It was a pleasure to speak with the talented and awesome Brooke McMaster about “The Caddie” and her latest projects. Check out the interview below.
Hi, Brooke! Thank you for granting the interview. We’re excited to speak with you. You’re a screenwriter and script doctor. Tell us what a script doctor does.
A script doctor’s role is to rewrite or polish aspects of an existing script, with attention to characterization, pacing, dialogue, themes, and structure. A lot of people refer to our work as the ‘fixers’ of the filmmaking process. It can be likened to work that of a surgeon – you’re tasked to fix specific issues, whilst keeping the main body intact. I’m often brought in during pre-production, but it’s not uncommon to be called in at the final hour. It can be something as simple as punching up jokes, to entire structural changes. It’s a careful balance of putting your signature stamp on a script, but also maintaining the integrity of the original text.
For several years, you’ve worked on major studio productions, such as Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, and Paramount Pictures. What are some of the project and your role in the production?
The consequence of being a fixer is that most work goes largely uncredited. The written by credit that we eventually see on screen isn’t always entirely reflective of the work that goes into the script. It’s very difficult to obtain credit within the Hollywood system, and I’ve had my fair share of arbitrations over the years. I have enjoyed work on many different feature films and television programs – sometimes under a pen name, a private for-hire writer, and ghostwriter for leading screenwriters and studios. I’m always under the scrutiny of non-disclosure agreements and other contractual obligations, but I hope that through each project I manage to leave my mark in some way. The types of projects range from cold-war dramas to comedies.
You recently received a grant from the Screen Queensland Talent Development Fund for your pilot. Tell us more.
The Caddie – After an office affair descends her personal and professional life into chaos, a woman returns home to live with her somewhat-estranged mother in an attempt to recover her life, when her troubled golf pro-ex-boyfriend re-enters the picture.
The one-hour dramedy can best be described as an initial tragedy of arrested development that soon blossoms into a tale of overcoming adversity, whilst healing old wounds along the way. All set amongst the backdrop of the greatest game ever played – golf. We see the repair of relationships, their possible rebirth, and answer the question we all encounter: ‘is this life enough?’ Throw in a few seven irons, a complicated dynamic, and some laughs, and you have The Caddie.
Screen Queensland is a fantastic film body located in Australia that cultivates and invests in the industry for Queensland based projects and practitioners. They were responsible for securing Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and the new live-action Dora The Explorer film is currently in production in the southeast. It was honestly a huge surprise to be chosen to receive this grant, as it’s the first instance of an original project that bears my name. After years of writing for other people, it was incredibly validating to see my work be acknowledged and supported in my home country. It’s a rare opportunity, and I thank them graciously for offering it to me.
What do you hope to accomplish with the grant?
The script is currently in the development stage. I’m mid-way through a twelve-week re-drafting process that should see the script ready to pitch to studios and production houses. Ultimately, I want this project to be a launching pad for a career that’s been largely shadowed in anonymity. Though the business side of the work is in my sights, the grant has given me the opportunity to concentrate solely on the writing process and the intentions of the work.
There’s a real purpose in writing a script showcased through the eyes of a cast of flawed personalities making their way in the world. It’s also about transmuting the seed of doubt that golf is for a certain demographic and opening up that world to an entirely new, and welcoming audience. Golf is certainly a game of ego, and a battle of the mind, but it is also about integrity. It punishes and exalts all with equal opportunity, much in the same way it parallels our lives off the course. At the moment, it’s about serving the story and finding these parallels, as opposed to thinking of how it will be perceived after it leaves my hands.
When choosing talent for your projects, what do you look for?
As someone who comes on board projects at a later stage, usually, productions are already cast. It’s a rare opportunity to meet or research the actors in order to really play to their strengths and further develop their characters as a result. You’re often looking for hidden talents, the rhythm and cadence of certain accents, and even an actor’s physicality can really influence dialogue and certain inflections in the script.
What was your favoite movie to date?
I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some incredible sets in my capacity as an actor also. The Thor: Ragnarok set was unlike any other I have encountered. Taika Waititi is a remarkable director that didn’t make his foray into filmmaking until his 30s, and yet he commands a very expensive set with relative ease. Not to mention, he is a fashion icon and one of the funniest people you will ever meet. The mood on the set and willingness by the actors to play with the material was a different process to the more structured style of production I had seen previously. It was a really enjoyable time with wonderful people working on it, and being filmed in my hometown was a real treat.
Is there a favorite talent you would love to work with?
I’m very taken with the wave of British actors that have steadily been on the scene for a number of years. I recently saw Benedict Cumberbatch in Patrick Melrose and was in awe over his layered performance. Tom Hiddleston was incredible to study on the Thor: Ragnarok set, and his foundations grounded in Shakespeare and training at RADA serve him so well as the thinking man’s actor. He was brilliant in a film I always return to, The Deep Blue Sea and his work as Hank Williams in I Saw The Light is severely underrated. I’m very intrigued at working out the personal vulnerabilities behind a person through the construction of identity. My father is a mimic, so I’m drawn to those who can embody voices and characters that differ from their own. These two are wonderful mimics and are always diverse in the roles they choose. Writers like particularly malleable actors they can entrust to inhabit equally dark and light places, and these actors do so with endless curiosity. The actors I’ve always admired follow their curiosities and instincts to lead audiences into completely new territories. Just when you think you have them pegged, they completely transform. Anyone who can do that excites me as a writer and a viewer to no end.
