Author Interview - Carole Schutter

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

We are joined today by author Carole Schutter.

Carole, you wrote the screenplay for the movie "September Dawn," starring Jon Voight. This movie is about the Mountain Meadow Massacre in southern Utah. Can you tell us a bit about your research and your writing schedule?

Christopher Cain, the director/producer and co-screenwriter and I researched the Mountain Meadow Massacre extensively for two years. As I had never written a screenplay before, it was a learning process for me. Chris was up at 6 AM and would start sending me emails then. I am a night writer so I was still awake at 3 AM and sent him emails late at night. It was very funny. I function better when there are no distractions although I sometimes write in the day, I'm much better at night.

You also wrote a novel from the screenplay, by the same name. Has it been released yet, or what is the release date?

"September Dawn," the novel, was released just a couple of months before the movie.

Is it difficult to take a screenplay and create a novel out of it? I'd be interested to hear about the differences between the two processes.

No, it's actually easier. The screenplay acts as an outline of sorts. Since I hate writing outlines (even though I got an A for outline writing in school) it worked very well for me. It gave me an opportunity to fill in the blanks and use discarded scenes and ideas. While writing the screenplay, I gave all of the characters a past so that in every scene I wrote, I knew the character intimately. I needed to know who that person was, what motivated them and why they did what they did. Some of the characters were historical, and I made every attempt to know them as flesh and blood. It was actually fun for me to be able to write out in novel form everything I wanted to say but couldn't show because of the time constraints in a movie and also to show that the characters were the sum total of their past.

When it came time to film the movie, did you have any input in the casting, or was that entirely up to the producers of the film? Did you attend any of the filming?

Chris discussed the casting with me prior to the auditions. However, my mother had emergency quadruple bypass in Hawaii during the time the auditions were to be held and I had to fly to Hawaii. I attended all but one week of the filming. I missed the shooting of the massacre but was around for the rest of it.

What projects do you have in mind for the future?

I've optioned another screenplay that is based on the life of an Irish historical character from age nine to seventeen. She was an amazing person and I have been told that they plan to go into production next year.

I am also reworking a historical family saga I first wrote thirty years ago about three generations of three immigrant families to Hawaii. It is called "The Ohana," which means family in Hawaiian. These families finally find the meaning of Ohana in the end.

Thank you for joining us, Carole!

If you would like to learn more about Carole Schutter, you can visit her website here.

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Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I am a stay-at-home mom, author of eight published books, a freelance editor, and the mother of four incredible children. I enjoy scrapbooking, watching good movies, and taking naps.

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