You Asked ... Jeffrey Reddick, "Final Destination"

Horror movies and sequels seem to go hand in hand. That's why StoryLink's October featured screenwriter is Jeffrey Reddick, who launched the Final Destination franchise.

Reddick saw the original A Nightmare on Elm Street at the age of 14.

"It's my favorite film of all time and it literally changed my life," he recalls. "After seeing the film, I went home and banged out a treatment for a prequel. I sent the treatment to Robert Shaye, the head of New Line Cinema. He returned it with a standard rejection letter, because it was unsolicited. But I sent him a surly letter, explaining how I had watched several New Line movies and spent my money on his stuff, so the least he could do was read my treatment. Thankfully, Robert Shaye read the treatment. (This was back in 1984 and since that time, our society has gotten so litigious that this would never happen today.) Bob said I had a fertile imagination, but told me I needed to work on story structure. This was all the encouragement I needed."

Getting his start in the film industry by interning at New Line Cinema when he was 19, Reddick parlayed that into a full time job and worked at the studio for more than 11 years. While working at New Line, the studio bought his pitch for Final Destination and hired him to write the first draft. The film earned over $100 Million at the worldwide box office. Final Destination 2, for which Reddick co-wrote the story - and executive produced - was released in 2003 and also crossed the $100 million mark worldwide. With the release of two additional sequels, the rest is horror history.

Reddick has since written or sold 12 genre scripts for various studios and productions companies. Currently, he has the supernatural thriller, Dead Awake, set up at Gold Circle Films; urban horror film, The Pool, at Regent Entertainment; and a supernatural project at Valhalla Motion Pictures. Reddick is currently preparing to make his directorial debut with the supernatural thriller The Final Reel, which is based on a script he wrote.

Jeffrey Reddick answered questions from the StoryLink Community. Those whose questions were chosen will receive a The Dialogue: Learning from the Masters DVD (Winner's Choice) from The Writers Store.

From your work on the first Final Destination through recent (or current) scripts such as The Pool or The Final Reel, what transformation have you noticed in yourself as a writer during that period of time? What progressions or changes have you noticed in how you write your scripts? – Bill

I’ve definitely seen growth as a writer in the 13 years since I wrote Final Destination (originally called Flight 180). That project was an invaluable learning experience. I worked with a great producer named Craig Perry who really knew his stuff (which is not always the case). I remember getting my first draft back from him and almost every page was marked up. After getting over my initial, ego-crushing shock, I realized his notes were spot on. I had made a lot of ‘young writer’ mistakes… I had way too much description in scenes, I directed actions scenes and some of my dialogue was very on the nose. Craig really made me up my game and pushed me to do better. I grew so much during that experience and the rewrite, I ended up being really strong and got the studio excited. Since then, I’ve found that I learn something with each script I write. Some of it is just life experience, which influences my writing. But often times, getting outside of my comfort zone forces me to dig deep and overcome my insecurities as a writer. Day of The Dead was a balls-to-the-wall action/horror script, which I’d never done…so that was a challenge. I wrote a project for Gold Circle that involved all adult characters, so it forced me to write more mature characters.

As for how I write scripts, that hasn’t changed a lot. I tend to write treatments, so I know the broad strokes of the story before I start scripting. That’s been a consistent part of my process.

In the Final Destination films, when deciding how death will take another character, how do you create a truly interesting scenario without making death's actions seem contrived? - Mike

I’ve been a lifelong horror fan, Mike…so I love to think of ways to kill people that I haven’t seen before. For me, that’s the fun part of the creative process. Now, in real life, I’m a very mellow and nice guy and real violence really bothers me. But in the world of movies, it’s all about imagination. As for Final Destination, I was only involved in the first two films. But I’m still tight with the producer, and I know for the franchise, they strive to come up with scenarios that audiences can relate to. It’s more about figuring out settings that people are familiar with…like tanning beds or the salon or the gym. So, I think locations are key for this particular franchise. James Wong and Glen Morgan came up with the Rube Goldberg device, which was really clever. Once you have the location, you just try to come up with everyday items that can used to carry out Death’s plan.

