A conversation on STEPHEN KING with: Jeffrey Reddick, creator of Final Destination (no way!); Diana Ossana, screenwriter for the film adaptation of Brokeback Mountain (OMG!!!); and Stephenie Magister (me!), director of a high school short film that deserved better than a B-

I scream, you scream, we all scream in D-E-L-I-G-H-T

I forgot to tell you!

I was honored to contribute to an amazing two-part series at CREATIVE SCREENWRITING put together by Michael Lee Simpson (offsite link), a multi award-winning writer and filmmaker with accolades in the Austin Film Festival, Worldfest Houston, KAN Film Festival, and STN Nationals.

Graduating from the University of Kansas with degrees in English and Film/Media Studies, Michael quickly became a multi award-winning writer with top accolades in the entertainment industry. He showed early promise, first receiving honors from the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for two consecutive years, standing in the top 300 out of over 7,000 people. His screenplay for Worthy of Gold won the Austin Film Festival and WorldFest Houston, and for two consecutive years achieved standings in the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.​

After serving as a film critic for NightlifeKC and The Kansas City Star, Michael co-created and now produces Inspired Minds (offsite link), a podcast hosted by Warner Bros. Records executive-turned therapist Jeff Watson. With Michael’s stunning ability to get interviews with just about anyone and Jeff’s humbling ability to draw out fresh insights from familiar faces, the podcast showcases some of the entertainment industry’s most influential people.

Michael continues to serve as a Contributor for a variety of industry publications, including Backstage, Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and Script Magazine.

SO LISTEN! If your ears can still hear.

Did you hear how loud I screamed when Michael asked me to be in one of his articles?

I SCREAMED, YOU SCREAMED, THEN STEPHEN KING SCREAMED

When Michael reached out to me for my insights on Stephen King, I’d already completed an interview with him for Drill (offsite link) in which he helped me come out as transgender while sharing the first hints of the secrets my family did everything to keep hidden inside me.

It was a great experience that empowered me to speak more publicly and confidently about and beyond my family putting me through Trans Conversion Therapy at nine years old.

So when Michael revealed that the interview about Steebo Kingo wouldn’t just be with mee-o (ouch), it would ALSO include some of the most iconic voices throughout the history of the horror genre…

Diana Ossana, screenwriter/author for Brokeback Mountain, Pretty Boy Floyd, Zeke and Ned Jeffrey Reddick, writer/producer of the Final Destination (Movie) (Movie) franchise Mary Aloe, owner of Aloe Entertainment and producer of Flag Day, Worth and Bruised Jeff Watson, host of the ongoing podcast, Inspired Minds Marcus Nispel, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Frankenstein (2004), Pathfinder, Friday the 13th (2009) and Conan the Barbarian Stephenie Magister (hey that’s me!!!), writer, editor publishing consultant Tasha Hardy, Star Trek special World Enough and Time producer/Head of Creative Operations at Rock Content Jim King, avid reader Brooks Elms, WGA screenwriter and world-class writing coach Reinhard Denke, co-author of It’s a Wonderful Time Kelly Gallagher, Dark Castle Story Editor and co-producer of Seance, The Expecting and Paramount Players’ upcoming Orphan: First Kill Jennifer Brody, award-winning author of The 13th Continuum trilogy and Disney Chills series Michael N Grais, producer of King’s Sleepwalkers and writer of Poltergeist

I wasn’t just sold.

I was bought and paid for. The table for fans of Stephen King now owned me.

I couldn’t say no. I wouldn’t say no. Like the opening pages of pretty much any Stephen King book, Michael asked me to spend a little time with him and these fine folks talking (and trash talking) about Stephen King.

Before I knew it, I was telling him all sorts of things.

THE INTERVIEW

“King is a train wreck at plot, but he’s the best there is at just jamming,” said writer, editor and publishing consultant Stephenie Magister. “He taught me the pleasure of forgetting about the point of the story…

Some of King’s best work comes from when he’s being brutally honest about how his own struggle with addiction nearly destroyed him. That vulnerability comes through when Roland [from The Drawing of the Three (offsite affiliate link)] decides to turn this junkie into a gunslinger. The banter between these two uneasy allies is so ripe for good actors that I’m honestly stunned the Dark Tower movie didn’t tell that story and leave Jake for later (or just in flashbacks).

[The Drawing of the Three] also started King’s Argument series for The Dark Tower, which is his brief but riveting opening summary of the story up to this point.

It’s some of the best short-form storytelling you will ever get from Stephen King. RUNNERS UP: The Long Walk and Bag of Bones. King often shifts between writing thrillers and horror. The difference? In a thriller, we defeat the inevitable. In horror, the inevitable defeats us.”

— quote from Stephenie Magister in an excerpt from the CREATIVE SCREENWRITING article “The Films of Stephen King part 2”

Follow the jump (offsite link) to get a lot more than that. Just be careful, okay? If you get a vision of everyone around you dying in strange and kinda comical but stupidly horrifying ways…it might be time to admit that watching Final Destination over a dozen times was bound to have an effect.

Until next time

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