There’s an anonymity that I find particularly attractive in actors that allow them to take on such compelling and versatile roles. I like mystery and intrigue to my movie stars. Tom Hanks is the ultimate selection. There’s a real earnestness every-man that he brings to roles. I admire his decency and sincerity with everything he takes on. He’s the reason I became interested in the film industry in a more serious way than just a casual observer after seeing Forrest Gump when I was 7. I suppose I owe the world to him, and I’d gladly give it.
What has been your favorite experience in making your pilot?
My most favorite experience in making this pilot has been taking the time to devote to an original project that is uniquely my idea from start to finish. Instead of pulling apart something that already exists, it’s the process of crafting an entire world that wasn’t there before. Just when you think an act is shaping up nicely, an idea might strike that turns the entire episode on its head. It’s the idea that it’s a constantly evolving document, and the driving force is all character driven. I’ve also had a fantastic mentor in the brilliant comedy writer Ed Driscoll (https://twitter.com/theeddriscoll) who has helped with guidance and consulting during the progression of the script. To have not only an Emmy award-winning writer, but a truly genuine friend that is so giving of his time, and offering sage advice has been really fantastic. He’s a wonderful addition to the process.
When looking back on your career, what resonated with you the most and why?
I think mostly what’s resonated for me is not the personal triumphs or weighted losses, but what I’ve learned from character’s I’ve written for. It’s easy to fall into the trappings of emotional entanglement and see that redemption is all but destroyed, but redemption is there for those who seek it. It’s been a study in human behavior and the use of masks – how we are found to not always say what we truly feel and how well you can hide personal indiscretions. However, that’s what makes us truly interesting. The idea that every one of us is vulnerable, but we all choose to project a certain image of ourselves fascinates me. We’re absolutely influenced by the culture of distorted identities – if not subconsciously – and I find myself analyzing what’s going on outside versus the inside at a constant. We’re a world that’s obsessed with masking turbulent inner turmoil, and I learned more about humanity and my relationship with those around me from scripts than anything else.
In your opinion, how could screenwriters an impact on the world?
I’m of the opinion that films can be ideal catalysts for change. The Internet certainly has transformed the way we share content and ideas, and we’ve entered an age where content is swirling around us at every waking moment. I don’t always agree that film and TV should serve as some form of high art or moral compass, but neither do those that exist in escapist bubbles should necessarily be the pinnacle of storytelling. However, each project should prove to be transformative in some way. Art should strive to hold a mirror up to society, acting as a sort of prism that strives to seek the truth of the subject. Technology has destroyed some of that truth, where movies and TV can succeed in influencing people not only on an emotional or spiritual level but inspire active change. The industry is at its most diverse yet, and stories are emerging from places that were largely undisturbed previously.
There are many instances, but perhaps the best example is in the 70s, where the Scorsese’s and Francis Ford Coppola’s of the world started to take over the crumbling studio system. They created this emotional immediacy and gritty realness with Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now that managed to provide political commentary of the time, but still entertaining. They went on to inspire legions of creatives, and provide viewers with an insight into themes they hadn’t been confronted with before. The films we’re making now are still informed by these extraordinary eras. TV and film feed off each other and it’s more about the perception of the viewer now more than ever. The impact can be small or rather significant, but it is an impact no less.
If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose to be a screenwriter? Would you do anything differently?
It would be all too easy to mythologize the narrative of my life and say I was destined to become a screenwriter, but the truth is I initially had other ideas for my path. I always knew I wanted to be a creative, and enjoyed almost a decade as a music journalist and comedian, but it was acting that drew me to film and TV at a very young age. In actuality, it was an illness that led me to write as a form of expressing myself when physically I felt unable to. Writing made me feel supported in a world of isolation – it prevented me from being consumed by the startling reality of the current maddening world. As Margaret Atwood said, ‘a word after a word after a word is power.’ I found my power through writing – and wonderfully continue to do so – to the point where I can’t imagine myself attempting any other occupation outside the creative arts. Because, there are always more stories to be told, and there will always be more complexities of the human life to discover.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about the pilot and your career?
At present, my focus is primarily on the development of my pilot. I can still be found writing and selling jokes for comedians around the world, in between completing my Masters and a Classic Literature postgraduate course. I have a couple of films that are being released in the coming months that I very much enjoyed working on in my capacity as a script doctor, and they will benefit from some much needed time off to recharge.
As for my original pursuits, I’d very much like to devote more time to novel writing, and in turn, write the film adaptations of them. The future is limitless right now, and I burn with the same optimism that I inherited as a child. I look forward to many more impossible deadlines and delving into the hearts and minds of characters I’ve yet to meet.
Connect with Brooke:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bubbaMcMaster
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