Each one of the Final Destination films starts off with a scene of mass catastrophe where the characters somehow escape and bond before Death decides to pick them off one by one (or in some cases two). Can you please describe how you selected the focal scene where the characters are introduced and what's involved in laying out the horrifying moments, such as researching crash mechanics like in the mass car pile-up in Final Destination 2 or the plane crash in the original film? Whom did you consult to make sure that the scene would play out as real as possible?- James

There was a different impetus for the catastrophes in the first two films. The story behind the plane crash idea is interesting. I was actually on a plane, flying home to Kentucky for the holidays and I read a magazine article that creeped me out. It was about a young woman who was on vacation. On the day she was supposed to fly home, her mother called her and told her to switch flights because she had a bad feeling. So the young woman took a different flight and the flight she would have been on, crashed. Reading this, while on a plane, was spooky enough. But then my wheels started turning. I wondered what would happen if this woman missed her time to die and cheated death. Then I started thinking about what would happen if death came after her.

For Final Destination 2 I worked with the producers on a couple of scenarios. The first involved a group of friends on Spring Break getting trapped in a massive hotel fire. But we thought that wasn’t exciting enough. Then I remembered that when I go home to Kentucky, I always seem to end up behind one of those huge trucks carrying logs. They scare me and I’m always worried one will come flying off. I told the producer about this, and the freeway scene was born.

As for the logistics of how these scenes play out, the writer doesn’t get to consult on this. Once the script is sold, you’re usually out of the loop. But I know that once a director comes onboard, they usually work closely with a stunt team and FX coordinator to make sure that the end result is as realistic as possible. I know that James Wong storyboarded the airplane crash in the first film. For the freeway pile up, I wrote some specifics in my treatment, but for their script, Eric Bress said that he and J. Mackye Gruber just had a few lines of description and left the details up to David Ellis. David had done a ton of stunt work and knew what could be done…so he plotted it out in detail with the crew.

As one of the leading writers in horror today, what is it that you like about the genre and why do you think you are attracted to horror more than others? – Ben

I’ve always loved the horror genre. When I was way too young to be watching horror films, my friends and I devoured them. Back then it was about the blood, guts, and boobs. But looking back, I know a big part of it was the thrill of watching something that a lot of people were afraid to see. As I got older, I really started to understand, and appreciate, the fact that aside from visceral thrills, the horror genre also allowed people to explore themes and ideas in a way that other genres couldn’t. My earliest memories were of films by George Romero and Wes Craven. They are both iconic filmmakers who told scary tales, but also dealt with deeper themes. So even though I love sitting in a dark theater and feeling the rush of an audience totally terrified by a great horror film, I love the genre for the possibilities of scaring people and making them think. It sounds lofty, and I can’t say that all of my films have done that, but that’s my goal.

What are some pointers on how to avoid writing monotonous dialogue between your characters when they are all experiencing the same intense emotion such as "fear?" – Michael

That’s a really good question. It’s tough, because when people get scared, there are only so many things they’ll say. I think the key is to start off with characters who feel like real people. If you create characters that the audience cares about, then you fear for them, so if they say, “Who’s there?” you’re not going to get caught up in the cliché. But if your characters are unique enough, they’ll each have subtle differences in how they react. Sometimes, I try to subvert what you think someone’s going to say. In a recent slasher film I wrote, a character named Preston is forced to study on the night of a big college dance. He’s alone in a dark building and hears a noise. Since Preston’s best friend knows he’s there, Preston assumes his buddy felt bad for him and is coming to cheer him up. So his initial reaction isn’t fear. Then he thinks his buddy is trying to scare him. When he realizes that’s not the case, he starts getting frightened. So all of this adds a different spin to his dialogue, when he calls out into the night. In a nutshell, since people’s reaction to being scared is either fear, or humor, you’ve got to try and either put characters in a unique situation, or subvert what the audience expecting.

You've positioned yourself well as a horror screenwriter, indeed a marketable genre. Do you ever feel that your work is limited as a horror writer? Do you create stories in other genres that you find difficulty writing or selling? Or do you simply enjoy horror best and are satisfied to have found a niche for yourself? – Daniel

I love working in the horror genre, so I don’t mind being labeled. The simple business truth is that Hollywood likes to fit you into a box. Some of their reasoning is practical. Given the sheer volume of writers and scripts out there, they have to categorize you. If your first successful movie is a horror film, they want to read your next horror project. I know it’s the nature of creative people to show how versatile we are. But I tell my writer friends to focus on the genre they love the most, because the first script you sell sets the standard. When studios get a script, they don’t just look at the quality of the screenplay. They also immediately think about marketing angles. If I sold a comedy script, they couldn’t sell it as “from the creator of Final Destination.” So that’s a mark against the project getting made, no matter how good it is. But there are ways to evolve as a writer. I had a project optioned by The Cartoon Network that was a spooky animated project. It wasn’t straight up horror, but it was still in the genre. Of course, if you write several huge box office hits, then you can start to branch out. But Hollywood is a town that’s painfully reliant on branding writers.

