Name: Kevyn Bashore
Born: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Current Residence: Fayetteville/Trilith Village, Georgia
Hobby: Running on mountains. At least that was my leisure time activity prior to moving from L.A. to Fayetteville in December 2021. My current hobby is searching for mountains to run on.
Where did you come up with the concept that just won the screenplay contest?
How long did it take you to develop it into the screenplay it is now? I came up with the concept for my short screenplay THE CLEANSING while I was in a weekly studio meeting with actors, writers, and directors in L.A.. We would workshop scenes, dissect them, then discuss and rework them. During this time I chose two actors who I respected to write a scene specifically for them, to challenge and utilize their strengths.
At the time, I was inspired by current events to choose the theme for the script: what is the definition of life and who has the right to determine it? I decided to project that question several years into our near future to see where we could land as a culture within a few short steps. I workshopped the script with the actors and we were able to see what worked and what didn’t work.
My goal was to write a short, lean script with few words and layered with powerful images.
From concept to finished draft, can you take us through your screenwriting process?
Expanding on what I wrote in my prior answer:
For this particular script I chose two actors to write for.
I then picked a dramatic theme and subject to write for the script.
As I wrote drafts, I eventually workshopped the script with the two actors in front of
several actors, writers, and directors.
I also submitted this script for critiques and feedback.
I continued to refine the script as I witnessed first-hand what effect it has on the readers and viewers of the live-acted scenes, both with professionals and non- professionals alike.
When did you realize that you wanted to become a screenwriter?
I’ve been writing since I was teenager, but the first time I realized filmmaking was my gifting and life-long pursuit was when I was 22 years old.
Who are your biggest filmmaking/screenwriting influences? What about their style do you like or borrow?
I am drawn to movies that are layered with compelling action and symbols, which work best in movies, as opposed to in novels or plays. I gravitate to lean stories driven by strong moments of character actions that reveal subtext, pithy dialogue, and potent cinematic images that bypass the mind to strike the heart.
Here’s my long list of favourite screenwriters (in no particular order):
Collin Welland: CHARIOTS OF FIRE
Menno Meyjes: THE COLOR PURPLE
David Franzoni: AMISTAD
Robert Bolt: THE MISSION
William Nicholson: THE SHADOWLANDS
Robert Rodat: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Peter Jackson: THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRLOGY and THE HOBBIT
John Logan: GLADIATOR
Billy Wilder: SUNSET BOULEVARD
Ingmar Goldman: FANNY AND ALEXANDER
Herman J. Mankiewicz: THE WIZARD OF OZ, CITIZEN KANE
Alvin Sargent: ORDINARY PEOPLE
William Goldman: THE PRINCESS BRIDE, MISERY, BUTHC CASSIDY AND THE
SUNDANCE KID, ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN
Aaron Sorkin: THE SOCIAL NETWORK
James Cameron: ALIENS, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, TITANIC, AVATAR
Christopher Nolan: THE DARK KNIGHT, INCEPTION
Barry Levinson: AVALON
Nora Ephron: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Adam Mckay: DON’T LOOK UP
Cameron Crowe: JERRY MAQUIRE
Alfonso Cuaron: GRAVITY, ROMA
Robert Towne: CHINATOWN
Paul Schrader: RAGING BULL
Francis Ford Coppola: THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER II
Ernest Lehman: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Lawrence Kasdan: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, original STAR WARS: V AND VI
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: ALL ABOUT EVE
Akira Kurosawa: RASHOMON, SEVEN SAMURAI, RAN
David Mamet: THE UNTOUCHABLES
Eric Roth: FORREST GUMP
John Hughes: HOME ALONE
Steven Zaillian: SCHINDLER’S LIST
Oliver Stone: JFK, NIXON, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
Callie Khouri: THELMA & LOUISE
Orson Welles: CITIZEN KANE
Robert Benton: PLACES IN THE HEART
Cesare Zavattini: BICYCLE THIEVES
Melissa Mathison: E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
Jane Campion: THE PIANO
Horton Foote: A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL
Gary Ross: SEABISCUIT
Leigh Brackett: STAR WARS: EPISODE V — THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Lana and Lilly Wachowski: THE MATRIX
Frank Darabont: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE GREEN MILE
David Webb Peoples: BLADE RUNNER, UNFORGIVEN
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: THE SIXTH SENSE
John Carpenter: THE THING
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: FARGO, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
Jordan Peele: GET OUT
Quentin Tarantino: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Paul Thomas Anderson: MAGNOLIA
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won: PARASITE
Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Frank Capra: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Damien Chazelle: WHIPLASH
Bob Peterson, Pete Doctor: UP
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon: WALL-E
Guillermo del Toro: PAN’S LABYRINTH
Brad Bird: THE INCREDIBLES
David Seidler: THE KING’S SPEECH
Andres Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds: FINDING NEMO
Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole: BLACK PANTHER
Simon Beaufoy: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Have you ever been obsessed with a movie or TV show? If so, which one? Why?
Throughout the past decade there are six TV series that come to mind that have arrested my attention for various reasons:
DOWNTON ABBEY
HOUSE OF CARDS
GAME OF THRONES
THE PHARMACIST
DOPESICK
THE CHOSEN
What’s your favorite moment in cinema history? Why?
I’ll share a few, because I never have just one favourite cinematic moment. There’s a surreal moment in Steven Spielberg’s EMPIRE OF THE SUN when a person dies and we think their ascending soul lights up the sky, but the reality is something deeper, less personal and much more universal, rooted in the best and worst of humanity at war across the earth. I’m intrigued and inspired by such crafted scenes that speak with various depths into the human heart, leaving us speechless and unnerved.
Another striking moment is revealed in CHINATOWN during Jack Nicholson’s “my sister, my daughter” slap with Faye Dunaway. The audience is confused, angered, horrified and left gobsmacked by the end of this scene.
Lastly, I’m amazed by the gentle imagery of heaven on earth economically infused into the movie THE SHADOWLANDS. By the final frame, we are left breathless with witnessing the shadowlands of earth: pain and suffering leading to joy, dramatized and layered deep by the accompanying narration.
Who’s your favorite character in cinema history? Why?
George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: he sacrifices his career for others and when he’s at his lowest point — all is redeemed. Forrest Gump in FORREST GUMP: he’s a sort of Christ figure, allowing us a means to see the world from a more pure and non-jaded viewpoint. Celie in THE COLOR PURPLE: she braves her way through a harsh life and lands in the end with redemption all around her. Sir William Wallace from BRAVEHEART: he loses everything, then sacrifices everything courageously to fight for freedom and liberty for his people unto death.
If you could talk to anyone from any era, who would it be and what would you ask them?
There’s a story from long ago about two weary travellers who were walking along a road between two Middle-Eastern cities. They came upon a mysterious man who joined them and asked why they were sad. They explained that they were mourning the death of their friend who had recently been executed by government officials and political/religious enemies. The man walked with them for quite a distance, telling them deep secrets about Himself and of the universe. They were breathless and invited him into their home for dinner. In the middle of their meal — He vanished before their eyes.
That’s the person I would like to talk to. Because He knows all things.
Those from the Judea-Christian belief hold firm that the mysterious man who disappeared was the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.
I can’t think of anyone more interesting than Him to sit with over a glass of wine or cider by an open fire, just listening and asking Him anything and everything imaginable.
