On March 26, I was happy to report this:

Always nice to hear when a spec sells, but especially so when it’s ‘first-timer.’ Greg emailed me last night, so I was able to congratulate him directly.

In fact, Greg was gracious enough to agree to do a GITS Q&A. And here it is:

How did you wind your way into screenwriting? When you went to college at Vassar, did you take film studies and screenwriting classes? Longtime fascination or stumble into screenwriting after college?

I earned a degree in film studies at Vassar, but really it was a life-long fascination. I remember when I was a kid, I used to carry around a book with me, in which I’d write down every movie I had ever seen. My goal was to fill that book up. I think I stopped at around six or seven hundred films by the time I hit junior high, but the interest was sprung really young. I used to ride my bike to the movies, sometimes four or five times a week. My favorite thing to do was the “double header”. Buy tickets to one, sneak into the next show. You had to plan it out in the newspaper in advance to get the timing right or you were screwed. My parents also encouraged my love of film. My Mom took me to “Pulp Fiction” when I was fourteen, and I remember my favorite movie when I was a kid was “Die Hard” thanks to my Dad who showed it to me on VHS when I was eight.

I also had a teacher in high school, Joe Truitt, who taught a class called Film Appreciation, where I was exposed to international films, Truffaut, Godard, Kurosawa, stuff at the time, we had no real access to. (pre-DVD). And we’d get to watch the actual prints. He fought tooth and nail to make sure we got to watch the original prints and not VHS. Thank God, for him. Naturally, this love of film turned into a desire to express my own stories. Since I broke every camera I ever touched, and was always a decent writer, screenwriting felt like a natural step.

What resources did you use (i.e., books, seminars, lectures) to help learn the craft of screenwriting? Which do you recommend to aspiring screenwriters?

I never took a screenwriting class, nor attended a lecture or anything like that and barely read books. You can learn everything you need to by buying the screenplays to your ten favorite films and studying what made them so effective on paper to begin with. I’d recommend that. Find good scripts and study them while networking your ass off. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than 40K a year to learn basically the same thing. No knock against film school, it’s just in this day and age, we have so much information at our fingertips to begin with.

Before you wrote “Down,” how many full-length feature film screenplays had you completed? Did you only write horror-thriller stories or test out other genres? How did you decide to focus on the horror-thriller genre?

Off the answer above, I was determined to teach myself how to write. And the only way I knew to do that was to write as much shit as I possibly could. So I completed 8 scripts in three and a half years in broad comedy, romantic comedy, horror, drama, and fantasy genres. It’s a great lesson if you have the time and ambition and one I feel worked for me. Try writing in different genres. I was surprised which ones felt more natural to me than others, thrillers being my final choice when all was said and done.

The premise for “Down” has been described in the trades as ‘Buried’ meets ‘1408.’ Both of those movies are what is referred to as “contained thrillers”. Did the inspiration for “Down” start with you thinking you wanted to write a contained thriller, either due to your interest in that as a narrative conceit or its popularity right now with the studios? Did you start with the actual idea of people trapped in an elevator? Or was your ‘aha’ moment for “Down” something else entirely?

I had the idea around four years ago. I was always fascinated with elevators and how scary they are. We never realize it, but every day we step into an enclosed box with complete strangers. For many of us, it’s the closest human interaction we’ll have all day. I always look at the other people I get into an elevator with and think, “who is that guy” or “what’s her story?” There’s this whole elevator etiquette involved as to where we stand and what we do inside the car. It’s really interesting. The natural progression of a narrative started to form around that concept. Being enclosed in a tiny space with complete strangers who may or may not have ulterior motives.

I think it’s worth noting that contained thrillers seem to be hot right now. It never hurts to have your finger on the pulse of what the desired genres are but the real skill is trying to anticipate it in advance. Write the next big genre before it becomes popular and then you’re really ahead of the pack.

“Down” is a terrific read and I don’t want to give away any of the key plot elements, but I’m curious how you approached a challenge unique to a contained thriller: How to build and sustain tension when your main characters are confined much of the time to a small space. How much of your focus in writing “Down” had to do with layering in each different narrative element to keep building the suspense and how did you go about doing that?

Thanks! I appreciate that. Tension can be a tricky thing. For me, I love Hitchcock, so I cribbed a lot of technique from him as I think most modern thriller writers do. He’s the master of slow-burn and misdirection. And that’s really what it’s all about. Slow reveals and careful manipulation of your narrative to keep the reader guessing and off-guard. I think too often, and where many thrillers falter, is the writer rushes to get to their “a-ha” moments. Slow things down. One might think it would cause the narrative to also slow, but that it easily fixed in how interesting your characters are and how quickly you get me as a reader to follow them along on their journey. You know going into the script or the film that things aren’t going to work out as happily as these characters planned when they woke up that morning. You know that. And I know your know that. It’s my job to always be ahead of you. It’s about thinking like a magician. Always keeping in mind that the fun for your reader isn’t WHEN the rabbit disappears. The fun for them is trying to figure out HOW.

