Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Thanks for the mnemonic, su.
Yes, indeed, the novel is published under Kate Clemens (with one "m").
And yes, alas, I have stepped on an innocent banana slug and gushed it
between my toes as I shrieked "Ewwwww!"

I chose to publish this novel under the pen name "Kate Clemens" to let my
readers know that it was going to be very different from my three previous
historical novels. I didn't want someone who wanted to read a Mary Mackey
novel about the Goddess cultures of Old Europe to be disappointed; and I
didn't want someone searching for a comic novel to think that "The Stand In"
was historical fiction. Actually, this is the first in a series of comic
Kate Clemens novels. "Sweet Revenge," which will be published by Kensington
next May, is another "Kate Clemens."
  

    

Also Kate is an interesting woman in her own right: fiercely intelligent,
tall, slender, high-cheekboned; able to jog for miles without getting out of
breath; capable of reaching all the kitchen shelves; endowed with a mass of
long, straight black hair that comes down to her waist; never shy, never at
a loss for words, never incapable of finding her car keys, able to resist
scarfing down an entire bag of potato chips while watching "The Sopranos." I
think of her as a combination of Kathryn Hepburn, Kate from Shakespeare's
"The Taming of the Shrew," and Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider."
  

    

And I bet she's a gourmet chef and fixes her own car too, right? 

One of the fantasies many fiction writers have is of getting that coveted 
film option deal. Yours seems to have happened instantly--in fact, I think 
I heard that you've already finished writing the screenplay for "The 
Stand-In."  Can you tell us more about the movie plans, and how this all 
happened?
  

    
I was about to ask where the first name "Kate" had come from.  But I
am much more interested in Kathi's question!
  

    

Renee De Palma, a director from L.A., optioned the film rights for "The
Stand In" while it was still in manuscript form. I have worked with Renee on
other feature scripts; in fact we are in the process of becoming (with a
little luck) the hottest screenwriting team in Hollywood. Renee first became
acquainted with my work when she read "The Year The Horses Came." A few
years later, she did a documentary film on a conference on Old Europe which
was put on by the California Institute for Integral studies. I was one of
the presenters. Renee filmed me and spent quite a bit of time editing the
footage (she's done amazing documentaries), so when she saw me at a concert
that fall, she came up to me, introduced herself, and we began to talk. At
that point, she learned that I was also a screenwriter (I'm a member of the
Writers Guild of America, West (the screenwriters' guild) and had feature
credits.) She asked me if I had some short stories she might film. I did,
and so our writing relationship was born.
  

    

It's been a particular pleasure to work with Renee, because not only is she
a wonderful director, she can also write screenplays, so when we work on
scripts, we work as equals. Renee did the first two drafts of the screenplay
for "The Stand In." I came in on the third draft, and together we polished
the version that is now going out down in L.A. This happened, in part,
because Renee-who is looking to make the transition from documentary films
to features-immediately saw the film potential of "The Stand In," which (and
I have to throw modesty to aside here for a moment) has a terrific role for
an actress who wants to display her range by playing both Jayne and Mary
Lynn; two great male romantic leads; and an unusually fine part for an older
supporting actress (who plays Clarice, Jayne's mother). Add to this, the
fact that the novel contains a lot of very funny situations and dialogue,
and you have an easy book to adapt into a great comedic film. All the actual
casting, etc. is now in Renee's hands, and I can't talk about it except to
say that she's getting a lot of interest.
  

    
That would be a plum part for a hot young thing who is a much smarter actor 
than she's given credit for.
  

    
I can hardly wait for the movie to come out!

Mary, when you were writing the book, did you consciously build it with
screenplay potential? Or was that a happy side effect you hadn't expected?
  

    

I've thought that Reese Witherspoon could do a credible job in the lead 
role.
  

    

I didn't consciously write the book to be a screenplay--rather the other way
around: I think visually, which is why I am a screenwriter as well as a
novelist. The movie potential of the novel turend out to be a very happy
side effect. I didn't realize it was going that way until I was well into
the third draft of the novel. Also, I've taught film for a number of years
at CSUS (scriptwriting, adaptation, history, criticism, etc.), so I was able
to draw on that background as I developed Jayne's character and the world
she lives in.
  

