An Interview with Gordy Hoffman

About a week and a half ago, Charlie and I received an email from Mr. Gordy Hoffman, filmmaker and founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, offering an exclusive interview with us. For obvious reasons, we jumped at the chance.

It fell to me, Dave, to serve up the questions and conduct the hard-hitting grilling of Mr. Hoffman that follows. If you wonder why there are no snappy follow-up questions, it's not that I simply sent him some questions over email and he chose to answer what he wanted and there was no back and forth, it's because I'm against follow-up questions for religious reasons.

Anyone else who wants to be interviewed by B-Movie Writers, let us know. We're open and willing, even if you don't run a screenplay competition and can promise us automatic placement in the final round.. uhm.. no. I didn't say that. Anyway, here's the interview.

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B-Movie Writers: Mr. Hoffman, thanks for sitting down with us today. Or rather, thanks for sitting at your own computer and sending an email that we'll sit down at our computer and read. You are the founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. As a screenwriter yourself, what drove you to jump over the fence and put this together?

Gordy Hoffman: Oh, so that was a fence I jumped over. I thought it was a BRICK WALL I RAN INTO. I started BlueCat in 1998 as a little venture, based on my experiences with contests as a writer myself. To paraphrase Kane, I thought it would fun to run a screenplay contest.

BMW: Why should a writer enter your competition as opposed to the hundreds of other ones out there on the Web? What sets your competition apart?

GH: Every writer receives written analysis on their screenplay. Our finalists and winners received significant industry exposure: our 2005 Winner, GARY THE TENNIS COACH, has been produced and will be released this year. 16,000 in cash?

BMW: Do you ever read any of the entries and think "Damn, that's a good idea, why didn't I come up with that?"

GH: Yes, I love when that happens. I love wishing I thought of something. It's always a good sign of greatness: Envy!

BMW: What, for you, would be the best case scenario resulting from your competition?

GH: That every entrant learns something about themselves as writers and commits to work to improve their craft.

BMW: What do you see this competition evolving into in the years to come? Would you like to grow it into a complete festival? Or do you hope to keep it at it's current scale?

GH: We want to keep growing, into something much bigger. We would love to continue to help writers, through production and distribution. Something akin to the Sundance Lab, but taking it further.

BMW: What is the single, proudest moment you've experienced while organizing this competition?

GH: Calling a disgruntled entrant 7 years ago at nearly midnight to apologize, and subsequently having the writer say he would enter BlueCat again. That's when I knew: BlueCat is a service.

BMW: You recently produced your first full-length feature, A Coat of Snow. Before that, you produced a number of short films. What were the biggest hurdles in going from shorts to full-length?

GH: Usual stuff. Bigger job. Plus you really have to get money. Shorts are great because you can go out today and make one. But maybe I can do that with a feature? What time is it?

BMW: On your website, located at http://www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay, you list a large number of screenwriting articles, advice articles, and other work that is all geared towards helping the struggling writer. At what point does someone go from struggling writer, to established writer? Are you there yet, yourself? If so, when did you know you were there?

GH: If I ever admit to being an established writer, throw a spear in my chest. Yuck. While I don't want to struggle for fun, growth as an artist is good. I have said it before. There is no destination.

BMW: Our work and audience is centered on writing B-movies where lots of people beat each other up. Your work is far more artful and of a higher quality. But there's one thing both genres have in common. So, how do you come up with new and unique ways to put hot lesbians into your stories?

GH: That's what great about writing. You can just write it today. I have the ability to write the hottest lesbian love story starring the hottest lesbians ever. Somehow, it might be about something else in the end. But they would definitely fuck. It's essential to all classic love stories. See Casablanca. All established struggling screenwriters know this.

BMW: What is your dream project? And who would you love to work with?

GH: I have a few dream projects which frighten me to admit. I would love to direct Jack and Marlon in a scene, but Marlon died. I would love to work with Streisand and Redford and Gene Wilder. Abbas Kiarostami. Jessica Biel.

BMW: Much of our work relies on convincing overseas money people to plop down a few hundred thousand dollars into anonymous bank accounts to fund our movies. Did you self-finance A Coat of Snow? And while doing so, did you use anonymous bank accounts?

GH: I did not self-finance A COAT OF SNOW. That's not a good idea.

BMW: What's the worst thing that happened while you were making A Coat of Snow?

GH: The set photos were destroyed by the lab.

BMW: How do you deal with actors who read your script and start crossing out dialogue because they're just getting paid to beat people up and don't want to say all those words? Or does that not happen in your world?

GH: I had to write a dialogue list of everything spoken in my movie. Boy, the cast did not remember their lines! They said whatever they wanted!! Oh well. It's a hard life.

BMW: One rule the producers often give us for our films is to make sure we have that one "Money Shot" of something (inexpensive) blowing up, or that one fantastic (but inexpensive) stunt. What would you say is the "Money Shot" of A Coat of Snow?

GH: God, if I had a money shot, it would be distributed. Probably the last shot. It's eleven minutes long.

BMW: And finally, if you had to do it all over again. What's the one thing you'd do differently when making your movie, A Coat of Snow?

GH: Cast movie stars.