David Benioff

David Benioff was born in 1970 in New York City and is the youngest of three. He worked as a club bouncer until he won recognition for his screenplay... more..

Biography

David Benioff was born in 1970 in New York City and is the youngest of three. He worked as a club bouncer until he won recognition for his screenplay "25th Hour," made into a film starring Edward Norton and directed by Spike Lee. The film was based on Benioff’s novel of the same name, published in 2000 while he was a high school English teacher in New York.

Benioff has gone on to write several more books since his critically acclaimed start. His short story collection When the "Nines Roll Over" was published by Viking in 2004, and his 2008 novel, "City of Thieves," was on the New York Times bestseller list for thirteen weeks. In an interview with New York Magazine, the interviewer described "City of Thieves" as cinematic, which seems only natural, since Benioff has also published more screenplays than fiction since 2002. Benioff tends to write action-packed big-screen films because, as he says, “I like blockbusters. I love Wolverine—I aggressively pursued that.” Besides "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Benioff has written screenplays for such large films as "Troy," 'Stay," and "The Kite Runner." His most recent work is the newest Relativity Media film, "Brothers."

David Benioff Q&A

For you, is it easier to write an original screenplay or an adaptation from an existing novel or screenplay?
I'm not sure about easier, but writing an original screenplay or novel is certainly more exhilarating than writing an adaptation. The joy in creating a fiction -- when there is joy, which isn't all the time -- comes from invention. Inventing characters, story, dialogue, etc. In an adaptation, by definition, a screenwriter is reworking someone else's invention. For me, the only way to achieve the same level of imaginative excitement with an adaptation is to forget that you're adapting -- to consider these characters your own children instead of foster kids you're housing for a year. With "Brothers," I started loving the process as soon as I renamed the characters from the Danish movie. Once they became Sam and Tommy and Grace and Hank, in my mind they became American and fresh born.

What do you consider your big break?
The publication of my first novel, "The 25th Hour," and the subsequent optioning of the book, which led to the job of adapting it for the screen.

Who or what made that big break possible?
A man named Kent Carroll bought the book for his publishing house, Carroll & Graf. A few months later, Tobey Maguire read the book in galleys form. He decided to option it with the intent of starring as Monty Brogan, the lead role. I met with Tobey a few times, we hit it off, and I got the rare opportunity to adapt my own novel. When Tobey picked up that book and decided he liked it, my whole life changed.

Plot or character? Which one provides more inspiration for you? Which generally drives your scripts?
It's hard for me to separate story and character. With my last novel, "City of Thieves," the initial concept was simply this: two young men are searching for a dozen eggs in a city under siege. That's all I knew, but pretty soon I was imagining the relationship between the men, the nature of their banter, the various travails they would endure. Are those issues of plot or character? I don't know; I'd say they're pretty intertwined.

In your screenwriting career do you write when you are hired for a project or when you are passionate about an idea (i.e. do you write just to write and then shop around the screenplays, or are you hired)?
At this point I'm usually hired before I start writing, but I go after projects that I'm passionate about.

What do you think makes a screenplay successful and appealing to a studio?
Well, what makes a screenplay successful as a piece of writing is not necessarily what will make it appealing to a studio. For the latter part, a script might be appealing because the studio and producers believe it will attract talent (and better yet, attract movie stars willing to cut their fees for the part), or appeal to a certain segment of the population (or hell, all four quadrants), or just because they can envision a great trailer from the material on page. But aside from appealing to a studio, what makes a screenplay successful is what makes a novel, play or short story successful -- good storytelling.

Do you someday expect or desire to move into directing your own work? Why or why not?
Yes. When I started writing scripts I knew very little about the filmmaking process. Over the last seven years I've been lucky enough to work with some of the best directors in the business: Jim Sheridan, Spike Lee, Marc Forster, Wolfgang Petersen. From each of these men I learned a great deal. A few years ago I directed a short film, produced on my own dime, just to get my feet wet, to work with actors and a DP and an editor. I loved every minute of it, including all my various screwups (which were plentiful). With any luck, the next original script I write will be the first one I direct.

What do you think is the most common error/misstep screenwriters make when adapting previously made films (especially when remaking European films in Hollywood)?
Probably choosing the wrong film to remake. Not every film should be remade. Some wonderful foreign films -- "The Lives of Others," for instance -- are so much of their country of origin that trying to recreate the stories in America seems a little nonsensical.

Have you ever experienced writer's block? How do you get past it?
I've experienced long bouts of slow writing, or bad writing, weeks where I can't seem to put a sentence together. But I've never been completely blocked. It's more like a slow drain. At the risk of sounding banal, you get past it by keeping at it. It's like Dory's advice in "Finding Nemo:" "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

What advice do you have for aspiring screenwriters to get their work into the right hands?
If you really want to make screenwriting a career -- and by that I mean, it's your objective in life, not just a hobby -- then do everything you can to give yourself an opportunity. That means putting yourself in a position where the right people will read your script. That means living in Los Angeles or New York or London or wherever the film capital of your country might be. That means getting a job in the business (many of the working writers I know started as assistants). And most of all, it means writing the best script you're capable of writing. Too many hopeful screenwriters spend a couple of months writing a script and then five years trying to sell it. Remember that you'll learn something from each script you write, including the bad ones, and that it might not be the first script that sells, or the third, or the tenth. And one last tip: instead of reading a bunch of bullshit screenwriting books by people who never wrote a good script in their life, read a bunch of great scripts.

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