Norm Golightly Interview

Interview with Norm Golightly

Norm Golightly graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and got his start in the movie business by working for CAA as an assistant in the motion picture talent department. He has worked for Saturn Films, Nicholas Cage's company, for the past year as the Vice-President of Creative Affairs. Norm is also a writer. He has written for MTV and is currently scripting a movie for HBO.

SSSD: Spec Screenplay Sales Directory
GOLIGHLTY: Norm Golightly

SSSD: What is your responsibility at Saturn Films?
GOLIGHTLY: A wide variety of things actually. I look for untapped writers, young people who have not yet been discovered, not even signed by any agent yet, who have great ideas for films, both for Nick (Cage) to star in and for our company to produce. I try to get a hold of these writers, and find projects for us to work on together. Then, once we're working with writers, established or unknowns, we develop the scripts to a point where we feel they're ready to be sold to some sort of buying entity-- an independent financier or one of the major studios. I'm on the projects from beginning to end.

SSSD: Does Nicholas Cage have an active role in the development process of these screenplays?
GOLIGHTLY: Very much so. This is his company. He takes part in all aspects of the company. He obviously has a very busy day job that keeps him out of the loop sometimes. But Saturn is definitely a huge priority for him and anything we're working on he's well aware of and he's as hands-on as he possibly can.

SSSD: If the new writers don't have agents, how do you find them?
GOLIGHTLY: A lot of times they'll seek us out. People with access to a "Hollywood Creative Directory" across America can easily pick out our names and often do so, obviously because of Nick's association with the company. We're one of the few companies who will actually talk to people who don't come to us through the agency route. We field phone calls from just about anyone, and the first step is really a phone conversation to see where people are coming from and what their ideas are like. The next step is looking at a synopsis or a treatment. We can't accept scripts from everybody just because we don't have the manpower to go through them effectively. But if there's something we sparked to either in the conversation or on the written page of a synopsis or a treatment, then we'll be happy to look at the screenplay further.

SSSD: Before they submit a treatment, do you want them to sign a release?
GOLIGHTLY: Unless they're coming from an agent or an attorney, we'll ask them to sign release forms.

SSSD: How hard are you looking for spec scripts right now?
GOLIGHTLY: Spec scripts are always an interesting case. When I think of spec scripts, I usually mean big spec sales going out from the agencies here in Hollywood, and those aren't a priority for us. We don't have what's called a discretionary fund. We have a deal with Touchstone Pictures, meaning they pay our overhead and they get a first look at anything that's brought to our company. Once they pass on the material, we're allowed to go elsewhere, but we don't have those discretionary funds, meaning we don't have a bank account that allows us to go out and purchase specs in a huge bidding war for a real hot property in Hollywood. That's not necessarily where we focus our efforts. We focus more on the person in Ohio who's written a screenplay and doesn't yet have a financier with the project--that's technically a spec screenplay, as well. So we do look at those scripts.

SSSD: So you might get a screenplay from someone in Ohio, and you think it needs work. Do you work out a deal to do some development on it?
GOLIGHTLY: Sure, we got a couple of those different scenarios where the writer isn't necessarily strong with character, dialogue, or plot, but there's still the core of an idea. We'll option the material, work out some agreement with the writer and try to set up a project with the studio. Once it's set up with either a studio or another type of financier, funds become available for us to actually develop the project to the point where we feel it'll be ready to make into a movie.

SSSD: On occasion do you work with writers before you have the project set up anywhere?
GOLIGHTLY: Oh, definitely. We're big fans of writers here. Everyone who works for the company has worked on both sides of the camera; writers, directors, actors. We consider ourselves artists even though we're technically "suits." We're fans of the artistic integrity of the process and if someone brings us an idea then, I'd like to see them get the first shot at reworking it. Whether they're well known or not.

SSSD: Then, once you set up a script with a finance company or a studio, do you ask that the original writer get the first shot at the rewrite?
GOLIGHTLY: We try to do that, but it depends on the writer's background. If they brought us a great idea, but they just can't seem to deliver on the page, then obviously someone else will be brought in to rewrite. Once it gets to the studio level, we don't always have the ultimate control. Once it's with the studio and they're actually paying everybody's fee, then they control the project. They have a great amount of say in who gets to work on it from that point forward. Of course, we do as well, but it's a collaborative process and each studio has a pocket of writers they like to work with. We do as much as we can for the writer and deal with it on a case by case basis.

