Steven Miller
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Where do you live (City, State, or Country)?
North Brunswick, New Jersey
 
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 teach Broadcast Journalism at Rutgers University.  Over the years, I have witnessed the evolution of this field and a large division created between the old school newspaper people and the newer, younger online generation of new consumer.  I have seen it in my own family.  My wife insists that she has to have the hard copy of the New York Times because it’s easier to read and hold.  My daughters, on the other hand, read the same periodical online and, most likely, will never buy the actual paper.  Since I train younger journalists for careers in the field, I thought about how this dynamic would play out if either of my children chose to become reporters.  I also felt that a family setting was more identifiable for an audience.
 
I chose this genre because of its ability to convey the generational and vocational clash better than a short story or novel.  The arc of the story called for a more visual feel. 
 
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?
The first draft of the script took at least six months.  This was due to life getting in the way of writing.  Between family and work responsibilities, I had to find the time to sit down and write. 
 
My process is starting with an idea and FADE IN.  I like to write through a complete first draft and go back to the beginning in the next phase.  It’s funny that you ask this because each of my screenplays, and I have five completed and three others that are partially done, has followed a different path.  I have one that practically wrote the first 120-page draft all by itself.  The ideas just flowed freely and came off the top of my head.  I have another which started out as a stage play that didn’t seem to work.  I converted it to a screenplay then revamped and rewrote most of the plot.  So, I don’t really have one way of writing. 
 
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
I would love to have my script or scripts made into a film.  I think they would strike a chord and resonate with a lot of people.  This screenplay hits at the heart of the changing nature of journalism and society.  It also is an examination of the family dynamic and how both external and internal factors can and do impact relationships.
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Which film or television writers inspire you? Why?
Aaron Sorkin is a genius and no one can replicate what he does.  His ability to delve and dissect issues and ideas with rapier-like verbiage is unequaled in the field.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s comedy or drama, a Washington setting or the farmland.  Sorkin understands and conveys language at the level of the greatest of all time. 
 
What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show?
My favorite all-time movie is Citizen Kane.  However, just a smidgen below are films by Mel Brooks, The Marx Brothers, Spielberg, the Godfather Trilogy, and almost everything written by Sorkin.
Television, of course, includes The West Wing and M*A*S*H.  This sounds crazy, but my other favorite is The Monkees.  I watched the prefab-four from the day it debuted in September 1966 and have been hooked ever since.
 
I grew up as a videot.  I am a video idiot.  If you put on film or tape, I will be drawn to it. 
 
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Persevere and keep writing.  I tell my students that you must continue looking and pushing forward and do what you love.  I have been writing in some shape or form for over forty years and it’s only recently that I have received any recognition for it.  I also tell them that you have to learn something new every day and that you have to dream your dream every day because they can come true.  I am still hoping that my dream of having a script made into a film will happen.
 
I would also like to encourage everyone to find a reader or editor you can trust.  This can be a lonely process and we are inside our own heads most of the time and, as such, don’t read our own work in an unbiased way.  All of us need sounding boards that can help us properly evaluate what works and what doesn’t.  It is invaluable and necessary.  Unfortunately, there aren’t that many services or people outside of our writing bubble that don’t charge to do this.  We all need another set of eyes.
 
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
I have three other screenplays that have gone through multiple drafts and are ready or almost ready to go.  One, Old Timer’s Day, tells the story of a rock star who walked away from his career a long time ago and his former bandmate tries to get him back on the road.  Another, Lost in Between, is about a person who questions whether a childhood friend has truly died in a car accident and is forced to review his own life to find out the truth.  It is a bit different because it relies on flashbacks between the past and present.  Finally, Red Stitches.  This is story based on my experiences as a softball coach.  It’s the story of a superstar softball player and student and the pressure her father places on her so she can earn an athletic scholarship.  It is a story all too common today.   I believe all of these have themes that can speak to everyone and I hope that, one day, others will read what I’ve written.

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