5 Questions With Screenwriter Stephen Kogon

1. What is your script about and what inspired you to write it?

SK: My script, "Cosmo Kramer and Punky Brewster Save the World" is about two government scientists who turn Michael Richards and Soleil Moon Frye into their TV characters, but then are unable to turn them back. When the world is soon threatened by a former colleague of the scientists, earth's everlasting hope for not being destroyed rests, due to mishap after mishap, in the hands of Cosmo Kramer and Punky Brewster.

As for what inspired me to write it, most of my ideas usually come from an idea popping into my head. And if it's comedic, the idea has to make me laugh. For this script, the title just popped into my head and it was so absurd, it made me laugh. So I created a story for it.

 
2. How long have you been a screenwriter and do you have a specific writing process?

SK: I've been a writer for over 15 years, and the one thing I do now that I didn't do when I started is outline. I try to be as detailed as possible in the outline, so I have a clear idea of where I'm going. And I try to write first drafts as quickly as possible, without stopping. If I hit a wall, I skip over the wall and just make a note to come back to it later. There's something about having a completed first draft, even if it's very rough, that makes it easier to rewrite for me.

3. What's the most important thing you've learned since you began writing?

SK: There's a bunch of important things I've learned, including the two I mentioned above, but I'd say one extremely important thing to do is when gathering feedback, create an atmosphere where that person will feel completely comfortable to be as honest and forthcoming as possible. It's difficult for people who know you to do that because they don't want to hurt your feelings. But I tell them a producer could care less about my feelings, so if you don't tell me everything that you felt wasn't working, and I start shopping a script that isn't as good as it could have been, you're hurting me more than helping me. Also, within that atmosphere, listen and don't interrupt. How many times have we heard writers say defensively while getting feedback, "Oh, you just didn't understand." Well, again, with a producer you don't get that opportunity. You want to know the things they didn't understand and then figure out why they didn't understand it.

 
4. Who and/or what are some of your key influences?

SK: I don't actually have a lot of influences because ever since I could remember I've had a very active imagination, and fell in love with using it at an early age. So while I loved watching movies and TV and reading books and comic books, I loved using my imagination more.

Having said that, for comedy I was a huge fan of John Hughes. His dialogue had such great wit. And for overall films, I'd say Steven Spielberg. His movies were all such adventurous joyrides, and they helped me really grasp just how magical and fun and exciting movies could be.

 
5. What other projects do you have or are you working on?

SK: Ha, I write a lot so this is a long list. I was recently hired to do a rewrite for an action film called "Boone: The Bounty Hunter" which will star John Hennigan (aka John Morrison from WWE). I've worked directly with John on all the new ideas and it's been a blast. It's scheduled to start filming early next year.

I was also brought on to the writing team for a comedy webseries called "Newlywed & Broke." The producers raised $18,500 to shoot six episodes, and that's also scheduled to be filmed early next year.

As for my own projects, I have 3 scripts being read. One is the "Cosmo Kramer and Punky Brewster Save the World" one. A good producer friend of mine, Marvin Acuna, once made a movie with Soleil Moon Frye (who played Punky Brewster) and just recently got her the script.

Another one is called "Guardian Angels" about two last-chance angels who are accidentally assigned the same subject, and as they compete to see who can help his life the most, they make it so much worse... That one's being read by several companies.

And the third one being read right now is "It's Your Bedtime, Mr. President," about four kids who win a trip to the White House to visit with the president, but when he's knocked unconscious they have to run the country until he wakes up.

I also recently finished a second novel that I want to start reaching out to publishers about (I had a previous one published several years ago called "Max Mooth -- Cyber Sleuth and the Case of the Zombie Virus"). The new one is an action-thriller called "Running Out of Time" about a brilliant historian from the year 2088 who's being chased through time by a ruthless posse for a murder he didn't commit, and his best weapon for survival is his knowledge of history. It's like The Fugitive through time.

As for my literacy program, "Reading, Writing, It's Exciting," it came about after my novel was published. I did events at Barnes & Noble in which I had 9 kids read the first 9 chapters. While rehearsing once in their school's library, the librarian came up to me afterwards and was very thankful, and explained to me that two of the kids who signed up to read the book, she'd never even seen before, and that this special opportunity made them want to read, and how much that would benefit them.

She then educated me about the dire state of literacy. I learned that if kids weren't reading and writing at their grade level by the end of 2^nd grade, they almost never caught up. And that 50-80% of those kids eventually dropped out of high school, were unemployed, joined gangs, or went to prison... And the craziest stat of all was that several states actually based their future prison building plans on those numbers. That's how accurate they were!

So I wanted to do something. I even stepped away from writing for a little bit so I could create something that would hopefully be effective and make an impact. What I developed was a program where kids could be taught how to use their imaginations, and as they were having fun with that, they would start becoming better writers... And then we would provide them with memorable experiences by having celebrities come to a Barnes & Noble and perform their stories in front of an audience.

Since it launched in 2009, we've been endorsed by the L.A. Mayor's office and have expanded to working with kids throughout the country via our Online classes.

If anyone wants more info on it, they can visit our website
(http://rweprogram.org/site/) and Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/RWEprogram).