Benjamin Thomas Hopwood

What inspired you to become a screenwriter, and what keeps you motivated to keep writing?

My father helped me write creatively as a youngster and my uncle is a writer. I guess it’s in the Hopwood blood.

Can you tell us about your writing process, from the initial idea to the final draft?

I try to see it first. Daydreams are a place where I always start. Music is always there. Places I have been play a big part in the construction of the main locations. People I meet, work with, read about. I pick all of these details up and keep them safe until the time calls for them.

How do you approach creating characters, and what techniques do you use to develop them?

This really used to slow me down when I attempted to write before. So, I decided to use people for my life. This gave me a quick way to visualize them, then describe them, know how they move, react, speak. It’s not necessarily that they’re the exact same person, but a base to not stop me from getting to the story.

Can you share with us a bit about your latest project and the story behind it?

In the Valley of Hoops started in real life. I moved with my family to the small town where it is set and the story began to build itself around me. Being a first-time screenwriter, I’d had no formal training in how to write a script. But having worked in the film industry for almost two decades I had read a script or two and understood the format and basic principles. I was going through a personal trauma at the time. The breakup of a marriage. The script became a sort of therapy session. I began tentatively at first. Understanding that the time for hiding emotions away had passed. The death of my father, early in life, became the death of Jacob’s wife in Hoops. The struggles of becoming a father, my relationship with my eldest son. It was, a moment in life where, even though surrounded by turmoil, everything came together. Whether it goes anywhere is incidental. It has already served its purpose and that was to save me.

What do you think sets your writing apart from others in the industry, and how do you showcase your unique voice?

I don’t consider my voice to be unique or that it sets me apart from others. The story is the real jewel here. What started out in real life and ended up in fiction has captured to hearts and minds of almost all who have been given the chance to read it. The story is not new. It’s a story as old as they come. A father, a son, challenges to overcome, together, as a family. Great stories never change,. They simply get passed on. The location changes, the characters swop places, but the story stays the same.

How do you balance your personal creative vision with the needs of producers, directors, and other collaborators?

As an unproduced screenplay there are no producers or director yet. But there are collaborators. Friends, family and colleagues have all supported me as I have moved forward with the project. It’s really thanks to them that the project thus far on a whole has been so successful. Each collaborator carefully chosen to support in a different way to the next. Grammar and spelling, dialogue, drama, pacing, production design. I sit in an ideal position in life, a family of teachers, friends who work in higher education, colleagues who work in film. In that regard I am very blessed. Each set of eyes sees the world in their own special way.

Can you talk about a particularly challenging moment you faced while working on a project and how you overcame it?

The page count. In the beginning I told myself to just write and not to worry about where it finished, just to get it over the line. The first draft came in at one twenty something, maybe even one thirty, forty. It was this moment I found most challenging. The chopping away at characters and places I’d fallen in love with. So, I stopped. After a while I came to terms with what needed to happen and decided to create a technique. I took a pass and shortened my scene descriptions. Another pass at dialogue, then another at what wasn’t driving the story. With each pass I became more comfortable with changing things. Until everything settled. The story unchanged, but tighter. The character still there but sharper, and the places and feeling still intact but refined and concise. The fear of change had gone, replaced with the ability to move forward, only in smaller more digestible steps.

How do you see the role of screenwriting in the film industry evolving, and how do you see yourself fitting into that future?

It’s been a great experience thus far. I have got to the top of my profession as a Property Master for film and high-end TV and have been soul searching for the next step. I would truly love it to be this. From idea, to script, to screen.

Can you share any advice or tips for emerging screenwriters who are just starting out?

Just start writing. I gave myself some page markers. Get to ten and if it’s not working or you can’t begin to feel it, then stop. Ten to twenty, twenty to forty. I had a sketch and scrapbook, so anytime I got stuck I would just turn my thoughts to how the places might look, what the soundtrack might be. It seemed like an excuse to begin with, but after a while the technique began to work. The scrapbook became as important at the script pages. Pinterest folders too. They became a great way to gather images to support the daydreams. I’m sure this method isn’t new. But it’s the one that really supported me all the way through.

Finally, what are your long-term goals as a screenwriter, and what legacy do you hope to leave in the industry?

I would love nothing more than to continue to write. As a single father with a full time career its challenging to say the least to find those pockets of time. I am working towards making ITVOH as I am keen to direct. I have another script with others in development. It would only take one to change the game. Maybe this one, maybe not. But I have a funny feeling.