EDWARD K. GAYLORD
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​Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
            I currently reside in Oceanside, California.
 
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?
I was inspired primarily by two (admittedly dissimilar) books I’ve loved since I was a child: Sin City by Frank Miller and Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. I chose to write a script instead of another novel, however, because whenever I imagined Reservoir, it was always through the lens of a T.V. program.
 
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 first began writing Reservoir in 2019 and have gone through several revisions through the years. While I wrote the Pilot episode without an outline, the rest of the first/second season was meticulously planned out using an increasingly cramped white board.
 
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
My ultimate ambition as a writer is to create something that truly speaks to someone else, in the sense they feel personally addressed by the author. Growing up, reading those books/watching those films which had that power always felt like coming up for air. If I could engender that experience for someone else, I’d have succeeded.
 
Which film or television writers inspire you? Why?
David Michôd is my favorite television writer and his greatest talent, in my opinion, lies in his ability to seamlessly integrate exposition into his scripts in a way that doesn’t tend to pull the audience out from the world of his stories. If there’s one aspect of David Michôd’s writing I hope to emulate, it’s that.
 
What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show?
Not coincidentally, my favorite film was written and directed by David Michôd: Animal Kingdom. This brooding Australian crime drama is intense, expertly paced, and contains perhaps the most realistic and terrifying depiction of an individual with antisocial personality disorder ever put to film.
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Never be afraid to completely start your pilot episode from scratch. My original Pilot episode for Reservoir is now sitting at about the halfway point of the first season and I am still very glad I completely reassessed the start point of the series.
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
 
I am also working on an irreverent television workplace comedy titled: The Moss Piglet. In this tongue-in-cheek exploration of dehumanization in the corporate workspace, the employees of TriCorp Four struggle to meet the demands of the Corporate ArchMistress Madam Tiama and her newly stolen police robot in the wake of yet another P.R. crisis for the Division. Please consider reading the Pilot episode on my FilmFreeway profile.

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