What do you think are the most important structural elements of a good thriller script? Do you think horror and thriller are distinctly different genres? – Marcus

I have a wide definition of horror: I think any movie that scares people falls under “horror.” But that’s probably just me being stubborn. The horror genre has always been looked down. I don’t know how many times a film that’s clearly a slasher film has been described as a psychological thriller. Or a movie like The Ring is called a supernatural thriller. It’s like horror is a dirty word.

The key to any thriller, or horror movie, is the concept and the characters. A unique “hook” and engaging characters will draw horror audiences to the theater. I believe that anticipation and dread are two biggest weapons a horror writer has at their disposal. The big kill scenes are definitely cathartic and elicit a strong reaction from the audience. But the anticipation of what could, or will, happen is the element that has audiences clutching their seats and holding their breath. Sometimes, filmmakers just trying to cash in on the genre will simply go for over the top kills and ample nudity, and don’t take the time to layer in good characters, or suspense.

The Final Destination movies are distinctive for their creative set pieces (or "kill scenes", if you like). How do you tackle the challenge of crafting a set piece that is inventive and effective? – M. William Oswald

I have to preface this, by saying that often what I write on the page doesn’t end up being on the screen. When I write any set piece, I try to create some type of psychological underpinning. And then, I try to come up with something I’ve never seen before. For instance, in Tamara, a group of kids accidentally kill a student and cover it up. Now this is probably the most overused setup in a horror film. But the twist is that the unpopular girl who’s killed is into witchcraft. So she comes back to life as a sexy villainess who knows the sins of each of her tormentors and turns each victim’s sins against them. In one of my favorite scenes, Tamara corners one of the kids who didn’t help her…and puts him under a spell. She makes him get on the school’s video system. At first, it looks like he’s going to confess. But instead, he takes the phrase, “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil…” literally and slices off his tongue, his ear and then jams an Exacto knife in his eye. This scene is disturbing on a visceral level, but it also works on a deeper level.

Every horror film has to have a "monster" of sorts. That person, place, or thing that scares the mess out of us. How do you come up with your monsters? – Rick

Hey Rick…I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts. Wait…that’s Ghostbusters. Seriously, I think creating a memorable monster, or villain, is the toughest part of writing a horror movie. If you’re writing a slasher film, there’s only so much you can do with your villain, if you want to keep it realistic. So, it’s really about creating a different motive, or method, for your killer. I tend to gravitate towards the supernatural because it gives you more leeway. The constant rule I hear is that you have to create clear rules for the story, and villain, you create. As long as the rules are clear, even if they’re a little crazy, the audience will go along for the ride.

For my monsters, I try to think of the things that frighten me … like death, or the unknown. Then I try to think of a cool way to give that fear form. I also love real world beliefs and ancient myths. I think myths that have been around for centuries are fertile ground to tread. In different myths, from cultures around the world, you find similar themes and elements that reoccur. I think it’s more about coming up with a monster that taps in to some universal fear…instead of just creating a monster that looks cool. I think that’s why A Nightmare on Elm Street was so resonant. I mean, we all have to sleep, so the idea that someone can kill us in our dreams is something that everyone can relate to. With Final Destination, we tapped into the universal fear of death.

Thriller is the genre I love and write in. Should the triggering event be obvious in the first 10 pages or a gradual build up? – Wanda

I’ve never formally studied screenwriting, Wanda, even though I think it has its place. But I think sometimes people get bogged down in mechanics and lose their creative spark. And this spark is what makes each writer unique. That being said, I watch movies and read scripts all the time, and I’ve discovered that my scripts do end up falling into the standard format.

In most of my scripts, I’ve noticed the triggering event is usually set up within the first 10 pages. The actual event may happen later, but the seeds are definitely planted by then. For me, it’s about anticipation. The audience gets an inkling of what’s going to come, but the build up and dread is the 'how' and 'when.'