Leila’s NYC Midnight Interview and Winning Scripts Published

Available at: https://www.nycmidnight.com/blog/leila-murton-poole

From an original field of over 1,800 writers, Leila Murton Poole took home first place in the Screenwriting Challenge 2021 after three rounds of increasingly difficult challenges. Check out the screenplays she wrote for the competition below in addition to an interview about her experience!

Congratulations on winning the 18th annual Screenwriting Challenge from an original field of over 1,800 writers! How long have you been writing screenplays? How did you first get started?

Thank you so much—it was the greatest surprise ever! Making it through to the final was really exciting in itself but winning was on a whole other level. I’m not sure I’ve recovered from the shock. It was an honour to write alongside so many talented writers.

I’m still relatively new to scriptwriting. In 2019, I graduated from Sydney Film School where I wrote my first script. I’m an aspiring director and I soon realised that writing your own material is a great step on that journey. After graduating, the next script I wrote was for your 2020 Screenwriting Challenge which also happened to be my first writing competition. Getting to the second-round last year encouraged me to keep writing so thank you! I’m still finding it hard to believe that I won this year. My goal was to get to the final, so winning was an incredible extra.

We see that you’ve participated in several NYC Midnight competitions in addition to the Screenwriting Challenge 2021. What is the most rewarding aspect of the competitions for you? What is the most challenging aspect?

Yes, the Screenwriting Challenge 2020 was my first competition and I’ve been back for every one since, both screenwriting and prose. It’s fair to say I’m addicted!

The most rewarding part has been the network of writers, and now friends, that I’ve met through the competition. I’d recommend anyone signing up to future contests to make use of the forum where you’ll receive incredible feedback from your fellow competitors in addition to the official feedback you receive from the judges. It’s a great space to learn and meet others with similar interests, gaining beta readers for the competitions and beyond. Aside from that, it’s very rewarding to have completed scripts/stories that otherwise would never have been written. This is particularly important for me as I’m a huge procrastinator and really need a deadline to get going. As a filmmaker, it makes it even more worthwhile as I now have new scripts to make into films.

The most challenging part for me is choosing the ‘right’ idea. I usually come up with several and find it hard to decide which one is best. I try to choose an idea that feels unique and isn’t too predictable. Then, there is always the balance between using the prompts creatively but also safely enough to not be disqualified. I can also find it difficult to judge whether an idea will be too complex for the page limit in advance of writing it out. I actually threw out my original script for the first round and started “The Engineer of Magic” with only a couple of days to go as the initial one wasn’t quite working within 12 pages. I’m glad I did! 

In your first-round screenplay, “The Engineer of Magic,” two timelines were seamlessly woven together into a heartfelt plot. The flashback scenes benefited the pacing, allowed Josef’s character to develop further, and explored how his personal history informed his present. What is your method for establishing a coherent plot that depicts both the past and present so clearly?

Thank you—I think this was my favourite script I wrote for the competition. I know that many writers are wary of flashbacks but I believe that they can be so powerful if used effectively. For me, it’s all about the transitions—finding audio and visual cues within the past and present narratives to connect them on more than a superficial level. Flashbacks are typically used to give backstory and show what has changed over time but I try to focus on the elements that have stayed the same.

As an example, one of the transitions in “The Engineer of Magic” features the ticking of a wall clock in the present which then becomes the ticking of a wristwatch in the past. So, there’s the audio and visual cue to bridge the time gap but the ‘ticking clock’ is also symbolic. The guard asks Josef to fix his watch and yes, Josef can fix the physical watch but nothing can solve the decreasing time he has left, either in the past with Rachel or in the present with ‘Will’. The characters further reference this in their dialogue; “We don’t have the time to be angry.” So, for me, it’s all about finding thematic connections which may not be noticed explicitly by the reader/viewer but hopefully resonate on a deeper subconscious level to connect the two time periods seamlessly, but also meaningfully.

In “The Ghostodians,” the plot unfolded through powerful visual storytelling, with minimal dialogue. The unique premise of each human having their own guardian was delivered in an authentic, believable way. Do you have any suggestions on how to make fictional worlds engaging and comprehensive? Are there any challenges that come with world-building without relying on dialogue?