A “contained” thriller poses challenges sure. But also adds some wonderful perks to your narrative. Using an enclosed space to your advantage can really up the tension. I had a couple claustrophobics who told me they had to put the script down and walk away. That’s when you know you got something good.

Did you plot out the entire story before you typed FADE IN or did you jump in and feel your way through the page-writing process? And in general, how would you describe your approach to writing a script?

First thing for me is to always figure out the big moments in the story. That includes the opening, the break into act two, the midpoint, the break into three, and the ending. I make sure I have those structural pieces in place. Then I hammer down the characters and work my way into the story. I don’t outline every scene usually as it always ends up changing anyway. For me, it’s more about getting the big pieces of the puzzle down, then letting the story and characters show me where the rest of the smaller pieces fit.

Do you work with a specific screenplay structure in mind — three acts, eight sequences, or some other paradigm? And if so, did you find that knowledge helpful in guiding you when you wrote “Down”?

I feel like Syd Field might kill me for this answer. Like I mentioned above, it’s about the big story moments. The rest is about rhythm. It’s hard to describe but I think the story will tell you where you need certain beats. It sounds odd, but it’s true. Give your story enough room to live and breathe without outlining the hell out of it, and it will show you the way. That sounds kind of creepy, I guess.

How many drafts do you think you wrote all told before the final draft was ready to go out to buyers?

Two. To be honest, I was waiting for another assignment to begin and had around a month of down time. When I’m not writing, I go out of my head, so I told my manager I was going to revisit an old idea as an experiment while I waited. Four weeks after I typed the first word, it went out. Three weeks after that, it sold. Crazy. Trust me. I know.

Your manager is Dan Halsted with Manage-Ment. How did you find him / he find you?

And I say the following with the complete knowledge of how lucky I was to get a manager like Dan, with the experience and clout he has, and me having had exactly zero scripts ever set up. Shortly after I moved to LA, I wrote a family adventure film with another writer who used to intern for Dan. Dan was the first person in the industry I ever sent a script to. The next morning, he signed me. Once again. Crazy. I know. But I guess he saw something and took a chance on me, and I’m extremely thankful.

Okay, now the fun part. Could you give us a brief rundown of how the sale of “Down” to Relativity Media happened?

Well, when your spec goes wide, it’s always an incredibly unnerving experience. If a writer tells you differently, I’d have to call him jaded. It’s exciting and miserable at the same time. I actually lost five pounds during the process. Without going into all the crazy details, I can tell you I couldn’t be happier with Relativity. They’re a driving force in this industry and I deeply respect what they do. They saw what I saw. That this would make a great piece of entertainment and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

So here you are, an outsider to the movie business having sold your first spec script. How does it feel to be a “tyro / freshman scribe”? Have you been meeting with many producers and studio execs? And what is that experience like?

I liken it to a book tour, and I hope all your readers get to experience it. Because once the stress is over, this is the real fun part. Getting to meet all these smart, fantastic producers and production companies, all of which have really cool ideas that for once, they’d like YOU to work on. It’s a little overwhelming at first, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exhilarating. For me, I’m hammering down who my agents will be, which is almost done. Then, we’ll decide what the next best step is. And the rewriting on “Down” has already begun so it’s time to get back to work.

Finally this: With “Down,” you have joined a fairly exclusive group — people who have sold a spec script. What advice do you have for GITS readers as they attempt to emulate your success?

First off, it’s possible, so don’t give up. I’m not trying to be a motivational speaker, but it’s really easy to give into that voice in the back of your head that tells you you’re never going to succeed. Just shut him or her the hell up as best you can and believe that no matter how many people may reject you or tell you you’re not good enough, all that matters is what you think of yourself.

Second, align yourself with like-minded, smart, and ambitious people and try to get to know everyone you can. It’s certainly a business of “who do you know,” and since we spend most of our times in tiny rooms, that process can be daunting. For me, my wife graduated from the Peter Stark program at USC and now works at Disney. So I made sure I got to know all the young producers in her program. It just turns out that one of them used to intern for Dan. It goes to show, you never know.

Third, keep up with the business. Follow the trades. We’re lucky to have sites like GITS that bust their ass to provide us with all this useful information. For Free! Learn the names of writers, production companies, agents, managers. Build a dialect and database in your head. This is your trade and I’d advise to learn it inside and out.

Finally, read. Everything and anything you can get your hands on. Keep reading. It should be the second most important thing you do. I don’t have to remind you what the first thing is.