Storytelling and Screenwriting: Jefferson’s “Craft Talk”

While sitting in my kitchen at home one morning over winter break, I saw the email announcing the opening of LitFest registration and immediately scrambled to snag a spot for any of this year's events.

Every year, prominent writers and artists come to discuss their craft in smaller groups with students. It is a rare chance for students to get personal and detailed information from experienced people in various creative fields. I was especially excited to have the chance to hear about the process of writing and directing a film, something unknown to me.

This past Friday, several other attendees and I gathered around a table in the Lyceum and asked Jefferson questions about anything and everything. Jefferson regarded each question with respect and thoughtfulness, covering details about what happens inside the “writer’s room” and explaining how he came up with scenes from his directorial debut “American Fiction.”

Jefferson explained that he had always been interested in screenwriting, however, trying to break into the industry without connections was “like walking past a wall and hearing music but not getting into the party.”

After graduating from the College of William and Mary in 2004, Jefferson worked at a clothing store. He recalled thinking and feeling inadequate at the time. “People from my school were interns … in med school, analysts at McKinsey.”

Even while working one of his very first non-writing jobs in Los Angeles, struggling to make ends meet, Jefferson would come home every day and write.

During a desperate search for another job in L.A., Jefferson wrote a blog about music, politics, and race, notably writing an essay called “Racism Beat” about his disenchantment with always writing about Black issues. This is what sprouted a greater interest in TV – “I got sick of writing about misery.”

Later, when Jefferson was writing for Gawker Media, a TV showrunner saw some of his writing and asked if Jefferson would be interested in TV writing. Jefferson was excited, noting that some of his literary heroes, like James Baldwin and Joan Didion, also ended up writing for the screen.

Jefferson officially began screenwriting, and he found that his subsequent works started to influence each other. He explained how writing “Watchmen,” the TV series adapted from a comic book series, informed his writing of American Fiction: “When I started adapting ‘Erasure’ [the book that was the basis of ‘American Fiction’], I thought, what's the essence you can't lose? [It must be] funny, metaphorical, but beyond that, I let myself run free.” He advised students to “think about why you really love [about] the source material and write it.”

Jefferson also explained how he writes natural dialogue: “I dislike [when] everyone speaks the same ... I write acknowledging that people think differently and have different ways of communicating and saying the same thing. People often obfuscate and lie.”

Though Jefferson enjoys the solitude and personality of writing alone, as he did for works like “American Fiction,” he also shared his positive experiences collaborating inside a writer’s room. He explained the engaging process of writing a TV show: First, there’s an initial idea of what will happen by the beginning, middle, and end of the season. Then, the writers break it down episode by episode. One writer recites what happens in prose and writes it down; the other writers put out pitches, jokes, and stories, and final edits are made. After leaving the draft alone for a few days, it is made into a script. Jefferson noted how this collaboration with “13 other smart, talented, and funny people” can make the product even richer than when writing alone.

Jefferson explained that, even though he wrote and directed “American Fiction,” he owes so much of the final product to his collaborators. “A script is not a work of art; it's an invitation to create art,” said Jefferson, paraphrasing the famous screenwriter Paul Schrader. Jefferson said a film is also a work of the actors, designers, and hair and makeup team, specifically recalling suggestions from the costume designers to “make all of Monk’s clothes a little too tight” to indicate how he's let himself go to further enrich the story. Jefferson advised us to surround ourselves with people whose tastes and perspectives we admire and let that come through in the film or what we want to do.

It was inspiring to hear that “artists are not athletes” and that we don’t need to do our best work by thirty. According to Jefferson, you actually get better with age; it’s normal not to succeed right away. A creative life can be difficult, and it takes time to find out what you want to put into the world. Jefferson discouraged locking yourself to your desk and said, “If you want to make interesting art, live an interesting life: travel, meet interesting people, develop your personality and tastes.” It was incredible to get this kind of first-hand insight while also hearing the true personal struggles that may come up.

Other students had similar reflections about Jefferson's advice. Lila Schlissel ’27 shared that she “appreciated his willingness to share his frustrations and struggles with both writing and the creative process.” She added that she was “excited that [Jefferson] wasn’t hesitant to talk about writing in literal terms, particularly in regards to the adaptation process.”

Sofia Salazar ’27 echoed this, saying that “he gave the group such an honest and inspiring insight into his journey as a creative. His advice about persistence and doing what you love really stuck with me.”

Autri Basu ’27 felt connected to what Jefferson had to say: “Jefferson's talk reminded me that there are many ways to have a fulfilling life and that you shouldn't go and compare yourself to those other people all the time — as long as you are finding joy in some way, you’re doing something right.”