Interview with Winning Screenwriter John Lucas Bowman (THE COLD SLEEPER)

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

Hudson, hotshot CIA Agent with photographic memory, learns that his slightly senile Grandpa is a forgotten Soviet sleeper agent who is reactivated when his former handler Korolov escapes a Russian mental institution.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Action Comedy

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

It’s a tale of conflicting loyalties, of compassion and what it means to be family, and an exploration of what to do when you fall in love with the enemy. Those are very human topics most spies struggle with. – But mostly because the movie is funny.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Great entertainment!

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Some like it hot.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

I wish I could crank it out over the weekend, but it took some doing and a couple of @#$% rewrites.

7. How many stories have you written?

Enough to cease counting.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

Everything Clapton.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

Finishing something is no problem. Making something compelling is the real challenge. (for me)

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

The search for intelligent life on earth.

11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

Having a screenplay read out loud is a valuable experience that reveals whether the script works or not. The initial feedback was helpful in the rewrite.