If you're writing about a real person or events, research is a critical component that not only makes you more credible as a writer, but also helps you make informed decisions that will reinforce your story’s relationship with the truth.
Join us for a discussion in implementing research into your next project with Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Dolemite Is My Name, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Ed Wood), the master scribes of biographical dramas. We’ll study how this screenwriting team approaches their research, how they parse through collected data to identify key info to implement, and how they manage the relationship between staying true to the facts and taking creative license.
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About the Panelists
SCOTT ALEXANDER and LARRY KARASZEWSKI met as freshman roommates at USC’s School of Cinema. On a whim, they wrote a screenplay during their senior year, which sold a week after graduation.
They are best known for writing very unusual biopics with larger-than-life characters. They wrote the highly-acclaimed ED WOOD, for which they were nominated for Best Screenplay by the Writers Guild. They followed this with THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, for which they won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, as well as a special Writers Guild award for civil rights and liberties. They scripted the extremely postmodern MAN ON THE MOON, the life story of Andy Kaufman. They wrote BIG EYES, the strange-but-true story of Margaret and Walter Keane, for which they received an Indie Spirit Best Screenplay nomination. For their first television project, they created the hit miniseries THE PEOPLE V. O.J. SIMPSON, for which they won the Emmy, Golden Globe, PGA and WGA Award for Best Limited Series. Their new biopic DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, starring Eddie Murphy as comedian Rudy Ray Moore, came out this year.
Other than biopics, Alexander and Karaszewski are quite eclectic. They wrote the hit Stephen King adaptation 1408. They produced the Bob Crane biopic AUTO FOCUS, and they wrote and directed the comedy SCREWED. They have also written numerous family films, including PROBLEM CHILD, PROBLEM CHILD 2, AGENT CODY BANKS, and GOOSEBUMPS.
Alexander, a native of Los Angeles, started his Hollywood career toiling on low-budget horror films as a music editor. As a director, his work has appeared on MTV and Nickelodeon. He also wrote for HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT and the television series MONSTERS, which he directed. Scott is a Mentor in the USC School of Cinema, and he’s served four terms on the Writers Guild’s Board of Directors. He has volunteered as a Sundance Writing Lab advisor numerous times, as well as teaching at writing workshops around the world. Scott is married, with three children.
Karaszewski, born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, worked as a film critic for an NBC affiliate’s nightly news program, as well as writing and directing BEYOND OUR CONTROL, a weekly half-hour satirical television show. Larry is an active Los Angeles cineaste and is the Vice President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. His humorous commentaries on cult movies can be seen at TrailersFromHell.com.