I think part of making a fictional world engaging can come from finding a widely relatable theme and then setting it in a ‘new’ and less familiar world. At its core, “The Ghostodians” is a story about a lonely woman looking for a connection in a world where connection seems increasingly impossible to find—a recognisable and relatable premise. However, the idea of having a guardian ghost and using them to help find this connection is more unusual and also quite comforting. So, I think it’s about finding stories which allow this escape while simultaneously addressing common concerns and fears. In terms of making the world comprehensive, I believe it’s all about focusing on the details. By doing so, this can make the world feel more complete. If you focus on the parts of your world that are unique then the reader’s imagination will fill in the rest. I think it’s about the smaller, rather than bigger, picture in a short script.

Scripts are obviously all about what can be seen on screen but even more so when the dialogue is stripped back—it practically eliminates the ‘telling’. I quickly realised that this was a story that didn’t need dialogue to be told. It’s a story with a universal premise and so I wanted it to be universally accessible too. I think the main challenge, particularly as the script will be read rather than seen, is making sure the action text isn’t so dense that it becomes difficult to read. Then, of course, getting across what you want to ‘say’ without saying it. In terms of characters, I really focused on facial expressions and movement. I also used ‘text’ to communicate important details like their names on jumpers. It’s important to avoid this feeling gimmicky and so their matching clothes became a pivotal part of the story, partly fulfilling the ‘coincidence’ prompt.  I also like to include music which can say so much without saying anything at all. If the reader knows the song, it’ll immediately set the tone. 

Your winning screenplay, “What Goes Up Must Come Down,” explored a romance that spanned decades, within the events surrounding the Berlin Wall. Portraying a complete story within the page limit is an amazing feat. What is your secret to developing a compelling plot and sympathetic characters within five pages?

Thank you! Good question! I’m not sure I would call them secrets but there are a few things I seem to come back to when writing short scripts. These obviously won’t work for every story or genre but I find them useful to think through.

Firstly, it can be useful to rely on the familiar. I know Historical Fiction has the reputation for being difficult but setting the story during a well-known period or event can be advantageous for a short script. It immediately situates the reader so that you can then focus on the plot and characters rather than setting. Having said that, ‘familiarity’ doesn’t have to be historical either; “The Engineer of Magic" is also a dark retelling of Pinocchio. Whether this is explicitly noticed or not, it should resonate on some level for those who know the story.

Secondly, I like to minimize dialogue. Purely from a formatting perspective, dialogue takes up a lot of space so minimizing it can help free up room for more action text/story. It’ll also help cut back any exposition that may have slipped in and force you to think of a different way to ‘say’ it—often much more effectively, and visually, too.

Finally, I try to write a shorter story than I think will fit in the page limit as I always end up writing more and it also means that I have space to expand with those important details. It can also help prevent unintended ambiguity which can creep in when having to cut a story down.

Admittedly, I don’t always stick to the above, as you said “What Goes Up Must Come Down” spanned decades and wasn’t an idea that I initially thought could fit in five pages…  Oh, maybe one last ‘secret’: there’s nothing that a montage can’t solve ;)

In “What Goes Up Must Come Down,” the uncertainty, fear, and grief of the historical period were also established well throughout the plot. Historical Fiction is a challenging genre to execute, yet the gravity of the events was shown successfully without detracting from Sabine and Tomas’ relationship. Are there any challenges that come with creating screenplays that employ multiple genres? Do you have a typical routine that involves outlining and researching beforehand, or does your work evolve organically?

I love mixing genres! In terms of challenges, specifically for the competition, you don’t want to stray too far from your designated genre to ensure you hit the requirements. However, I do think mixing genres can open up prompts that may initially seem restrictive, often paving the way to a more unique and creative story. If you get a genre you don’t like, try mixing it with one that you do! I actually didn’t realise “What Goes Up Must Come Down” was Historical Fiction before I came to write the genre on the submission form. I thought of it more as a romance set during this extremely difficult time.

Personally, I avoid plans and outlines for shorts as I find them limiting. I prefer for the story to develop as I write and allow it to adapt as necessary on the page. I also typically visualise a script before writing it down so, if anything, I would draw it out. I usually don’t write anything for the first 24 hours (even for the 48-hour round)—obviously this is slightly more of an issue for the final! I spend a good amount of time brainstorming ideas and the story I end up writing is rarely my first idea, although it was for the final round. I lost a good amount of time going back and forth with other ideas before coming back to “What Goes Up Must Come Down.” I wasn’t sure if 28 years could fit in five pages.

