Part 1.

I knew I wanted to be screenwriter........

A. I knew I wanted to be a screenwriter when........ I kept waking up at night with ideas for scenes. The darned things just kept coming.

I know I've succeeded........ 

When I stopped talking about writing and started doing it every day.
 

My inspiration to write DIVING INTO THE WRECK.....

The challenge of doing a mash-up of a tender coming-out-of-the-closet story and a violent crime drama. Essentially, I wanted to write the kind of movie I’d go see in a theater.

Part 2.

FilmMakers Magazine: What inspired you to write?

Srdjan Smajic: Initially, teenage angst. (What else is there when you’re 17?) Subsequently, narcissism: the vain conviction that I have something earth-shatteringly important to communicate to the world. More recently: the humbler hope of telling a good story – and understanding people better through the act of storytelling.

FilmMakers Magazine: How did you prepare yourself to write your first script?

Srdjan Smajic: I read a lot of screenplays, of course. I plotted out the story in meticulous detail before taking the plunge. Most importantly, I convinced myself that it’s fine if I screw this one up as long as I learn from my mistakes. In a sense, I wrote my first script with eye on my fifth script – the one that’s really going to kick ass. Almost there now.

FilmMakers Magazine: Is this your first script and how long did it take you to complete?

Srdjan Smajic: This is my first solo project, yes. It took about 6 months to complete.

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you have a set routine, place and time management for writing?

Srdjan Smajic: I have a full-time job and a part-time job on top of that, so writing time is very precious. I walk to a coffee shop and sit for an hour with whatever project I’m working on. If it’s more than an hour, great. If it’s less, that’s fine too. It doesn’t even matter if I actually put any words on the page. What’s important is the daily routine, the incessant habit of doing it every single day.

FilmMakers Magazine: Do you believe screenplay contests are important for aspiring screenwriters and why?

Srdjan Smajic: Definetly. Yes. Contests offer the opportunity to get your work read by professionals and to see how your writing stacks up against other aspiring screenwriters. Contests also give writers firm deadlines, and I think we could all use more of those.

FilmMakers Magazine: What influenced you to enter the FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards / Screenplay Contest?

Srdjan Smajic: I had read some very positive reviews of the Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards. It’salso a nice boon to have top-placed scripts delivered tothe Radmin Company for consideration.

FilmMakers Magazine: What script would you urge aspiring writers to read and why?

Srdjan Smajic: That’s a really tough one. Every good screenplay is an opportunity for a writer to learn something valuable about the craft of screenwriting. Let me mention three very different examples that I like to go back to for inspiration on matters of structure, narrative pacing, and character development:The Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton,Brokeback Mountain by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, andThe Savages by Tamara Jenkins.

FilmMakers Magazine: Beside screenwriting what are you passionate about and why?

Srdjan Smajic: Literature. Literacy. Education. Because everyone should be.

FilmMakers Magazine: Who is your favorite Screenwriter and Why?

Srdjan Smajic: William Goldman. Butch and Sundance AND All the President’s Men AND Marathon Man AND The Princess Bride?? Hats off.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the director you would love to work with and why?

Srdjan Smajic: Steven Spielberg. Because he’s Steven Spielberg.

FilmMakers Magazine: Name the actor you would love to work with and why?

Srdjan Smajic: Meryl Streep. Because she can do anything.

FilmMakers Magazine: Any tips and things learned along the way to pass on to others?

Srdjan Smajic: Read. And I mean read everything. Screenplays, of course, but also novels, short fiction, poetry, history, politics, sociology, psychology, physics, cook books, auto repair manuals, police reports – you get the point. Be a voracious reader. Nothing good can come of writing that isn’t soundly grounded in reading.

FilmMakers Magazine: What's next for you?

Srdjan Smajic: I’m staying busy with several irons in the fire: a cop drama/coming-of-age story set in Southern Louisiana, plus a cross-generational romantic comedy. I want to try my hand at different genres.

FilmMakers Magazine: Where will you be five years from now?

Srdjan Smajic: Doing what I love – writing. Will that also mean professional success? I hope so. For now: nose to the grindstone. These things don’t write themselves.