BPS 136: Horror Screenwriting - The Nature of Fear with Devin Watson

I was glad to take a deep dive into the deep end of horror
screenwriting with writer and producer, Devin Watson, notably known
for writing and producing The Cursed (2010) which was the first
draft he wrote in only two days.

He’s also written several books, the latest of which is Horror
Screenwriting: The Nature of Fear.

Horror has, among all of the genres in film and written works, one
of the longest, most distinguished, and often misunderstood
bloodlines in history. It is often overlooked by critics who don't
see anything more than blood and guts on the screen or a collection
of cheap scares.

But what is missed is the hard-hitting commentary on society and
life contained in those works.

Devin got his start working with the website, 'moviepartners.com'
in the late 90s which was one of the first websites out there that
really had any kind of information on independent filmmaking.

Eventually, he decided to try out writing some scripts. But reading
what every he could find to prepare him for scriptwriting. He was
influenced in a big way by Lew Hunter's book, Screenwriting
434.

Here, Lew Hunter shares the secrets of his course on the
screenwriting process by actually writing an original script, step
by step in Screenwriting 434.

When he felt ready, Devin wrote his first five scripts, all of
which turned out not very good. Not until November 2006 that he
wrote a script in 2 days for his friend, Phil Melfi. That was when
he felt confident in his work. That script became his debut
production and writing, The Cursed, which is still a sci-fi channel
Halloween rotation regular.

Devin’s book Horror Screenwriting really dives into the craft of
horror and screenwriting pretty deeply.

Enjoy my conversation with Devin Watson.

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