Exclusive Q&A with "Brooklyn's Finest" screenwriter Michael C. Martin

We are privileged to have an exclusive Q&A with Michael C. Martin, screenwriter of the movie Brooklyn's Finest which opens today in theaters nationwide.

* First a bit of chronology. Evidently you took a film appreciation class at South Shore High School in Brooklyn, then studied film at Brooklyn College. Did you first develop an interest in screenwriting in school or did that happen later, and if so, how? And was there a specific moment you can remember where you thought about screenwriting, "Hey, I think I can really do this."

While at South Shore High School, my teacher, Mr. Braun, gave our class an (extra) credit assignment; create a clip collage to express an idea, theme, or tone. My clip started to circulate around school and random students would tell me how much they enjoyed it (a collection of Scorsese, Spike Like, and Kubrick films). After that I dedicated my life to filmmaking. I worked two jobs in order to put myself through Brooklyn College film school.

* While recuperating from a car accident in 2005, you entered your script "Brooklyn's Finest" in a screenplay competition and came in second place. How many full-length screenplays had you written when you wrote "Brooklyn's Finest"? How is it that you managed to get representation from that screenplay competition?

“Brooklyn’s Finest” was my first attempt at a feature length screenplay. Previously, I had written two short films, one of which was my thesis film in Brooklyn College.

While recuperating from my car accident -- I found the IFP(Independent Feature Project) screenwriting contest. The deadline was in three months. A perfect ticking clock.

The IFP is great. I can’t praise them enough. They provide a ton of panels and meet-and-greets, which provide great networking opportunities. I tend to be very introverted and reserved and a mandatory Producer/Screenwriter panel allowed me to meet a producer -- Jeanne O’Brien-Ebiri -- and she was my rabbi in terms of helping me land an agent, a TV staff job, and ultimately getting Brooklyn’s Finest made. I was (and in many ways still am) “green” about the business. Jeanne pounded the pavement for my script and for that I am eternally grateful.

* After that, you landed a gig as a staff writer on the Showtime series "Sleeper Cell." Was that based solely on the strength of "Brooklyn's Finest" or did you have to write a spec TV episode? What did you learn as a writer from that experience working on a TV series?

My agent, “at that time”(big cliche), had previously represented the creators, Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, great guys and great writer’s. My agent gave them “Brooklyn’s Finest.” I met with those guys on a Tuesday. On Friday I got the job. On Monday I moved out to LA.

That experience through me right into the fire, no layover in the frying pan. I took a leave of absence from my transit job to work in a writer’s room with novelist, playwrights, and accomplished writer’s. I learned so much in that room -- there’s the creative side of TV/film and then there’s the collaborative side of it. Collaboration involves fellow filmmakers and development executives.

So many of the tools and tricks of the screenwriting trade involve crafting your words for a “reader.” In my experience that breaks down to a simple rule: filmmakers needs to “feel it.” Readers need to “understand it.” Meaning, while your movie/TV show is still in the written format, the reader will/might require information than the final audience doesn’t need.

* So back to the chronology, you've written this script "Brooklyn's Finest," which helped to get you an agent, then a writing position on a TV series. How did "Brooklyn's Finest" go from a writing sample into a go movie? And when you wrote the script, did you honestly think it would ever get made into a movie?

Jeanne O’Brien-Ebiri and Mary Viola are responsible for getting this movie made. Jeanne was the first person in the industry to read the script and she was responsible for getting me an agent and the staff job. And once the script was out there, it came across Mary Viola’s desk at Thunder Road as a writing sample for New Jack City 2. Mary, a native New Yorker, worked like hell to sell it to the head of Thunder Road, Basil Iwanyk. Basil was an executive on Training Day, he had a great relationship with Antoine. And once Antoine attached himself to the script...Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes, and Ethan Hawke followed. Within weeks it received a greenlight.

Oddly enough, I never imagined Brooklyn’s Finest as a feature film -- well, not a star-studded feature. If anything, I wanted to win the contest, continue to make short films, and then maybe one day direct Brooklyn’s Finest on a very modest budget. I had no aspirations toward making a “spec-sale.” The original draft of the script is very much in the tone of a DeSica film crossed with Jim Jarmusch. It still blows me away to see what it has become now.

* What was your creative spark to write "Brooklyn's Finest"? The script takes place primarily in Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York. Had you lived there? Is "Brooklyn's Finest" an example of 'write what you know' or more fiction than reality?

I grew up near the Pink Houses. A couple of friends of mine grew up there. But the inspiration for the script came from a few Italian neo-realism films; Nights of Cabiria, Umberto D., and The Bicycle Thief. The stories were simple, primal, and focused on everyday people. People who symbolized the soul and relentless spirit of post war Italy/Sicily. I’ve always wanted to tell stories in the vein of those films, and at that time my roommate was in the police academy, he encountered an experience that reminded me of the Italian films that I admired and that’s how “Brooklyn’s Finest” began.

For me, Brooklyn’s Finest, involved me writing what inspired me. The moments, actor’s, and images that made me want to become a filmmaker; that was the creative drive.

* You use a narrative approach of multiple parallel story lines that eventually intersect, something akin to movies like "Crash," "Traffic," and "Syriana." Had you seen any of those type of movies and were you inspired by them to take a similar approach with your script, or is that a narrative choice you made independent of seeing other movies?

I like all three of those films, but they weren't prevalent in my mind while writing the script. Brooklyn's Finest as written before I watched Crash -- I was happy to see some similarities. But I think all interlocking/ensemble movies strive to dramatize the same theme: we are all connected.

* It's hard to write a screenplay where there is just one plotline; handling three so they worked both independently and together must have presented some unique challenges for you. Was managing all that difficult? If so, what were the most challenging aspects of that writing process?

I enjoyed and embraced the challenge of three plotlines. It allowed me to condense the storylines to the most important moments, and, at times, to plug holes in the narrative with moments that intersect. That was especially helpful in the second act.

The third act offered the huge challenge of driving it all home. But a ‘meet up’ moment didn’t seem real to me. So the characters simply passed each other like ships in the night. Following a rousing climax, each storyline concluded in an epilogue; a brief window into how those storylines will continue on

* In your eyes, what are the key themes of "Brooklyn's Finest"? Were those themes clear to you from the beginning or things that emerged through the process of writing the script?

I knew the central theme immediately: Morals. What drives good men to make bad decisions. Especially when there's no easy answer to their moral dilemma. I never set out to make a "cop movie." The original draft offered little violence, no detective work.

* The movie has an amazing cast and director. As that group was getting attached to the project, what was your reaction? And did you work closely with the lead actors and Fuqua (the director)?

Antoine is such an improvisational director. The script got a makeover in development and on set. The majority of the changes would take place in rehearsals. We would record each session and the actors were free to improvise. Some new scenes developed during those sessions. Everyone added and contributed to the final product. It was a complete team effort.

* Finally you are living proof that a writer can be a complete Hollywood outsider and on the strength of a great spec script, break into the business. Given your experience, what advice would you give to aspiring screenwriters?

Tell a story. I know that sounds like an obvious answer, but that is usually the answer to every script problem. Sometimes the need to satisfy everyone's sensibility results in getting away from your story. Don't get overly concerned with casting, marketing, set pieces, character introductions, etc, etc. Just tell them a story. Tell it in a way that excites you, entertains you, and inspires you. That's your job, your only job.

Michael is a GITS reader and we are fortunate to receive his insight into the making of his movie Brooklyn's Finest. Thanks, Michael.

I encourage all of you to go see the movie this weekend!