Gigi Levangie’s career demonstrates the importance of diligence as a writer.
She’s a prolific novelist, with several adaptations of her works moving to the screen, including Maneater and The Starter Wife. She also wrote the 1998 drama Stepmom. A disciplined creator, she writes at least five days a week, understanding that the first draft doesn’t need to be perfect.
Her new film is Trust stars Sophie Turner as a beloved sitcom actor with a dark secret. After a phone hack that violates her privacy, she escapes LA for a solo vacation, but doesn’t find any solitude when a home invasion traps her in a hot-water closet.
The script was inspired by a real-life story of a woman who ended up stuck in a closet with a hot-water heater instead of finding the bathroom she was looking for. Levangie said she writes very quickly, not wanting to lose momentum when an idea sparks. She also knows that if she’s particularly excited about a premise, it’s likely that someone else somewhere shares her enthusiasm. That’s how the zeitgeist works!
We asked her about her experience and got tons of great advice for writers wanting to break into the business right now.
Editor’s note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Final Draft: What attracted you to this project?
Gigi Levangie: I love to write what really captures me. I write spec scripts all the time. So this was part and parcel to my greatest fear, which is to be locked in a closet in a closed space, dark closed space.
I had read an article a long time ago about a woman who went by herself to a secluded place for a weekend, and in the middle of the night they surmised that she went into a hot water closet instead of the bathroom, and she never made it out. And of course, I saw something like that, I thought, “I have to write this down.”
I write things quickly. I try to get them down as fast as possible because if I’m feeling this, then I know that it’s out there in the world and somebody else is feeling the same way. So I wrote this, it was an original screenplay, and then I was lucky enough to eventually get it made.
Final Draft: You mentioned that you write fast. What does that look like?
Gigi Levangie: When I’m writing a screenplay, it’s usually, say, two to three weeks. If I’m writing a novel, it’s a thousand words a day. I think momentum is everything to get a first [draft]. I’m not saying it’s a perfect first draft by any means, but we’re not going for a perfect first draft. We’re going to get from start to finish of a screenplay or a book.
I read and reread a book called The 10-Day Screenplay by the Donnelley brothers. I used it to write this screenplay. It’s basically like, day one, you write out the characters, 20 questions for each major character. What’s their internal/external conflict? And from there you write to page 15, to the first big plot point, and then you go on from there. And it just works.
Now again, it’s not going to be perfect, but I think too many people go for perfect, and they overanalyze, and writing is so visceral to me and so personal that it’s almost like my lifeblood, and I have to get it down, keep it moving, not let it stagnate for at least five, six, seven days a week, whether I’m being paid or not. And most of the time I’m not being paid. That’s an art form. But eventually you might get lucky and something cracks in the universe and you get your movie made.
Final Draft: Two to three weeks is kind of bonkers for speed, so that’s very impressive.
Gigi Levangie: I’m used to writing novels as well, so to me, a screenplay is fun. It’s dialogue. I can be really jokey within that paradigm. And I think that studio writers, contract writers, they used to have to crank out scripts all the time, very quickly. And I know novelists who crank out a book every six months or at least one a year. It’s possible, but you have to be very, very disciplined.
Final Draft: So you’re approaching character development with those questions?
Gigi Levangie: There are like 20 character questions. What was your home life? Were you raised with religion or not? Do you have a spiritual life? What were your grades like? Were you popular in school? Not popular in school?
There are so many things that shape us, and it just helps me to really focus on the character. Otherwise, I would jump into the writing too quickly. If I’m really excited by an idea—and I know that when I’m excited by an idea, I know it’s in the zeitgeist, I know that there are other people writing the same thing, so I really want to jump in. But I have to take a day or two, and write out those character sketches and then add to them, take away, add, change as you need.
Your screenplay, it’s a living thing. It’s a living document. So when you write the screenplay, the first draft is yours. Once you sell it, it takes on a life of its own. And then other people put their thumbprints [on it] for better or worse. So we don’t want to be too precious.
I like a visceral feel. I like to feel like mistakes are made, but it’s interesting. It doesn’t feel overdeveloped.
Final Draft: This is not a single-location film, but you do have your protagonist in one location for quite a while. What were some challenges of developing that as a story?
Gigi Levangie: What I did was I gave her a backstory, and you see that in what she has to contend with in her career. In my screenplay, she was America’s sweetheart, and she’s going to be labeled a homewrecker and that sort of thing, that she has no control over.
Also, once I had her in that room, stuck, I had a crime take place outside that room. So you get out and then you see violence, and that heightens the suspense and the terror.
And she also has her internal issues to deal with. In my screenplay, originally it was that she had a dead sister. That’s who haunts her. In this you see a little bit of a relationship with her mother, who’s a stage mother. There’s a lot going on that takes you outside.
