I had the opportunity to talk with Rie Natalenko when she was in
L.A. pitching her latest project. She recently won Australia's top
award for a screenplay and was hired to write a mini-series because
of it. She's a delightful woman who is on her way to some serious
success in this business.

In the interview below, she talks about her journey as a screenwriter
and what drives her.

Here's the interview:

HAL: I watched the Industry Award show on the net and saw you
win Best Unproduced Screenplay in Australia. Is it true that when
you won your award, you kissed Geoffrey Rush?

RIE: I certainly did. That was the best thing about the award.
I kissed Geoffery Rush.

HAL: In front of millions of people! The script was "Heloise," right?
I loved that script. Didn't anyone there say "We should produce
that?"

RIE: It's set in 12th century France, so it's a story that wouldn't be
made in Australia. To get funding down there, it needs to be about
Australia, but mine wasn't. Anyway, period pieces are hard to sell.

HAL: I know. They come with a built-in negative that causes many
companies to say "no" without even reading them. So what made
you write it?

RIE: This is the script I've always wanted to write. I had done one
of your classes and thought "Now, I'm ready to write Heloise." So
in the next class, that's the script I wrote. And it did lead to me
being commissioned to write this mini-series, which also a
historical story, so that's good.

HAL: You used it as a writing sample?

RIE: I did. The producer had heard that I won the award and asked
to see my writing. I sent Heloise to him and when he got the
mini-series, he called me.

HAL: So he knew he had a damn-fine writer?

RIE: Yes!

HAL: Without giving too much away, can you tell me about the
project?

RIE: It's an adaptation of a historical novelization -- a true story that
was novelized about a bushranger, like a freedom fighter, an outlaw
- a sort of Robin Hood - and this is about a woman bushranger.

HAL: It is novelized in a way that makes it easy to write that
screenplay?

RIE: I had to do a lot of character work to give them unique dialogue.
I had to drop some characters, combine others, and even make up
a few. Also, the book was mostly in chronological order, but that
wasn't interesting for a screenplay. So I started it just after she
became a bushranger and had her earlier life told in a parallel
storyline, so in the third act, you find out the secret of her early life
just before she dies.

HAL: Interesting structure. So, have you written that yet?

RIE: I've done the treatment, a rewrite of the treatment, and the
first draft.

HAL: And the producer liked this style? He liked the
fictionalization you did?

RIE: Yes. He was very pleased with it. It was a 28 page treatment
and he gave me notes along the way. We worked out the details,
beat by beat, in the treatment. I wrote the first draft and now, he's
waiting for a polish. But he's taken the first draft as it stands out
to get more funding, which is fine. I don't mind.

HAL: You don't mind that he's taking a first draft out?

RIE: Hal, I don't write the first draft the way a lot of people do.
Most people write the first draft straight through. I write a treatment
or outline, then do something I learned from you. I select one scene
at a time and do what I can to make it perfect. I do all the things
you taught me to rewrite it.

HAL: Scene structure, character relationships, subtext, unique
dialogue...

RIE: Then I build up the script. Some scenes have been written
twice. Some have been rewritten thirteen or fourteen times. So it
is not exactly a first draft, is it?

HAL: Good point. It is the difference between a writer's first draft
and a producer's first draft. You're writing a producer's first draft.
By the way, I heard you were getting a Doctorate in Creative Arts.
Is that like a PhD?

RIE: Yes, it is. Then, I'll be able to put Dr. in front of my name. Ha!

HAL: And will that help you in the Australian market?

RIE: It won't help me anywhere. Maybe on my tax return, but I
doubt it. It is one of those things that I started out to do and I'm
going to finish it...hopefully this year. My supervisor is happy with
my work and all that is left is a polish on the supporting statement.

HAL: Well, congratulations, Dr. Natalenko.

RIE: And let me say this. I tell everyone this. With a Doctorate
in screenwriting, I learned more in your ProSeries than I did in the
whole of my Doctorate.

HAL: Wow. Now, I'm impressed. What did you really think of the
ProSeries?

RIE: I loved it. Just the daily exercise of writing a scene using the
skill you were teaching made such a difference. I think it is the
best thing I've ever come across. When I started your class, I had
a Master's degree in screenwriting and I hoped one day to become
a real screenwriter. And I was pretty far along. I'd done McKee's
class. I'd written a script that got me an emerging writers'
mentorship at "Tropnest" in Fox Studios, Australia, where I had
mentors for eight weeks, coaching me. But your classes made
me a real screenwriter. I can't tell you how much they did for me.

HAL: Well, thank you. On the other side, part of why you did so
well in the ProSeries was because you worked your ass off. You
always turned in assignments on time and you were meticulous
about using the skills. I remember watching your writing improve
almost every day, but that takes work. So why do you think you
stuck with it like that?

RIE: Because this is what I wanted to do. I'm hungry. I want to
be a screenwriter. I don't want to do anything else. And I don't
want to just write scripts, I'm here to be a working screenwriter.

HAL: Any advice for writers who have written one or more scripts
and want to make it in the screenwriting world?

RIE: Keep going. Keep learning. Read screenplays. Watch movies.
Analyze why they work or why they don't. Do Hal's classes :) and
keep improving your writing. Work every single day and don't let
anything or anybody stop you. I have a full-time job, a family, my
university work - it would be easy to find excuses why not to write,
but if you really, really want to be a screenwriter, you have to
make it your priority.

My thanks to Rie for the interview and all of her kind comments.
You can find out more about Rie Natalenko at her web site.