About The TITAN Awards
The three winning writers received….
SILVER Winner 🥈
Our silver prize winner across all categories, decided by The Titans
- All 3 Titans read their work personally
- 3 x private virtual lunches with “The Titans”
- 12 months of bespoke, daily script marketing via their own personal IS script marketer
- 12 months of IS career coaching via regular 7hr one-on-one sessions
- Script distribution to the IS industry roster
- Headline mention in official IS winners press release
- Lifetime access to all IS online courses
- Unlimited 75% off IS script coverage services for 12 months
- $2,000.00 cash
GOLD Winner 🥇
Our gold prize winner across all categories, decided by The Titans.
- All 3 Titans read their work personally
- 3 x private virtual lunches with “The Titans”
- 12 months of bespoke, daily script marketing via their own personal IS script marketer
- 12 months of IS career coaching via regular 7hr one-on-one sessions*
- Script distribution to the IS industry roster
- Headline mention in official IS winners industry press release
- Lifetime access to all IS online courses
- Unlimited 75% off IS script coverage services for 12 months
- $5,000.00 cash
BRONZE Winner 🥉
Our bronze prize winner across all categories, decided by The Titans
- All 3 Titans read their work personally
- 3 x private virtual lunches with “The Titans”
- 12 months of bespoke, daily script marketing via their own personal IS script marketer
- 12 months of IS pro career coaching via regular 7hr one-on-one sessions*
- Script distribution to the IS industry roster
- Headline mention in official IS winners industry press release
- Lifetime access to all IS online courses
- Unlimited 75% off IS script coverage services for 12 months
- $1,000.00 cash
TITAN Awards Winner – Todd Restler
The CEO of a struggling health insurance company devises a scheme to kill high-cost claimants to increase profits and boost the stock price.
So after Todd’s victory, we sat down with him to ask him a few questions about how he feels being a TITAN Awards winner, his inspirations and his path to becoming a screenwriter…
Interview with TITAN Awards Winner Todd Restler
Firstly, Tell us About You: Where Are You From, What’s Your Background in the Business?
TODD RESTLER:
“I was born in New York City in 1969 and grew up and currently live in Westchester County, New York. My dad worked at Screen Gems for several years, which was part of Columbia Pictures at the time – I saw all the great 1970’s movies at a young age.
I graduated from Babson College with a degree in Finance and worked on Wall Street from 1991-2008 before transitioning into the health insurance business.
I have had a lifelong passion for film but did not start screenwriting until my 30s; I also wrote an extensive piece in 2011 on the movie Thirteen Conversations About One Thing for the Blog The Sheila Variations, run by Sheila O’Malley, a critic for RogerEbert.com.”
How Long Have You Been Writing Seriously For?
TODD RESTLER:
“I completed my first screenplay in 2005.
I had some friends from Wall Street that produced a movie called Beer League, starring Artie Lange from the Howard Stern show. It’s extremely funny. I wrote a script called BROKERS that they thought they might try to produce, then the market crashed, and they lost all their funding. So, it was never even optioned. The usual story.
But I got a taste and it never left.”
How Does it Feel to Have Won The TITAN?
TODD RESTLER:
“Prominent, successful people in Hollywood have read and enjoyed my work. That feels amazing.”
Can You Tell Us More About the Project You Won With?
TODD RESTLER:
“It’s a dark comedy thriller called THE CARRIER.
I bring an insider’s knowledge of the health insurance industry, having worked at AIG and Express Scripts. This story will ring wholly true to modern audiences, and there is underserved demand for corporate satire, as evidenced by the success of The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street.“
Where Did the Idea for This Project First Come From?
TODD RESTLER:
“I work in health insurance. I was in a meeting where a vendor was trying to convince us to sell his group health insurance product, whose benefits were so good, they were getting creamed on a particular patient – until that person finally died.
In the back of the room came a “whoo-hoo!” That was the lightbulb moment.”
What Would You Say the Key Cinematic Touchstones Are, For it?
TODD RESTLER:
“I specifically set out to write the modern-day Network. The Sidney Lumet films of that era (Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Prince of the City) are all influential.
The Player, Office Space, Wall Street, Heathers, Head Office, Election, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short, and The Informant! are big influences.
While I was writing the script, I watched a lot of 40’s and 50’s noir including Ace in the Hole, The Asphalt Jungle, Sweet Smell of Success, His Girl Friday, and The Killing.
I wanted to mimic the tone and pace of dialogue in those films, some of the best ever made.”
What Scene in the Script are You Most Fond Of?
