David Turpin Interview

UNSAYABLE THINGS

Screenwriting with David Turpin

The former IADT film student and EMCS lecturer on his screenplay for gothic horror movie the Lodgers. Interview: Michael Fortune.

“It began as a game that I used to play with myself when I was a child. I used to imagine, when I closed my bedroom door at night, that other people would occupy the house. I think that a lot of children imagine that”.

David Turpin is recalling the origin of his first screenplay. The Lodgers is directed by Brian O’Malley, produced by IADT graduates Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde, and shot in Loftus Hall (Ireland’s most haunted house). It’s the story of twins, Rachel and Edward, alone together in their haunted familial home.

Three rules, layed down by their ancestors, compel the siblings to be in bed by midnight, never let strangers in, and always stay together.

David is joining me for an interview between lectures at Trinity college, where it turns out that he teaches in 18th century literature. Writing a horror is no great departure of interest then. Indeed for fans of David’s atmospheric electro-pop, under the musical moniker the Late David Turpin, a story of mystery, romance and the gothic also appears in fitting with his creative identity. He also contributes to the movie’s

soundtrack with singer Cathy Davy. The opportunity to write the movie came to David “out of the blue” when he was approached by producers Treacy and Forde, looking for a horror story.

“I suppose I dabbled in the gothic a lot in my music. I don’t see it as a “capital H horror film”. I’m interested in genre because it’s a language and its a language that we can use to talk about things that are difficult to talk about. Yes there are tropes but those tropes are tropes for a reason - they have an archetypal power and they enable us to talk about things we can’t talk about. For instance it’s very difficult to talk about family, it’s very difficult to talk about sex, and horror, I felt, made it easier for me to talk about those kind of unsayable things. So I don’t accept what some people would believe about a film like this - that it’s a matter of shuffling the deck of the genre tropes. I don’t think that’s enough. You see a lot of it, but I don’t think that’s enough.”

“My next project is called The Winter Lake. That was supported by the IFB and by Creative Europe, which is another avenue that people can look into for doing stuff like that. And that one is a kind of psycho-drama. After that I’m working again with the same producers on a film called Black

Unicorn, which is a piece of imaginative fiction to do with genetics and hermaphroditism. And then the film that I’m working on with Kathryn Kennedy is a comedy. It’s called the Indecents.”

Producer Kathryn Kennedy is another IADT graduate. Reflecting on his time at IADT, David he had nothing but good things to say.

“I went to IADT immediately after I left school so that would have been over ten years ago. It was before the construction of what is now the National Film School so we were in the atrium as well. In terms of the facilities, they were radically different. I was 17 and I was very scared of everyone so I am probably not the one to gauge how fun it was. But what I did notice, because after IADT I went to Trinity, is that IADT was more convivial. People talked to each other. In Trinity you have only to step outside the door and you can do whatever you want in town. Whereas in IADT, you’re kind of corralled out into this field and I guess you have no choice. I remember everybody who was in my class in IADT and I can’t remember a damn person from Trinity.”

In his new role as screenwriter, the educator has ready insights into the craft. What follows is a wealth of advice and insiration for IADT’s aspiring screenwriters.

Submissions “So there’s two ways you can do it with the IFB. You can apply as an individual or you can join up with a producer before making the submission. I’ve always done the latter. And it used to be perceived that that was the way to do it. But I think with the new way they’re working it, you don’t have an advantage through either channel.”

Receiving Notes “As a screenwriter, you have to understand that you’re entering into a process that involves many moving parts, some of which you have no control over. It involves huge sums of other people’s money so when you are given a note, you have to hear it. You can’t just say “that’s not my vision” and bluster on, the way you could, perhaps, writing a novel.”

Collaboration “Collaboration is fun. A misapprehension that a lot of people have about collaboration is that it involves wanting something done and then hiring someone in to do it. But in that case you should just acquire the skills and do it yourself. Collaboration is about giving somebody a seed that they germinate in their own way.”

Personality “The personality that you need to write is not something that’s unique to film graduates. I think

of film as very related to dreams. When a film works on us, it touches us in the same way that a dream does. It touches us in places like our fears, our erotic desires - these are the things that film communicates. It works a lot on our subconscious. I think it’s for anyone who can tap into that part of their mind and channel it through the formalizing device of a screenplay.”

Formatting “I looked at screenplays to see the formatting. For every film that they develop at the IFB, there’s a script editor assigned, so I worked with her and she was great.”

Theme “You meet a lot of people who want to make a film because they want to be able to say “I am a filmmaker”. It’s a legitimate desire but it’s not going to be enough to get you through six drafts, months of shooting and a year of post production. It’s just not. I think you have to have something thematically that you want to talk about, that you feel needs to be said.

The Three Things “I feel all films should be terrifying. But I also think that all films should be amusing and I think that all films should be sexy. And if you have some kind of combination of those three in everything, then you’re alright.”

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