Charles Haine became famous in our minds by shooting a t-shirt cannon full of hair scrunchies into a crowded audience at the home of Shane Black as part of our event announcing the first slate of Gauntlet Endorsed scripts. His script, THE SCRUNCHIE MOVIE, is definitely a favorite among many of our readers. We wanted to know more about the man behind the script!
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and focused my initial job hunt on becoming a reader
and writing coverage. I interned for a producer, Cedering Fox, who had me read scripts
and mentored my initial feedback and helped me build a portfolio of coverage that I
submitted around town to get work reading.
I read for Appian Way, Creative Artists, and countless others, including working with
"The Dude" Jeff Dowd on story notes for Animation. I went on to get my masters in
Cinematic Arts from USC in 2006, and in 2008 started a production company, Dirty Robber.
While at Dirty Robber I directed the feature film ANGELS PERCH starting Joyce Van
Patten, Ally Walker, and many more.
I sold my stake in Dirty Robber to move to Brooklyn and start a position at the
Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema where I'm currently both Chair and Executive
Director. While at Brooklyn College I've continued writing and directing, most
recently with the feature documentary MULTIPLE CHOICE which is currently screening
at festivals and is being distributed by Roco Films.
I briefly was one of the hosts of the Discovery show UNCHAINED REACTION with the Mythbusters.
What made you want to become a screenwriter?
At some point in high school I realized that my favorite thing in the world was iterating on an
idea. The act of spinning out a story, then doing it again, then doing it again, until it was
worked out, was the fun part for me. I knew I wanted to work in movies, and it was the period
where I got to college, and I started making things. I loved being on set, but I also realized
that being on set was out of my control.
But no matter what if I woke up and started writing before I did anything else my day felt complete.
I felt more balanced, and whole, and comfortable in myself. Which was the point where I devoted
myself to a daily writing practice.
Your favorite film or TV show?
"The Wire" is the best work of motion pictures in any format, TV or film, ever made.
Who is your favorite screenwriter/filmmaker?
Billy Wilder
Favorite movie snack?
Black licorice jelly beans. Yes, I know, it's insane, but they are fucking delicious.
Do you have a favorite movie theater experience?
Right after wrap on ANGELS PERCH, I had just gotten back to LA, and a friend had purchased tickets to HOW THE WEST WAS WON in full 3-strip cinerama at the Dome. They don't setup all three projectors often, so the house was packed full of cinema nerds who relished the chance to see the film in the format it was intended for. The movie itself is wildly uneven, but being in a room so full of just pure cinema nerdery was a delight.
What is your screenwriting hot take?
You are only allowed coincidences in the first act; if anything in the second two acts requires a coincident the audience will be annoyed.
Before submitting to the Gauntlet, what was your strategy for breaking into the industry?
I've been trying for 25 years! I moved out to LA, bounced around, met people, started a company, got little
things made, but never really built the robust network of managers and agents I should have.
I did 13 years in LA, went to graduate school at USC, and I try to go to festivals and networking events
pretty regularly. I also hosted the NoFilmSchool podcast for about 8 years.
What are your overall screenwriter goals?
I try to write a feature or pilot every year. I have a 7 year old, so that feels like plenty.
Up until now, what have been your screenwriting "wins?"
The gauntlet is the first! I've been writing a long time and I figure I'm just now "getting it." I was a finalist for Sundance Lab in like 2007. I still apply there basically every year or two and to some other contests when it feels right.
How many screenplays have you written?
6 feature length scripts, and a few web series and countless short scripts.
Have you always written features?
Mostly, yeah, I like a feature. I still mostly like watching movies. I like a complete arc. There is amazing TV, of course, but I love a movie.
What is your favorite genre to write?
Business comedy/drama. I just love the world of work, I find it fascinating and under-covered in movies.
Is there a genre you'd like to try in the future?
I'd love to write a Western but haven't cracked it yet.
What is your writing process?
I wake up 2 hours before my kid, feed the cat, make coffee, and write until she wakes up.
I start with a vomit bucket where I just keep putting all my ideas for a script into a document
for as long as I can. I try to wrestle those into a pretty traditional 8 sequence structure,
but I'm not obsessed on that at this point. Just whatever comes to mind.
Eventually scenes start coming to mind, so I create a Scrivener document ( Scrivener rules) and
start making cards for each scene and just getting everything I know I have down. Then I start
moving those cards into sequences once I start to see shape.
From there I just keep revising, over and over. I almost always end a session "in the middle"
of a moment, so I put a little note of where I want to pickup tomorrow. If I don't have that,
I just start from the beginning and grind it out.
I'm in a weekly writers group, so I share pages there and get feedback and give feedback,
and I try to read at least one feature script a week that is either "one of the greats" or "one
that I've heard is hot now and I can find" so I keep digging deeper.
I think reading is part of writing and writers should read scripts often.
Do you have any tips on starting a new screenplay?
Starting is usually more about knowing what to abandon. I generally have 3-4 ideas I'm thinking about, and I keep filling their vomit buckets, and eventually one "strikes" and I am off to the races with it. But that means letting the others go.
What about finishing one?
Finishing is hard because there is always more to do, so it's mostly about peer review for me. When I hit that wall where the writers group doesn't have major notes and I can read it through and not cringe it's time to send it to the proof reader.
What is the first thing you do after finishing a screenplay?
After it's proof read? Well, now I'll submit it to the Gauntlet, but previous I'd just send it to anybody I know.
As the Hollywood landscape shifts, how has that changed your approach to the industry?
It's impossible to predict where things will be in 2 years, and movies take so long to make, that I think the only move is to just try to write the best goddamn thing you can and see where the cards fall in the end. People still love watching movies and television; new things will keep getting maybe. Maybe less than 2018, but it's not going to disappear entirely. Make the thing you are passionate about and it'll work itself out.
Any tips for other up-and-coming screenwriters?
Just read more screenplays than you think you need to read. Keep reading the current scripts, find last years Black List and find as many of those as you can and read them. Read as may Gauntlet scripts as you can once they are public. Then, you know, any day you write is a good day.