g n i t i r w Screen
FROM THE EDGE: THE ABSURD HUMANIST WORLD OF TEX GRESHAM
O
ur story opens with a mo-
Humanitas is a non-profit organization
mentous announcement, a
established in 1974 that honors and
glorious ending that is also a
empowers screenwriters whose creative
beginning. It has its roots in Spring, Tex-
output promotes human dignity and
as and a gang of boys who spun out
freedom. The annual prizes that Huma-
their dreams on mini digital videotapes
nitas has granted to writers in television
while they forged lifelong bonds with
and film for nearly half a century have
one other. In the center of that adventurous and indelible world was Thomas “Tex” Gresham, now in his third year as a Master of Fine Arts candidate and teaching assistant in the Writing for Dramatic Media program in the
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Department of Film at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The exciting news is that Tex Gresham’s work has been recognized with a top
the stature of highly prestigious accolades in other disciplines, such as the Nobel or the Pulitzer.
Humanitas awards celebrate work that boldly explores the nuances of the human condition by challenging us to confront the consequences of our choices, and by entertaining us with fully realized characters and elegantly crafted narratives. “Our overarching goal,” proclaims the Humanitas mission statement, “is to promote peace and love in the human family one story at a time.”
screenwriting prize. Humanitas has named Gresham the 2020-2021 winner of its $20,000 David and Lynn Angell Comedy Fellowship for Fix Daddy, a
In Fix Daddy and Tex Gresham, Humanitas could have found no more worthy script or writer to acknowledge.
stunningly quirky, unforgettable feature-length script that takes its readers on a mind-bending road trip with a determined man and the only father he has ever known.
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By Heather Addison
I recently spoke with Gresham about his development as an artist, his approach to the craft of writing, and his current and future projects.
The absurd and vital humanism that distinguishes his entire oeuvre as a novelist and screenwriter has its roots in his rough-and-tumble Texas childhood. Suburban Borderlands Gresham grew up in southeast Texas just north of Houston in a mid-sized town that straddled the divide between suburban and rural. “There was a cow pasture right across the street from my house,” says Gresham. That boundless threshold served as fertile ground for Gresham and his friends, an energetic group of boys who reached their teens in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They loved watching movies, either at the theatre or on VHS. Over-the-top action-adventure or sci-fi films were their favorites: Freaked (1993), Speed (1994) Independence Day (1996) Godzilla (1998). Soon they began attempting remakes of their favorite scenes, or even parodies of entire films. They would get together on weekends and shoot whatever inspired them. Gresham had VHS and mini-DV cam-