TODD RESTLER:
“The pitch meeting. The challenge I had was to make murder seem like a rational corporate boardroom decision. I’m happy with how this scene works because the whole movie depends on it.”
Why Did you Choose to Enter The TITAN and What’s Been Your Experience With Other Contests?
TODD RESTLER:
“THE CARRIER has done well in many contests. I have had productive conversations as a result, but the benefit package of The TITAN is second to none.”
In Terms of the Winners’ Benefits, Which Run Over The Whole Course of a Year, Which One Are You Most Excited About?
TODD RESTLER:
“I’m incredibly excited about speaking to the TITANs. They are icons in the business, and I have tremendous respect and admiration for their work. Every call with a producer or manager is a valuable learning experience. This will be like getting an advanced doctorate.”
What Are you Working on Next?
TODD RESTLER:
“My first feature screenplay was called BROKERS. It was like a fictional The Wolf of Wall Street. (But I wrote mine first!). I worked as a stockbroker from 1991-2008, knew Jordan Belfort, and lived in that world.
I have retooled it into a mini-series and have a finished first draft of the pilot. The logline is:
A group of young men meet on Wall Street right before the Internet boom, open their own firm, and make unimaginable fortunes. But how long until the bubble bursts?
The 1999-2000 Internet boom was an insane period on Wall Street that has never been put on film.”
Where Do You Hope to Be in 5, and 10 Years?
TODD RESTLER:
“It would be a dream come true to be a working screenwriter with credits.”
What Advice Would You Give to Writers Entering Competitions in Terms of Honing Their Screenplays?
TODD RESTLER:
“Get professional feedback early. Before I entered anything, I got multiple sets of notes. Those notes were incredibly valuable. There are plenty of services. Do your research.
I love notes and coverage. I have about 50 sets of notes on THE CARRIER from contests and paid services. Be smart about it, but invest in yourself. I don’t mean USE every note, far from it. But consider them all – these people in the business know what they’re doing.”
What’s the Biggest Thing You’ve Learnt in Your Career as a Writer So Far?
TODD RESTLER:
“I am an “architect” as opposed to a “gardener.” I need to have everything plotted to my satisfaction before I start writing.
William Goldman said screenplays are structure. He is talking about plot. “Plot” is like a dirty word in screenwriting books because it’s the thing they can’t teach.
What, exactly, will HAPPEN in your story? HOW it will happen is the fun part of writing and where the screenwriting books can help. But WHAT will happen? That’s on you and that is the hard part and where you should spend your creative energy.
My favorite screenwriting book is Good Scripts, Bad Scripts by Thomas Pope. He breaks down the scene structure of 25 films using graphs like time vs. tension, or internal vs. external conflict.
This is from his chapter on Network:
“But it is the extraordinary structure that holds the script together, by adhering to one of the most important guidelines of dramatic writing: Each scene should present a new problem or expand on an old one, creating a narrative imperative that powers the story past any hesitancies or questions.”
Callie Khouri (writer of Thelma and Louise) said it more succinctly:
“Anything happening on screen that is not advancing the story is death to the audience.”
Those are my mantras.
Look at your logline. Is every scene in your script advancing that logline forward? If not, get rid of it.”
What’s the Most Useful Piece of Advice You’ve Found From a Craft Perspective? Something That Was a Fundamental Shift in Your Writing Process Perhaps.
TODD RESTLER:
“Screenwriting isn’t writing in any traditional sense. Writers can be inebriated by the exuberance of their verbosity.
The goal isn’t to show how smart you are. Make it easy to read and understand the power of white space on the page.
White space is my field position, and I cede it carefully. If I’m going to write a word, it better matter. Less is almost always more. The reader’s eye wants to get to the end of the page. The fewer words per page in your script, the better.”
What Does Your Writing Routine Look Like?
TODD RESTLER:
“I wish I had one! I have a family and a career, so I write when I can. I like to write a scene or sequence all at once, which takes me a few hours. I try to write at least one scene each week. And I watch a ton of movies.”
Quickfire Round:
Favourite Movie Made by the Judges:
“They have all worked on projects I love.
Patrick Crowley was First A.D. on The Falcon and The Snowman, one of my favorite films. I saw it in the theater. Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton are two of my favorite actors. They were also in Taps together, and then Hutton in Ordinary People and Penn in At Close Range – those are important movies to me.
I also must mention Three Kings (produced by Ed McDonnell). That movie plays like gangbusters.”
Favourite TV show Made by the Judges:
“Breaking Bad. You may have gathered by now that I like the anti-hero! Bryan Cranston is larger than life in that role. I was lucky enough to see him on Broadway in Network playing Howard Beale. What an actor.”
