We have our first screenwriter in today's installment of Seven Questions In Heaven. Ryan Levin, writer of Some Guy Who Kills People, talks with us about the movie, horror films, The Simpsons, and John Landis.Tell us about your writing career for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
I really can't imagine anyone is unfamiliar with my work, but just in case one of your readers has recently emerged from a cave or a submarine, here's a quick bio: My first job in "the biz" was as a PA on Scrubs, where I eventually moved up to writers' assistant. While there, I wrote one episode, my first writing credit. Getting to write an episode for, what was then, my favorite comedy on television was pretty damn cool. I then spent a couple years trying to get a full-time job on the writing staff of a sitcom–-any sitcom--but instead found myself as a writers' assistant on several shows. Those shows, while quite good, didn't last very long and I never got promoted to full-time staff writer. I was simultaneously writing more TV scripts on the side, as well as making stuff for the web (Benny: Escaped Convict). I also made a short film, The Fifth, which had some nice success on the film festival circuit. I eventually landed some full-time TV writing gigs, working on a Disney show for a couple of years, and then a Cartoon Network show. And somewhere in there, in 2010, I made my first feature film, Some Guy Who Kills People. It's a dark horror-comedy that I had been writing off and on for a few years and then finally raised the money to make. We recently sold the film after taking it around the world to 40-plus festivals, and I'm extremely happy with how it's all turned out thus far. Now, I'm writing more features and still writing for TV.
Who are your influences and idols?
I always struggle with this question because there are so many people whose work I adore or admire or am seethingly jealous of, but they don't necessarily influence my own work. In terms of who has had the biggest influences on what I write, or who I would kill so that I could suck their talent out and inject it into my own body and brain, I guess I'd go with Christopher Guest, The Simpsons writers (those who wrote for the show during the golden years: George Meyer, Al Jean, John Swartzwelder, Sam Simon, Conan O' Brien, etc.), and Martin McDonagh, the Irish playwright and screenwriter. He's had a myriad of plays on Broadway, and he also wrote and directed the film, In Bruges. His work is what I aspire to write. There are plenty more people whose talents I greatly envy, but we'll keep this somewhat short.
