Interviews

The Spec Script Library
Screenwriter : Mark Allen

Stationed at the Naval Amphibious Base
in Coronado, Ca., Mark Allen has served as a Navy Hospital Corpsman,
for the past 17 years.

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What is your passion?

Writing novels and screenplays that break new ground
on old stories and push the envelope.

What is your pride?

Serving my country, my children

What is your greatest fear?

Failure

What does adversity do to you?

Pushes me to succeed all that much harder.
Failure is NOT an option.

What is your best quality?

My ability to detach myself from the work and look at it objectively through the eyes of my agent or producer. This is a BUSINESS, and I treat it as such. I'm no prima donna. Being in the Navy has taught me the importance of working together as a team to achieve a goal. In the film industry, this is called "collaborative effort".

What is your worst quality?

I have a temper, but it takes a lot to get me mad.
Also, I have been known to procrastinate from time to time.

What irksome habits do you have?

I bite my nails.

If you could have your time again, what would you do that is different?

I would have pursued my writing career about ten or fifteen years ago, instead of starting 2 years ago at age 34.

What would you like to change about yourself? About others?

For myself, I'd like to lose about twenty pounds, and maybe meet a woman and fall in love again. I'm divorced, but I am a big believer in long- term, stable, mutually monogomous relationships. For others.... nothing. I can't change other people, only myself.

How important is goal setting to you?

It is everything. Meeting goals is how you measure your success.

What goals do you have?

Sell my scripts, get a multi- year, multi- book publishing deal, member of WGA.

What is your ultimate goal?

To make a decent living writing novels and screenplays for the rest of my life.

What heroes do you have?

Chuck Norris. I've met him, years ago when I was a kickboxer. He is a humble, soft- spoken, polite man. Of all the martial arts stars in films/TV, he alone has continued to live a classical martial artist lifestyle of humility, loyalty to family and friends, and the advancement of American values.

What inspires you in others?

Acts of kindness that desire nothing in return.

What inspires you in yourself?

My ambition to succeed.

What will be written on your headstone? I must be traveling on now/ Cuz there's too many places I've got to see..." From "Freebird", Lynrd Skynrd.

What does success mean to you?

Meeting the goals I've set for myself in life: financial, physical, spiritual, emotional.

How do you measure success?

By how many goals I've met.

What are your pet hates?

Negative people. Professional victims who say they're oppressed by every force of nature on the planet and they're doomed to failure if they try to change.

What are your pet loves?

People who dare to dream of something better for themselves, and then have a courage to act on their thoughts and make it happen.

What do you think of pets?

I love animals, especially large breeds of dogs.

When are you happiest?

When I am with a woman that I love.

When are you hardest to please?

When I need something done to specific standards of quality.

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

There's been so many!!!

What's the most exhilarating thing you have done?

Came home alive from the Middle East.

What is it about screen writing that gets your fired?

Telling a story in a way that's not been done before. Also, writing the kind of movie that I want to go see. Like I said, I like to push the boundaries with subject matter, dialoge, sexuality, and violence. It's not for everyone, but somebody's gotta do it.

What screenplays have you written?

Ladies' Man (erotic thriller),
Wolf Den (horror), Black Water Moon (horror),
MR-44 (futuristic action thriller)

What is your favorite pastime?

Writing, reading, movies, running, boogy- boarding.

What is your favorite motto?

"Opportunity is often disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize it" Ann Landers. "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Gary Player.

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If you would like to contact Mark
please mail him

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