Top 10 Movies of All Time:
1. Goodfellas
“Number one with a bullet. Works as both entertaining episodic dramedy and an incredibly deep exploration of misplaced American values. The tricks up its sleeve are so extensive (for example, Henry and Karen are giving court testimony, not “voiceover”) that no matter how many times I see it I find something new.”
2. Boogie Nights
“Some of the same themes as Goodfellas explored with just as much gusto. The camera following the woman into the pool comes near the end of a 2 1/2-minute tracking shot that is so unobtrusive you don’t even notice it, other than to know you are in the presence of greatness. My favorite cast.”
3. Network
“Spoiler alert: Mad as he is, Howard Beale loses the war. It’s the Ned Beatty speech that is the best in movie history. “There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T.” It hurts because it’s true.”
“My favorite dialogue: “The cat’s in the bag and the bag’s in the river.”
This is the film I suggest to people that claim they don’t like black and white movies. It’s gorgeous and smart as a whip.”
5. Slap Shot
“Reggie Dunlap is my favorite movie character. Oh, to be that eternally optimistic! He is doomed, but in such a lovable way.”
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors
“The human condition on film, amusingly. If you only have yourself to answer to, then how far will you go to get what you want? What can you live with? The ending is the best meeting of an A & B storyline in movie history.”
7. The Player
“Self-aware yet realistic, funny yet disturbing, contrived yet inevitable, one of the best movies about movies manages to have its cake and eat it too in a deliciously subversive way.”
8. Aliens
“When Ripley took a deep breath in the elevator near the end, the whole theater did too. We were as strung out as she was. The best action movie ever made.”
9. The Shining
“I am 11 years old. The twins stand in the hallway. “It’s just like pictures in a book, Danny. It isn’t real.” Nervous laughter from the grownups. They are as scared as me. That was the moment I understood the power of movies. It’s so fun to analyze they made a movie analyzing it (Room 237).”
10. Badlands
“Voiceover is bad? Then why is Terrence Malick one of the best directors ever? The modern American anti-hero was born with this film in my opinion. Its influence is massive.”
Your Top 10 TV Shows of All Time:
1. The Sopranos
“When your final scene is The Zapruder Film of fiction, you did something right. There are not enough superlatives in language to adequately describe James Gandolfini. Stunningly entertaining from beginning to end.”
2. The Wire
“Almost too realistic. I aspire to write to this level of verisimilitude. The way the layers of the world expanded each season was breathtaking. The Season 4 closing montage is something I think about often. In a world full of Clarence Royces, be a Bunny Colvin.”
3. The Larry Sanders Show
“The things actors could do with their “pseudo” guest appearances, like raging asshole Bruno Kirby, or ambiguously bi-sexual David Duchovny, made this an unpredictable joy. And I learned more from Stevie Grant than any 10 books on Hollywood.”
4. The Leftovers
“An impossible high wire act that defies gravity for 3 magical seasons. The storytelling is so bold, the acting so precise, you are deeply invested almost despite yourself. All the actors on this show were noteworthy but I think Carrie Coon did something truly special here.”
5. Breaking Bad
“Season 1, Episode 2 is called “Cat’s in the Bag…”. Episode 3 is called “…And the Bag’s in the River”. You had me at hello. Do we like crooks in America? Or do we want laws? Both? We have issues.”
6. Mad Men
“This show is what happens to you when you “break good” in America. Decide carefully. Jon Hamm was brilliant, but it was John Slattery’s Sterling’s gold that provided the wisdom. “Nobody knows what I’m doing. It’s good for mystique.””
7. Veep
“Zinger heaven. Don’t overlook how strong the writing is just because it’s comedy. It’s at the highest possible level of craftsmanship.”
8. The Office
“People in Hollywood probably think this is satire. The American workforce knows it’s a documentary about a company that functions like a well-oiled machine, relatively speaking.”
9. L.A. Law
“The first “adult” show I really got into. I liked following lots of different characters around, scheming and backstabbing. It seems glitzy but never insults the intelligence.”
10. Billions
“Are they hiring? Somebody tell Brian Koppelman that blue-horseshoe loves Todd Restler’s writing.”
If You Could Emulate Anyone’s Career, Whose Would it Be?
“Paddy Chayefsky. He wrote Marty, Network, The Hospital and Altered States. I’d love to have that kind of diverse credit list. And win three Oscars.”
Thanks Todd!
Learn more about The TITAN Screenwriting Contest.
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