Ben Moody hated writing for most of his early life. His mother was not just an AP English teacher but his AP English teacher, so he really didn’t have a choice but to rebel against the craft. The first thing he ever remembers writing was a short play in a high school theatre class. The piece was, in his words, “Terrible, but that’s okay, I was proud of it.” (I personally am not sure I believe him, I don’t know if he’s capable of writing something terrible.) Despite finally having some positive feelings about the written word, he didn’t truly embrace his love of writing until his early twenties.
For a long time he thought he wanted to be an actor, but quickly realized it wasn’t for him and that the actual dream was to make his own projects. He writes with directing the film in mind, and admits to having at least two feature scripts in his repertoire he could never bear to part with. When starting a new script, he tends to begin with the plot and from there figures out how the characters fit into the story. His process also involves a lot of daydreaming, “I’ll make a playlist of songs that really gets me going, really inspires me. I’m thinking of moments or scenes, no story… and I’ll just sit on my floor and close my eyes and daydream and that’s where a lot of my ideas come from.” While traveling, he always prefers driving to flying so he has that time alone in the car to daydream about his current story. Each of his scripts have their own handwritten journal, which he finds forces him to slow down and helps distinguish which ideas are worth exploring.
Two years ago, his partner Kyla Diane Kennedy started the production company Betcha Can! Films under which Ben directs and Kyla acts and produces. They’ve made several films together; their most recent project a proof of concept for his award-winning horror comedy, Deep Cuts. “It was probably the most fluid set I've ever been on. Everything went according to plan, we executed the vision we were all trying to create, and I couldn't be prouder of the way it came out.” The story follows best friends Lola and Max as they conspire to lead a local murder investigation in hopes that the cash reward will save their unpopular radio station. The feature film is currently in development, and you can watch the proof of concept here.
Now for some Q&As:
Q: What do you wish most people knew about screenwriting?
A: Screenwriting can be extremely isolating. You can become so wrapped up in the world you've created, you lose touch with the physical world. When I'm headstrong about an idea, it's all I can think about. I'll shut people out, turn invites down, and become distant until I get those ideas onto a page. It's something I'm working on - finding that balance of being social and making sure you put in the work. If you lean too far on either side, you'll either never get any work done, or you'll get a lot of work done and have nobody to share it with.
Q: What’s a movie you wish you would have written? Why?
A: M. Night Shyamalan's, "The Happening", and I won't be explaining myself.
Q: What are you currently working on/what's next for you?
A: I'm currently rewriting a script that's loosely based on the people who make "mockbusters". A bit of "Ed Wood" meets "Boogie Nights". I have a few ideas for what's next. I'm not sure which way I'll go, but I'm feeling very sentimental as of late.
Q: Lastly but not even close to least; what is your favorite food, and your favorite version of that food?
A: Okay - I'm deeply, deeply obsessed with food so I simply cannot pick one option so I'm going to shout out a few: The crispy rice at Gogoku in Studio City. I've had my fair share of crispy rice, nothing even comes close to this. The orange chicken at Garden Wok in Tarzana is truly one of one - shout out to their Buddha buns as well. One last spot, the carrot bisque at République - I've only ever been there once, and I absolutely hate soup as it's not a real food - but for that one night, it felt good to be wrong.