It’s also a commentary on fame, and all the terrible things that come with that. But, yes, that was the challenge, to get outside that little room. Within the room, you can have all the elements thrown at her, fire, water, electricity; she could have gone through hypothermia. There are so many things that can happen in a little space.
Final Draft: You do such a good job of making the tension increase throughout her experience. Do you have any other advice for how to do that on the page?
Gigi Levangie: Throw everything you can at your protagonist. Every obstacle you can think of, make a list of obstacles. Just use your imagination, and you’ll be amazed what you come up with. I don’t go to horror movies, they’re not my genre, but I thought of everything that would terrify me. Rats, I had insects, I had creepy things inside the walls. Just anything at all.
And that part’s the fun part. That’s the play. And I think if you have fun with that and you use your imagination, then the audience will. And it helps if you have Sophie Turner. She’s so great. I love her. Strong yet vulnerable. She’s got it all.
Final Draft: Do you come to a story with a theme in mind—in this case, fame and how it traps you—or do you come to that later in your process?
Gigi Levangie: I think people think that you should find your theme before you start writing. Good versus evil, but many times, it feels vague to me. The theme can be related to the internal conflict, overcoming selfishness, that’s a big one. You are good enough. Rocky is an example of that.
So I think you should have some idea of what your theme is. But if you know the internal and external conflict, if you’re clear on those things with the character, then that’ll show you what your theme is.
Final Draft: How do you develop the other threads and figure out how to find that balance between the storylines?
Gigi Levangie: You know that in a movie, you have to have subplots. When you’re writing, there’s a moment where you feel like, “I’m stuck.”
Take yourself out of that storyline and find your Loretta [Katey Sagal]. In this case, the woman who’s a dog rescue person, and she’s great. … it’ll come to you if you are consistent in your writing. You can set up the subplots beforehand. You can say, “I need a romance in here, an unlikely romance. I need a different character in here.”
But I think that if you write out your characters beforehand, if you know your top three, say, protagonist, antagonist, love object, or whatever, then that’s just going to come to you.
I know it sounds weird, but once you’re in flow, you’re going to know where it’s lagging or you’re stuck and you need to step out of that. But you have to be willing to make mistakes. That’s why I like to get it done quickly, make the mistakes, and then switch it around in the next draft.
Final Draft: What is your revision process?
Gigi Levangie: I just look back and say, “Well, this is really good.” No, I’m kidding. This is strange, but reading it out loud is helpful.
When I’ve had book signings, I find myself sometimes editing in the book signing, where I should have read the entire book out loud and just cut, cut, cut every superfluous adjective, adverb, sometimes a character. So I’m pretty ruthless about that.
I love cutting. That’s my favorite thing to do. Write long, and then cut, let it go. Let a scene go three pages instead of two, and then cut. I wish I were like Quentin Tarantino. He’s so inspiring to me. He writes longhand, and I think that’s great because that really connects you to your work in a way that laptops don’t necessarily do.
We’ve had readings before. I’ve had readings throughout my career with actors, and that’s really helpful, as well.
Final Draft: Yeah, Tony McNamara writes by hand, too. It seems tedious!
Gigi Levangie: I know it does, but there’s something about those yellow pads. It might be generational, too, where the yellow pads, they signify a new beginning. I have pads and pads of paper in storage, and I just can’t get myself to toss them out.
Final Draft: Is there something that you’ve learned throughout all your experience writing that you wish you’d known earlier on?
Gigi Levangie: Patience. You have to be in it for the long haul. Most movies take seven to 10 years if they’re going to get made. So live long and have patience and really dedicate yourself to your work without having to be rewarded immediately. It is just not going to happen.
I know people, and I can call up a producer and say, “Oh, I have a script. Would you read it?” And sometimes it takes weeks, even though they’re friends or whatever. Writing, I think Norman Mailer called it the “spooky art.”
You just have to keep going. You have to have perseverance. It’s 10 years to an overnight success. That’s an actor’s life, and a writer’s life is sort of similar.
Final Draft: What advice would you have for a screenwriter trying to break in right now?
Gigi Levangie: Oliver Stone walked around with a dozen screenplays before he got work, and he said, “Writing is ass in chair.” I think you have to not talk about writing, but actually do the writing.
Someone who’s in the business, ask for advice or ask them to read your script or ask for a favor. But when you’re asking for a favor, give them something in return. Information. You may feel like your script itself is a gift, and it could be. Don’t feel bad about asking for things. I have embarrassed myself over and over, but I was told a long time ago by Dr. Phil Stutz that I had to learn how to ask for things in Hollywood. So that’s how we function. That’s how the town works.
Final Draft: Is there anything else you wanted to add about Trust?
Gigi Levangie: I hope everybody enjoys it. I think it’s a super fun movie. It’s almost like a genre movie that’s a popcorn and date movie. It feels really, really fun to me, and I hope people enjoy it.