SSSD: Any particular type of material you're looking for now?
GOLIGHTLY: We have a wide range of taste, here at Saturn. From the big, popcorn, summer action movie down to dark comedies, very black comedies, like a "Fargo," and even darker than that. So, we're all over the map. A couple of things we are looking for: We're all big fans of the family around here, so family dramas are always popular here, in the "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Ordinary People" vein. And also, something we haven't seen in a while, but that we've been actively looking for, is the old-fashioned horror piece like "Shining," "Rosemary's Baby," "The Exorcist"-the good, old way, not necessarily the slasher "Scream," "I Know What You Did Last Summer, " genre. But other than that, we almost always look at everything. We don't have any specific genres we tend to avoid. We like it all. It's all about the quality of the material and the idea.

SSSD: Nicholas Cage is not necessarily attached to these projects as an actor, correct?
GOLIGHTLY: Definitely not. The company was set up by him to become a bona fide, producing entity. Obviously he's a wonderful actor, and he is one of our top choices always because we're fans of his as well as coworkers. We'd like to see him do all the movies that come to Saturn, but there's only so much of him to go around and at the end of the day we want to make a number of movies a year and he's very much in demand right now. He's not going to be able to do all his company's movies as well. Our priority is to make movies. If he's in them, great. If he's not, that's fine too.

SSSD: Please tell us the stages a screenplay goes through after it's submitted to your company.
GOLIGHTLY: Depending on where it's coming from and how busy we are, we hire readers. I try to read as much as I can. If we have it covered, I'll certainly read the coverage and if I like the concept, I'll take a look at the screenplay. We don't always rely on the reader's comments. It's more about looking at the synopsis and getting an idea of the piece, and seeing if that's a type of material we'd like to be involved with. Once the project has been read, we'll have a discussion. Everybody in the company, including Nick, decides if it's a project we want to go forward with. Depending on the scenario, we figure out what the best way to proceed is. That means going to Touchstone first because that is where our home deal is and they have first shot at anything we generate.

SSSD: If a reader says that the writing is poor but the idea is great, do you still read the screenplay?
GOLIGHTLY: That doesn't mean that the project is dead in the water at all. At the end of the day, the story is the important thing. You can always find somebody who can rewrite characters or dialogue, but making movies is storytelling. Finding great stories is what's important.

SSSD: How many pages do you need to tell if the story is going anywhere?
GOLIGHTLY: I usually try and read the whole thing to be honest with you. Sometimes you will find some pretty horrific pieces which I'll put down before the end, but I'd say usually twenty-thirty pages into it you can tell a lot about the writer and you can tell where the story is going. If it is a good story, you should be hooked within the first ten-twenty pages. You should want to continue. The writer should capture you and make you want to finish the screenplay.

SSSD: Do new screenwriters fall short on any particular aspect of writing?
GOLIGHTLY: It's probably what we talked about before. It's the story. People out there can write the snappy dialogue in the wake of movies like "Pulp Fiction." "Pulp Fiction" is a great movie, I'm not saying anything bad about it, but writers forget that there's a great story underneath. All some writers walk away with is great dialogue. So people wind up with 110 or 120 pages of great dialogue, but then you realize not a whole lot has happened. It really is about finding a story and then finding the characters and the dialogue that service it instead of just coming up with two hours of pop culture references that don't really involve the reader or ultimately the audience in any way. hing We also hear a lot, usually from young writers, phone pitches a la "The Player," comparing their scripts to existing movies. Such and such meets such and such. "Groundhog Day" meets "Platoon" or something. Its sounds like a great short cut, but it isn't always so. The established writers usually don't use that approach. You should be able to sell your project on its own merits. Don't reference it with other movies.

SSSD: Can you tell us about the rewriting process? Particularly when it comes to working with new writers.
GOLIGHTLY: That's a case by case basis and very specific to the individual writers and their screenplays but there are some people who once they've written one draft of the screenplay, they're stuck on their plot, characters, and the dialogue. They feel like they may have written the bible and that's how it supposed to remain. Unfortunately, that's not always the case and that doesn't mean they've done a bad job. But maybe it's not what we're looking for or what the buyers are looking for, and we have to tailor it to our needs or, ultimately, the buyers' needs, because they're the ones with the money. So it is definitely to the writers' benefit to keep an open mind and not get too stuck on what they generated initially. The more pliable they are, the more likely it is that they will end up seeing their movies on screen.

SSSD: Any last bit of advice for a new writer trying to break into the biz?
GOLIGHTLY: Try to find and agent. Our company is in the minority in that we will talk to people if they aren't represented. Most production companies or studios, however myopic that is, tend to focus on people who are represented and have credits. If the writers have a chance, they should find an agent, preferably in Los Angeles, with any established agency. The agent will help them get their material seen around town. I wouldn't advise unknown writers to aim for the big agencies like CAA, William Morris or ICM. Although they are wonderful agencies, the writers might be better served with one of the smaller agencies who would be running around town really hustling for them.

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