For screenwriter Alan Sereboff, 2000
was a very good year. Working as a location manager, Sereboff
couldn’t have imagined-even a year ago-that today
he would be one of Hollywood’s most in-demand screenwriters.
Simultaneously, he is working on several high profile projects.
His screenplay, The Payback All-Star Revue, is currently
in development for Icon and Miramax. Sereboff was also tapped
to write the screenplay for the Christina Ricci vehicle Adrenalynn,
and to adapt Robert Sabbag’s brilliant drug exposé Snowblind.
Somewhere in between the chaos, Sereboff also landed the coveted
job of adapting Mario Puzo’s last novel, Omerta, while
signing a three-picture deal with Miramax. Here, Alan talks
about struggling in LA, his meteoric rise to the top, and how
he manages to get the job done.
Jennifer M. Wood (MM): You
made the move from Baltimore to LA in 1992. What were those first
few years like for you?
Alan Sereboff (AS): I
had such a rocky road. The first four years were really spent
trying to figure this town out and survive. Just financially,
you try to get past the point where you’re looking for the
chili cheese dog dinner in between the sofa cushions.
MM: Did you ever regret
your decision to move to LA?
AS: It literally got
to the point where I had my plane ticket to go home. On the way
to the airport, with two hours to kill, I was looking around and
saw this painting in the window of an art gallery. My father is
an artist and the painting in the window was by one of the artists
he had worked with. I went in and started talking to the woman
about the painting. She offered me a job, so I decided to stay.
MM: What was your
first job in the industry?
AS: My first real
job was on Money Talks (1997). I was working location
and, after six months of pre-production, they decided to switch
directors to Brett Ratner. Production shut down for the most part,
but location stayed up. I never made it a secret that I was a
writer on anything that I was working on. Word got around that
I was the only other person besides the producer’s assistant,
Alyss Dixon, who knew how to use Final Draft. So my software knowledge
got me my first “writing job.” I got to write Doug Llewelyn’s
brief news report-my first words on screen.
MM: How did the opportunity
to write your first script, The Payback All-Star Revue come
about?
AS: I went to high school
with a guy named Mark Mower, but lost touch over the years. I
went to a writer’s conference out here and ran into Mark,
who was working at CAA. He asked to see some of my stuff and liked
it. Mark said ‘I’ve got this idea and am wondering if
you could come up with a story.’ His idea was about seven
lounge musicians who rob the hotel they play in. I was
intrigued. He is now producing the film.
MM: How long a span
of time was it between this coincidental meeting and Icon’s
optioning of The Payback?
AS: There was this long,
three and a half-year evolution of Payback before Icon
got a hold of it and stepped in. The screenplay also went into
Miramax at the same time literally five different ways. It never
really evolved until Icon got into the mix and pushed it through.
Kevin Lake and Karen Glasser (VP and President of Production,
respectfully) over at Icon took such a great risk with the Payback
project, and spent so much time developing it with me and Mark,
that they are as big a part of it as anyone.
MM: Then how did Adrenalynn
come your way?
AS: Because they were
interested in getting the Payback script to a certain director,
the script was sent to ICM. At ICM, Tracy Brimm read the script
and they signed me. Mark Finkle, who was also on my team there,
sent the script to Andrea Sperling and Christina Ricci, who were
looking for a writer for Adrenalynn. They were really going
after some A-list writers, but they responded to the Payback
script.
MM: Does the idea
of penning a comic book movie make you nervous? Your job is to
come up with a story-beginning, middle and end-while
the series itself is still ongoing.
AS: I don’t know
that you necessarily have to punctuate it with an ending. The
main thing here is that you have to be true to the theme. Especially
with something that has such a cult following, like a comic book,
you want to try to be as true to it as possible.
MM: Is it intimidating,
though, knowing how much trouble writers have had in the past
adapting comic books to the screen? Look at the number of writers
that were hired and fired on X-Men alone.
AS: Not at all. I had
the total support of Tony Daniel, who wrote the comic. He had
seen the treatment and approved, which meant a lot. You just have
to be true to yourself and the medium you’re working in.
You hope the audience will respond to it, but if you’re
really going to worry about that, then an adaptation is probably
not the thing to do.
MM: Let’s talk
for a minute about Omerta, obviously a highly coveted project.
How did your name get on Miramax’s short list of writers?
AS: Because Payback
had circulated through Miramax, it garnered some attention.
People liked the way it was structured and the way it was written.
MM: Did the fact that
they called you to pitch it give you a bit more
confidence walking in the door?
AS: It’s Mario Puzo!
MM: They’re already
talking about an Omerta sequel. How does this affect
your adaptation, knowing you might have to squeeze another movie
out of one book?
AS: The process for me,
really, is the same. I read the book through and through, and
underline everything that I think it important. That is what I’ll
include in my first script.
MM: You’re also
the tenth writer to attempt adapting Robert Sabbag’s Snowblind?
AS: Snowblind’s
been adapted about nine times, that’s what I’ve heard.
It’s very tempting to adapt it straight but the thing is,
it is an investigative report. Zachary Swan is a smuggler
who, in real life, encountered very little resistance because
he was so good at what he did. The lack of conflict due to his
superior smuggling abilities really doesn’t play well. That’s
where people have run into trouble.
MM: You grew up in
the same section of Baltimore as Barry Levinson. How has his work
affected you?
AS: My best friend back
East is Barry Levinson’s nephew, so we got to hang out on
the set of Avalon. It was just magic to me. Barry’s
attention to detail has stuck in my mind all these years. Just
the things he would notice and the way he spoke to actors. And
his dialogue is genius. Anyone who can sustain a two-minute conversation
on ‘Do you want a bite of my sandwich,’ come on.
MM: Success has found
you relatively quickly. If it all went away tomorrow, would you
be happy just to have had this experience?
AS: You know I’ve
always said that [laughs]. When I was saying my prayers every
night I’d say ‘If you just give me the chance, I won’t
care,’ but now I do. I’m waiting for the other shoe
to drop.
MM: So, let’s
see, we’ve got a Las Vegas heist, a cyborg out to destroy
America, an untouchable drug smuggler, and a crime boss trying
to go legit. There’s a theme here. Even been arrested, Alan?
AS: Arrested, or convicted?
(The answer, to both, is no.)
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