BPS 138: How To Write a Blockbuster Film Career with Chris Sparling

It’s always way fun to have a guest who is also a fan of the show.
This week’s guest is definitely a member of the tribe. We chatted
up pre-interview about some of his favorite IFH podcast episodes
like Ed Burns and Joe Carnahan and I knew front hen on we were on
for a treat. My guest today is award-winning writer, director, and
producer, Chris Sparling.

Chris has written some of Hollywood's most original and fascinating
screenplays like Buried, Greenland, Mercy, Down A Dark Hall,
Reincarnate (featuring Leonardo DiCaprio), The Sea of Trees with
Matthew McConaughey, etc.

One of his latest films, Greenland, which premiered in 2020 started
streaming on Amazon prime this February.

The disaster thriller film starring Gerard Butler and Morena
Baccarin follows a family who must fight for survival as
planet-destroying comet races to Earth. Butler’s family struggles
for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster as the
planet-killing comet races to Earth. John Garrity (Gerard Butler),
his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and young son Nathan
make a perilous journey to their only hope for sanctuary.

Amid terrifying news accounts of cities around the world being
leveled by the comet's fragments, the Garrity's experience the best
and worst in humanity while they battle the increasing panic and
lawlessness surrounding them. As the countdown to global apocalypse
approaches zero, their incredible trek culminates in a desperate
and last-minute flight to a possible safe haven.

With its reception and regardless of the COVID 19 Pandemic, the
film grossed $52.3 million at the Box Office and was announced that
the sequel, Greenland: Migration is already in the works. The
continuation of the story will center around the Garritys' journey
across a frozen European wasteland to find a new home. STX has
already acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the film at
the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for the sequel with a $65 million
budget.

Chris’s path to becoming a renowned Hollywood blockbuster writer
begun on the actor’s path. He was inspired to take up writing after
the 1997 hit psychological drama film, Goodwill Hunting which was
directed by Gus Van Sant and starred Robin Williams, Matt Damon,
Ben Affleck, and others.

He left Los Angeles on a home (Rhodes Island) bound to recalibrate
and focus on completing college and writing because it was a
challenge juggling that and acting auditions. After completing
college, Sparling returned to Los Angeles. With no connections or
leads, he returned to Rhodes Island with the plan to make a movie
of one of the many scripts he had written by then. Though he had no
formal film production experience at this point, Sparling wrote,
directed, and produced An Uzi at the Alamo which is about a young
writer in search of his identity, pledges to his dysfunctional
family that he will commit suicide on his 25th birthday. As the
fateful day approaches, he stumbles upon love and a new sense of
self. Fearing family humiliation if he backs out of his pledge, he
prepares for his last birthday with the feigned support of his
family.

Of course, the film did not do well, but this is when things became
interesting for Chris’s writing career. He dusted up and sent out
about one hundred specs to studios, managers, producers, literally
anyone he could contact. He received back, only three responses and
one of which was from a manager who became his manager and still is
till this day. That was his first open door.

When I saw the trailer for Chris’s 2010 film, Buried, and the
success of it, as an independent filmmaker, I was in awe and
slightly jealous of how easy (cost, and production-wise),
revolutionary the film is. Buried is a brilliantly twisted suspense
and original screenplay that is a nightmare for
claustrophobes.

Sparling found mainstream success when his feature-length
screenplay Buried was purchased by producer Peter Safran starring
Ryan Reynolds.

Ryan plays Paul, an Iraq-based American civilian truck drive. After
an attack by a group of Iraqis, he Wakes up groggy in pitch
darkness, to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a
lighter, flask, flashlight, knife, glowsticks, pen, pencil, and a
mobile phone.

It's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.
He is left to rely on his cell phone to contact the outside world.
But the outside world proves not to be very helpful at finding a
man buried in a box in the middle of the Iraqi desert. Paul must
rely on his best resource--himself.

The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was sold
to Lionsgate Films. Buried was shown at several major European and
North American film festivals. It was nominated for and won a
plethora of European films awards because it was produced in
Barcelona by Barcelona-based Versus Entertainment, in association
with The Safran Company and Dark Trick Films.

Some of the awards included the Goya Award, for Best Original
Screenplay, a Gaudi Award in the same category, and the best
European feature film of the year award at the Strasbourg European
Fantastic Film Festival in September 2010. This $2 million budget
indie film made a gross splash of $21.3 million worldwide.

Sparling had an immediate success from Buried; between the script
going out in March of 2009 and the movie premiering at Sundance in
2010, and he suddenly needed an agent, an attorney, and everything
legit in between.

Intrusion, Sparling’s latest film will be streaming on Netflix in
just one week (September 22, 2021), starring Freida Pinto and Logan
Marshall-Green.

It is about a husband and wife who move to a small town. A deadly
home invasion leaves the wife traumatized and suspicious that those
around her might not be who they seem. Even though it was
self-defense, it was still a homicide. However, it turns out that
the home invasion was not a one-off, and there are many other
missing person cases in which the invaders may be involved. Meera
falls into a rabbit hole as she takes it upon herself to find out
the truth.

Enjoy my entertaining conversation with Chris Sparling.

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