of consciousness with no outline. From there I made my outline with index cards. Since then, the story has changed a bit after getting some trusted feedback and some novice reader feedback. I don’t think I could ever sit down with FADE IN and let it come out. Today I still do a brain dump but try to write in sequences, and iron out my outlining process/beat sheet method on a Google doc. I tighten that until I think the outline makes for a decent story then open Final Draft last. The hardest part is the tight outline…that will inevitably change after the first draft is finished !

What is your ultimate ambition as a writer? 
I would love to do this for a living and make independent films with others.  My strengths (and long-term job in gaming) are producing and writing. Movies are my life and hobby. I’ve waited a while to start this process as film school is in the deep rearview…but now feels like the right time to put it to script. Dramatic and psych thrillers, horror and sci-fi are my favorite genres all the way.  I’d love to write for anyone, do adaptations, do some long format (limited series) but mainly 2 hour movies. Hire me 
Which film or television writers inspire you? Why? 
I’m a sucker for relationship tragedies and high stakes anxiety-driven stuff, no matter the genre. My favorite writers make me cry. Wong Kar Wai, Atom Egoyan, Vince Gilligan and his writer’s room on anything he’s done, Jonathan Nolan, and the writer’s room of Sam Esmail’s work, Nic Pizzolato-to name a few, make the most beautiful cinematic blueprints. They know it takes a village to make film and tv but their minds are truly wonderful when it comes to storytelling. David Lynch is my hero. And I’m in awe of comedy writers like Ricky Gervais work-masterpieces. I’ve been TOLD I’m funny but have never taken a stab at flat out comedy—foreign stuff!

What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show? 
This is so hard or impossible to answer. I feel like there are obvious must-say answers. Everyone says The Godfather with great reason. Breaking Bad is a masterpiece. Those things are true. Ok in recent years, Everything, Everywhere All At Once is the best thing. I feel like it was made just for me for a private viewing. Heat, Deer Hunter, Twin Peaks, X-Files, The Prestige, Mr. Robot, Afterlife/Derek…I can’t answer just one for “all-time!”
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have? 
It’s a hard thing to put yourself out there to strangers—anyone really. I always and still think “how will this even help me?” and I think the main takeaway I found was that it inspired me to accept rejection, critique, notes and gains all in the same way.
 I have a hard time following my own advice and still make excuses for not committing to this craft enough, but I do find that contest feedback and accolades really keep the energy up for the process—the art.
 Enter them and see. Get some novice/non-film people to read your work. Also, get a pro to read it. So many contests have decent services of pro readers and sometimes lengthy, unfiltered criticism can evoke just the right response you need to keep going, or push your story to the side for a bit and think…on a new story!
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about? 
I am working on an unsettling dramatic thriller called Hallways about a woman who nearly dies in a car accident to later reveal she’s forgotten a lot about her past problematic self in the unfolding of her recovery period, currently in 2nd-3rd draft mode.
 
I’m also outlining a psych horror/slasher in the vein of Se7en about a couple who met on an online dating app who inadvertently get caught up in a murder investigation when they discover a corpse in an alley revealing more about each of their intentions for using the dating app in the first place….After this, I’m adapting a short story of a wonderful upcoming novelist whom I’m close to into a sci-fi pilot about an oppressed world of mind and memory altering for the sake of saving humanity—in the vein of Philip Dick’s work (he’s a favorite of mine also). 
 
As far as my day job goes, I’m an Exec. Producer in front end game development and manage creatives and developers/product. I’d love to say that this would be my last dance in this field so that I may write film and tv full time.

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