    

The more I think about it, Mary, the more I believe this could be an 
amazingly successful movie, but I'm at a loss to explain exactly why. 
Would you be willing to talk a little about what makes for a good 
script/story?
  

    
.. and about your fantasy cast!

In fact, I'd like to hear your ideas on casting on both levels: who'd
play whom in your wildest dreams, and more realistically, how this will
get shopped around, whether you know already whether high-end talent
will look at it, how much input you have on casting it, etc.

IOW - the dream vs. the reality.
  

    

I hate to put a damper on such a good question, but I can't talk about any
specifics with regard to casting-fantasy or otherwise--because negotiations
are in a delicate stage and Renee, as director, has absolute control over
this aspect of the production.

On the upside, I'm happy to explain what makes for a good script/story in
film terms. I not only write filmscripts, I read a lot of filmscripts, and
(as I said above) I teach scriptwriting, so it's something I think about a
lot. If you assume the goal is a film that will play in major theaters to a
broad audience, you need to look for a literary work that has a strong,
coherent narrative; strong characters; interesting twists; and a plot that
can be shown visually. Surrealist pieces-like Joyce's "Finnegans Wake," and
primarily non-visual narratives-like Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury,"
are extremely difficult to adapt. I think what you're responding to when you
say "The Stand-In" could be an "amazingly successful movie" is the story
line; the characters; the fact that it makes you laugh; and the fact that
you can *see* it. Also, as far as the actors are concerned, it has an
unusually large number of really good dramatic roles. This last quality is
very important, because without it a novel or short story doesn't have much
chance of actually getting made into a film.
  

    
It's also true that you have a very visual way of writing fiction. You 
describe scenes and people in a way that make it easy to imagine how they 
 might look on the big screen. But you don't do this at the expense 
of touching on deeper feelings or themes. Do you think consciously about 
achieving this kind of balance, or is it just something that happens 
 without you thinking about it too much, a personal style thing?

And it sounds like you have a wonderful collaborative relationship with 
your director/partner. I've heard nightmare stories about relationships 
like this, and I'm wondering how you've managed to avoid the interpersonal 
pitfalls--if there are any special tips you can share.


 
  

    

Mary, as you know I have a huge event today (Cowgirlpalooza at El Rio on 
Mission Street, SF) and won't be able to sign on again till tomorrow at 
the earliest--so, I'm going to fire a couple of other questions at you and 
urge others to join in the conversation, too.

One of the things I noticed about The Stand-In is the book's strong sense 
of place. You have this delightful story taking place in Southern 
California--it would be hard to imagine these events unfolding anywhere 
else! As a California writer, was using California as a setting an 
advantage or disadvantage?

and

Are any of the events in the story autobiographical? 
  

    

I actually spend a lot of time thinking  about the balance between plot and
character. I keep dossiers on all my characters-quite detailed ones-and I'm
fanatical about motivation. I create my characters so they have a complete
inner life that generates the plot instead of moving them around like
puppets as the occasion demands. I believe character is the soul of a novel
and I believe (along with Aristotle) that character must generate plot, not
visa versa. So although I'm glad you sense this unity, it's no accident.
  

    

As for tips about how to get along with a director/partner, I'd say the most
important thing to do is find the right person to begin with. In other
words, just as in love, some of the secret is luck. That said, there are
definitely things you can do to make a collaborative relationship work. The
primary thing is to be polite. I know that sounds positively Victorian, but
saying things clearly but civilly can go a long way towards preventing
bickering. Next, and equally important, you have to put the work first.
Forget ego. Forget your own private passions and hobby horses. Look at the
script as if you weren't writing it and ask yourself what it needs, and if
your partner comes up with an idea, don't object if it doesn't fit your
vision. Hear her out. Let her explain. Try it. Play with it. See if it
works. And if is better than any idea you've had recently, tell her so. Many
great efforts have been wrecked by power plays and pig-headed stubbornness.
Finally, be honest and ethical. Don't try to cheat your partner out of
screen credits or money. Mutual trust is vital to a long term relationship.
You always need a contract when you write a screenplay with someone (heck, I
once signed a 20 page contract for a 10 page treatment), but your partner
should know that, even if you didn't have a contract, you are an honorable
person who keeps promises. Of course, in the end it always takes two. One
person can't make it work by herself. If you have someone you can't get
along with, tips won't help you keep the relationship together.
  

