Screenwriter Naomi Foner is a guest at KVIFF this year and together with Erik Jendresen is running an offshoot of the legendary Sundance Screenwriters Lab for six scribes from the region. With Park City having expanded their labs internationally, Foner – who also happens to be the mother of actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal – has already taken her expertise to India, Spain and Cuba before bringing this less official version to the Czech Republic.
How do you find the scripts you’re reading compared to those at the lab at Sundance?
It’s about the same. There’s usually one standout and a couple that are really good and several that are a mess but with good intentions. There are people with different levels of skill in terms of writing. I think the issue here – the reason they created this lab – is that rather than screenwriters working with directors people here are rather attached to the idea of the auteur and sometimes they can’t actually write as well as they direct. They feel like they need to write anyway and so they need a little coaching in screenwriting. Because it’s true that if it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage.
What are some of the other differences you’ve seen in the scripts here?
Well, people are interested in different things. Their subjects are very different. There’s a lot of work here that’s about the transition from the previous forms of government and social systems to where people are now. There’s a lot about people finding their way in a complicated world, which I think you can find in any country at this moment – young people trying to figure out what the hell is going on and then there are some that are exploring universal issues that could have been written anywhere but just happen to have been set here.
You can read the whole interview in today's Festival Daily.
