INTERVIEW: Academy Award Nominated Writer John Sayles Returns Home For Book Reading, Q+A
2/21 @ Armory Studios NY, Schenectady
Photo by Mary Cybulski
“The reason you write is to have something to rewrite.”
Academy Award nominated screenwriter and proud Schenectady native John Sayles is returning home for a reading and Q+A at Armory Studios NY on February 21.
The event, sponsored by Electric City Community Grocery and The Open Door Bookstore, will take place in the Officer’s Club from 1-5 pm. There is a $15 suggested donation at the door and RSVPs are encouraged. All proceeds from the event go directly towards benefitting Electric City Community Grocery.
Sayles will be reading from his most recent historical novel Crucible. Published in late January, Crucible tells the story of Henry Ford and his attempts to rule both the automotive industry and the City of Detroit. Sayles drew parallels between Henry Ford and his time growing up in Schenectady, specifically the way that General Electric owned large portions of the city including entire neighborhoods. Early readers are also drawing parallels between Crucible and the current moment, although Sayles says this is more coincidental.
“When I started writing this book, Elon Musk was just a guy who made cars,” Sayles explained. “He hadn’t stepped up and said, ‘I know how people should live. I know how the country should be run.’ That same kind of ambition is something that Henry Ford had.”
Ford had his resident city of Dearborn in his pocket and also carried a massive amount of influence over the city of Detroit and the entire state of Michigan.
“They passed a prohibition law a year before the rest of the United States,” Sayles said. “It was because [Ford] didn’t drink and he didn’t think other people should so he put a lot of pressure on the state.”
Early in his career, Sayles came to prominence as a screenwriter for producer Roger Corman. His first credit came on the horror-comedy film Piranha, directed by Joe Dante of Gremlins fame. Piranha 2: The Spawning happened to be James Cameron’s directorial debut. Say what you will about these silly exploitation films, but some seriously talented filmmakers worked on these projects, Sayles included.
Sayles went on to work with Dante again on The Howling and also wrote The Challenge, directed by John Frankenheimer whose most notable work came on the Academy Award nominated The Manchurian Candidate (not the Denzel version, but the original).
After getting these early writing credits, Sayles was able to use his cache to transition into directing, which was always a part of his plan.
The idea was always to be a writer-director because then you can really control a story,” Sayles said. “When you’re a screenwriter-for-hire, you’re often one of many and you’re rewritten. A lot of the time you end up crossing your fingers and hoping the people that gave you your mandate don’t chicken out.”
Sayles had an impressive career as a writer-director, including 1992’s Passion Fish and 1996’s Lone Star, both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay.
Even during his prolific period as a filmmaker, Sayles was writing novels all the while. His second book, Union Dues, was nominated for a National Book Award for Fiction.
“The biggest difference is you don’t have to raise money to write a book,” Sayles explained about the difference between the mediums. “You might not get it published but you get to do the thing without having to pitch it to somebody and saying ‘you might make your money back and you might even make a profit.’”
“Two or three of my most recent books were screenplays that I never got to make. When I decided ‘this is going to be a novel,’ then I could forget about how much it was going to cost. Then, the scale could widen and the book can go into even more story and detail than the screenplay could have.”
Throughout his career, Sayles has been incredibly prolific, earning writing credits on over 30 films and having published eight novels. Not to mention, the numerous television series, short story collections and the untold numbers of projects that never came to fruition.
Sayles explained how he has been able to achieve such a diverse and long career as a writer, stating that his two biggest advantages are his short memory and his non-perfectionism.
“The reason you write is to have something to rewrite,” Sayles remarked.
I’m willing to leave gaps and question marks so that I don’t lose momentum. My rule for research, and there is always a lot of research, is that you can only do a week, two weeks maximum, before you have to sit down and write something. If you come to a detail that you’re not sure about, don’t stop. Just leave a question mark and come back to it later.
Sage advice to be certain.
To RSVP, visit the event page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/events/armory-studios-ny/john-sayles-reading-and-book-signing-benefit-for-eccg/1424419152507673/) where you can find a Google Form. Copies of Crucible will be available for purchase and Sayles will be available to sign copies of the novel.