Q&A With WriteByNight Consultant Nick Jarvis

Nick Jarvis (Austin, Texas) is a filmmaker who received his BA in Creative Writing from Metropolitan State College of Denver, then attended four years of film school at Colorado Film School, University of Colorado, where he was also a creative writing judge for the Denver School of the Performing Arts. He has sold one screenplay, and wrote and co-directed another feature, Pearman, to hit the film circuit in 2012. His short films have won awards at the Brooklyn International and Estes Park film festivals. He currently is a coverage provider and judge for the Austin Film Festival’s screenwriting competition.

Where are you from?

Denver, Colorado.

Where did you study?

University of Colorado and Colorado Film School.

How did you get your start as a writer?

I swapped turns telling horror stories at recess in 3rd grade.

Who are some of your influences?

Writers: Raymond Carver, Robert Boswell, Michael Knight, Faulkner, DeLillo, Ellison.

Filmmakers: Ramin Bahrani, Milos Forman, Bob Rafelson, Hal Ashby, Sidney Lumet.

What is your favorite thing about educating writers at WBN?

Teaching them the rules, then breaking them.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Writing indoors.

What is your strangest writing experience?

When someone claimed something was implausible and it happened to be one of the only elements of my story that was true, I kept my mouth shut.

What is your favorite word and why?

I don’t know. “Nebula,” it’s what we’re made of. Or how about “guilt,” it seems to inspire my favorite stories.

What’s the last book you read and what did you think of it?

To Kill A Mockingbird for my 8th graders. I forgot how good it is, as well as Harper’s Lee subtle sense of humor and skill with words.