From New York to Nashville
Overview:
A struggling musician in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, spends much of his time trying to stay sober. Wanting to leave the temptations of NYC, he relocates to Nashville with his alcohol abusing ex-girlfriend. Once there, he finds that Nashville isn’t much better. Are his struggles the music, the drinking, or his ex?
A Q&A with Armand Arekian
Tell us your script name, the category you won for, and where the idea for your script came from? From New York To Nashville, Best Short Screenplay
The idea of this particular script came from the title. I came up with the title and loved it, and I wanted to work around that. With that title I had a character. I wanted a troubled musician on a journey to finding himself.
What were the toughest aspects of creating this script? How did you overcome them? My original ideas weren’t working. As I was writing, I kept hitting roadblocks. I would go back and rewrite what I had, but I would end up filing it away and starting again from scratch. I would write a scene or dialog when I had an idea. I would look back to what I filed away. Then the ideas and scenes just started to come together as the story. What inspired you to enter into the world of screenwriting? Retirement. I wrote a book a few years back, self published, then wrote two more manuscripts...a Bucket List thing for me. Instead of self publishing again, I wanted to attempt converting one of the unpublished manuscripts into a screenplay. I did and have been screenwriting ever since. I seem to get more self satisfaction when writing a script.
Do you have long-term goals for screenwriting? What are they? Of course. Like anyone else, I want to have screenplays produced. Selling a feature and seeing it get made is the ultimate goal. Besides screenwriting, have you been apart of any other aspect of filmmaking (i.e. Directing, Producing, etc)? What? In addition to screenwriting, I also do extra/background work and voice acting. Being on set fascinates me. Seeing and being part of the production process has helped me with my screenwriting.
Do you have any screenwriting/film influences or people you look up to? Richard Linklater and Cameron Crowe…I love reading their scripts, I have learned a lot about storytelling from them. I am also an a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock junkie. What's your process for creating script concepts? I always chuckle to myself about “my process”. I just write. If I have an idea, I write it down…on my laptop, in a notebook, or on scrap paper. It might be a title, or a character name, a character type, it might be a story idea. I jot it down. When it comes time to write, I just write. What advice would you give a new writer, someone just starting out with scripts? Write whatever you enjoy writing. I have found that a lot of people have a lot of advice. Write whatever works for you. And most important, don’t get discouraged.
What are you going to do next? That’s easy…keep writing. Where can we find more about you? Plug any social media links or info you'd like to share! Website: ArmandArekian.com (unfortunately I don’t update here nearly enough)
Twitter: @ArmandArekian twitter.com/ArmandArekian
Instagram: @Armand.Arekian Instagram.com/Armand.Arekian