    

California. Ah, how glad I am you asked. I've written novels set in Nepal,
Indianapolis, New York, St. Petersburg, the jungles of Central America,
Berlin, London, and places along the English Channel that have been under
water for the past 6000 years or so, but I don't think I've ever had quite
as much fun as I've had writing about California. In some ways, "The Stand
In" is a kind of homecoming for me-coming home to my own state; coming home
to my own time. I think being a California writer who is writing about
California is a distinct advantage, particularly when you're writing a comic
novel. After all, most of the world thinks those of us who live out here on
the West Coast are a 24/7 comedy act of 35 million sun-tanned, tarot-
reading, tofu-chomping clowns.
  

    

There are autobiographical moments in the novel, but most of them are tiny
and fictionalized in ways that make them no longer factual. For example, the
scene when Jayne gets thrown in jail with the whores is based on my 28th
birthday party. I was in Costa Rica with my then-husband, a tropical
ecologist. One of his colleagues was married to a woman who had (before her
marriage) been a sex worker and she still had a lot of friends in the
business. The women threw me a big party in the bar where they worked (and
ignored quite a few customers in honor of the occasion). I held a lot of
stereotypes about whores at the time and so was amazed to discover how
conventional these women were in every other respect except that they sold
sex. They showed me photos of their kids, talked about money problems,
dental problems, and men problems (the men being their boyfriends. Their
customers were sometimes a problem but weren't "men problems" in the girl
talk sense). They'd just presented me with a cake and sung the Costa Rican
version of "Happy Birthday" when the cops raided the place to check the
women's papers (you have to be licensed to be a whore in Costa Rica-at least
you did at the time). No one could produce the proper documents, so the cops
started to take my new friends of to jail. I said that if they were going to
take them, they'd have to take me too. Since I was obviously a gringa,
clearly not a sex worker (when I travel I dress in comfortable, colorless
baggy clothes that make me look like a missionary), and perhaps totally
nuts, the cops decided it wasn't worth the bother. So they left, and the
women and I ate the cake and drank rum until the moon rose.
  

    
(well, you might not be able to talk about your dream cast, but I'd
love to see Renee Zellweger in the lead.)
  

    
Hi Mary (& everybody), I'm joining the fun a bit late here--I had
intended to read "The Stand In" on vacation a month ago, but discovered
too late that my daughter had absconded my copy! (You'll be pleased to
know she enjoyed it.) Then I was totally buried with work after I got
back. So I'm reading it now. 

I'll be back with some questions (you know me) about "The Stand In,"
but all this talk about film options etc. has given me one about your
neolithic triology: 

Were any of those books ever optioned for the movies? If so, what (if
anything) came of it? It always seemed to me that those novels were
ideally suited for translation to the screen, since they had strong
character, strong plot, and a strong visual element. It occurred to me
that Hollywood might have been scared off by what I take to have been
the failure of "Clan of the Cave Bear," an enormously successful (if
largely unsatisfying) book but a bomb of a movie. But your stories were
not only better books, they woulda been better movies (not to mention
being set in a more recent time and therefore offering the additional
virtue of, um, *dialogue*). So, nu?
  

    

Renee was my original choice, as well.
  

    
(Yes!  Mine, too!  Witherspoon had also crossed my mind.)
  

    

Phil, you naile it. "Clan of the Cave Bear" did poorly and scared Hollywood
off prehistory. I agree that the trilogy would make an exciting movie.
Perhaps this will happen some day.
  

    

From Goddess595:

Mary,
I'm a huge fan of all your work. The Stand In is an exceptionally funny
novel. How do you envision a lot of the dialogue in the novel being
translated to scenes on the screen?