Interview with Kim Garland

Kim Garland is a screenwriter from Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, and a co-founder of Scriptchat. Through her production company, City Kid Films, she is currently in pre-production on a short film, “Vivienne Again,” a supernatural thriller she is writing and directing.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University’s Writing Program and worked in book publishing at Random House and in development at Braven Films.

You can contact her on Twitter @kim_garland, Facebook Vivienne Again (short film) and read her blog at www.kgarland.com 




What is the current project you are working on?

“Vivienne Again” – a short film

I wrote the script and will be directing for the first time!

It’s the story of a woman who wakes from the dead in a funeral home and with the help of one of the funeral home employees, tries to figure out who killed her and how she can get her revenge.

I’m working with an amazing producer, Roberta Munroe, who is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, author and former Sundance shorts programmer. As a first-time director, and having not gone to film school, I’m thrilled to have someone with so much passion and experience on my team. Not to mention, we’re having a great time working together!

We’re shooting in NYC this August and I couldn’t be more excited about this film.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Actually, I always wanted to be an actress ;) When I started college after high school, I was a Theater major, but life got in the way and I had to drop out of school.

I’d always written though but never considered pursuing it as a career.  It wasn’t until I decided to go back to college that I’d become committed to writing and majored in Creative Writing.  It still wasn’t a straight path from there to today, but I started the journey and have never stopped.

 What inspired you to become writer?

Simply put: Reading.  I’ve always been a voracious reader, and while it took me a while to see writing as the flip side of reading, when I needed to take stock of my passions to try and find a career, books and writing were at the top of my list.  A close second though was movies and if you combine writing and movies… that’s how I find myself in screenwriting today.

What is the best thing about being one?

Writing is a surprisingly accessible calling. You don’t need lots of money or special equipment or a team of helpers to sit down and write. It’s therapeutic, creative and enlightening. And it's a great excuse to develop a rich fantasy life for yourself and not have people think you’re (too) crazy!

 What is the worst thing about being one?

Getting paid.  And I don’t mean that in a flip way.  We all need to pay bills and when you want to invest all of your talents and efforts into something that so few people are willing to pay for, you have to build your life around compromise.

I’m not one of those people who can say I have to write because I’m not good at anything else.  I’m actually quite good at a number of things – things that even pay well – and that’s when you know you have no choice, when you turn down a “good living” to write.

Why did you decide to create Scriptchat?

Five of us created Scriptchat because we were looking for a screenwriter’s water cooler on Twitter and didn’t find one. Writing is lonely work and breaking into the movie business is daunting, so bringing as many of us together as we could, who were all in the same boat, seemed like a great idea.

There’s so much that can be said about Scriptchat – too much for this interview – so I’d recommend anyone wanting to know more to visit the Scriptchat site [www.scriptchat.com] and to reach out to the other founders as well. They are four amazing people and I’m so lucky to have them as my colleagues and my friends: Jeanne Bowerman, Jamie Livingston, Zac Sanford  and Mina Zaher.

Have you had any other jobs before you decided to become a writer?

I worked as a hotel desk clerk for a number of years before returning to college (and boy, the stories I have from those jobs!), then after college I worked in book publishing and then co-founded a website design and development company.  Through all of those jobs I wrote, but it wasn’t until the last five years that I’ve been pursuing writing as my primary career.

What is your opinion on movie remakes and book to movie adaptions?

I have no automatic aversion to either but I think remakes should be measured against a very high bar since the story has already been told as a film – there should be a really good reason to make it again in that same format.

Books-to-movies seems like a natural progression of telling that story since such different things can be done in books and in movies.  I’m always a sucker for the movie version of books I’ve read and my expectations tend to be pretty in check about adaptations so I usually enjoy them.

You could have any super power. What would it be?

The power to freeze time for everyone but me. I could then get all of the writing done I want and never have to miss out on any other parts of my life.  While time was frozen though, I might also rob banks, cut long lines and see what’s really under those kilts, but, you know, I’d mostly use the power for writing.

Thanks for doing the interview Kim. I'll be sure to spread the word about “Vivienne Again”.  I hope I get the chance. to interview the other founders of Scriptchat as well.