Although I don’t ‘formally’ plan, a certain amount of research will go into every script, particularly to ensure historical accuracy and specific details. I find going down Google rabbit holes to be the best preparation for writing! Something that I’ve found useful in the early stages is to really focus on the prompts—which sounds obvious—but I really research the definitions including the unusual ones. There have been new definitions of words that I’ve learnt just through this competition. I even created a new word based on the prompts in the second round, combining ‘Ghost Story’ with 'custodian’ to make “Ghostodian” and the story grew from there.

You were assigned Drama and Ghost Story in the first two rounds, and chose to write Historical Fiction/Romance in the final round. Which genre was your favorite to write during the competition? Which was the most challenging?

I really enjoyed them all. I find Drama to be the most ‘open’ and enjoyed mixing it with Historical Fiction and elements of magical realism. I was about to say Ghost Story is more prescriptive but I really enjoyed doing something a little different and less traditional with it. It seemed the most challenging at the time before the story clicked—I started a few scripts that round! In the final, I wrote the story without thinking about genre which is the fun part of an open genre final. All the scripts ended up having an element of romance too, so I’ve realised that’s something I also like to include.

Do you have plans for the screenplays you created during this competition?

Yes, I would love to make them all into films! Although they would all be quite high budget… I’ve also never made an animated short so would be looking to collaborate with an animation production company or producer. In fact, I’m always on the lookout for producers so if anyone reading this is interested, please get in touch! I really like “The Ghostodians” as a Pixar-style short and I also think “The Engineer of Magic” works well in its current short form. “What Goes Up Must Come Down” is the most expandable so I’d consider developing this into a feature to really do the story justice.

According to your website, your short film, “Le Miroir,” has won multiple awards. Congratulations! Do you have any updates on this project that you’d like to share?

Thanks so much! We’ve been very fortunate to have had a very successful festival run. “Le Miroir” is a dark fairy tale/fantasy about a mute French orphan who accidentally breaks a mirror belonging to the most superstitious lady in the world but, at its core, it’s a story about finding your voice and not being afraid to use it. We’ve just had our online release with Omeleto on YouTube which is very exciting and anyone interested can watch it here: https://www.leilamurtonpoole.com/film

What has been the most rewarding aspect of directing your own film(s)?  What part of the process proved to be the most difficult?

Harnessing the power of collaboration is a very rewarding process. I’m so grateful to have had such amazing casts and crews work on the films I’ve directed. It’s really inspiring to work alongside like-minded people towards the same creative goal. It’s also hard to beat the moment when you first see the film on the big screen, thinking back to when it was once just all in your head. Nothing can quite compare to witnessing a live audience react to your own film.

Each project has its own unique challenges. I personally like to be very involved in all aspects of the production which means that your time gets stretched on set when it should be mostly focusing on the actors at that stage. It’s good to recognise when you need to take a step back from production issues and focus on performance. So yes, balancing time effectively can be a little tricky when so many things are going on but it’s all part of the fun!

What advice would you have for a new writer looking to take their screenplay from the page to the screen?

This advice is based on short scripts and I’m going to start by contradicting myself—twice! Having said that these scripts are high budget and how important a team is, you can absolutely make films with no budget and on your own (speaking from experience, although the latter is admittedly a little trickier). It’s about using available resources and being able to recognise and go after valuable opportunities that can be beneficial to all involved.

Treat all limiting factors as creative challenges! Much like this competition, restrictions can often produce the most creativity. There are amazingly talented people who are willing to put their time into creative work if the potential of the project is clear. Needless to say, having a really good script is of vital importance as this is often what will engage people’s interest in the project. So, spend the time getting advice and feedback on the script to ensure it’s the best version of the story (within reason as this process can go on indefinitely…).

If it’s your first film, start small but aim high! Surround yourself with the right people and you can’t go too far wrong. Finally, accept that things will not go to plan and sometimes it will feel impossible but it’s all part of the journey.

Do you have any other upcoming projects you’d like to discuss in the world of screenwriting and filmmaking?

Having made a few shorts, I’m starting to move into longer form content now. I’m working on a dystopian television drama which originated from your Flash Fiction competition. (Can you tell I’m obsessed?) In many ways, I also see “Le Miroir” as a proof-of-concept short and so I’m considering expanding this into a feature. As mentioned, my biggest problem is procrastination—any chance you could start a feature film competition? That would definitely get it written!

As discussed, I would also love to make all three of the scripts from this competition so watch this space…