Episode Details

“You do not have to feel beholden to the formula, but you do have to know the formula” – Benjamin Percy

In this episode of Deviate, we sit in on a lecture that Benjamin Percy gave at the 2019 Paris Writing Workshop, on the craft of screenwriting. 

Benjamin Percy (@Benjamin_Percy) is the author of four novels, including The Dead Lands, Red Moon, The Wilding, and The Dark Net. His other work includes numerous comics, his writing-craft book, Thrill Me, and his story collection Suicide Woods, out this month. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, and GQ. He currently writes the audio drama Wolverine, now in its second season, and is a regular on the lecture circuit, including at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Writers’ Workshop, Aspen Summer Words, and the Paris Writing Workshop. Find more about Benjamin at http://benjaminpercy.com/.

Notable Links:

• Jaws (movie)
• Jaws screenplay (PDF version)
• Touched by an Angel (television show)
• AWP Conference & Bookfair
• Time and Distance Overcome, by Eula Biss (short story)
• Ursula K. Le Guin (author)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (movie)
• John Ford (director)
• Quentin Tarantino (filmmaker)
• Psycho (movie)
• The Untouchables (movie)
• Winter’s Bone (movie)
• “The Chain,” by Tobias Wolff (short story)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (movie)
• Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (WWII incident)
• Pet Sematary (movie)
• The Devil’s Advocate