Hanavan and writing partners keep the creative screenwriting dream alive

From the current state of things, Brett Hanavan is just another guy staring at his laptop at a San Diego coffee house.

He is either there or in front of his thin-screened desktop computer in his second floor home office developing ideas and concepts. He could be working on household finances but he is not.

Maybe the local freelance writer and professional Dad is surfing the Internet for eBay bargains or purchasing music off iTunes or the new Napster.

Maybe Hanavan is writing about passionate romance, solving a medical murder mystery, or chronicling a documentary on summer thunderstorms in the local San Diego Mountains or on Santa Ana winds; a truly unique Southern California phenomenon. He could be focused on a host of other scenarios that always have a place in the movies.

Those around him at the suburban Starbucks may not know it, but Hanavan has transformed from the simple family man to aspiring screenwriter, a dream he has held since his collegiate days. In a Hollywood ending, the words on his computer monitor would end up on the silver screen.

The odds, though, are against him but that does little to deter his drive, spirit and ambition.

“My goal is to write excellent, creative, unique and inspiring screen or teleplays with my writing partners,” Hanavan said. “If they get interest outside of San Diego that is great. But if I can a make a few of my own productions to learn the process either here or in St. Louis, I’ll do that as well.”

One of Hanavan’s creative colleagues is Tom Bennett, who lives in St. Louis and manages a creative, collaborative partnership with Hanavan called ForeSolutions.

Hanavan’s thoughts are echoed by many of his peers. And, they are echoed by his partners. Hanavan has a note written to himself inside his small black journal that says “I am the need to write.” For Hanavan it is a passion.

For Hanavan and his partners the attitude is a rare combination of idealism and pragmatism. Rare, in that a number of writers never emerge from the proverbial office basement to reveal their own little “On The Waterfront,” or “Fast Times At Ridgemont High.” At best, aspiring screenwriters show their results to family and friends. For this group, the screenplay may be a lark, a fun hobby¾a way to unleash imaginative thoughts after a long, dull day in the company cubicle.

But for Hanavan it is different, it allows him to be the prototypical “Mr. Mom,” spending quality time with his five-year-old daughter Brooke while his wife works hard advancing her career in management for a large insurance company.

“Each one of my writing partners have children and they are the most important aspects in our lives. The kids always come first,” Hanavan said. “I know for each of us our children provide inspiration and keep us grounded while motivated to push forward.”

That thought is especially true for Hanavan and partner Shanna Stanton, a North Carolina native, living in the same San Diego suburban sprawl as Hanavan. When the two met, as writer and artist two years ago, immediately they knew they had something in common. Soon after they formed Neighbors Productions to focus on writing and creative endeavors that focus’ on children’s books and video production.

And, together they have just finished location shooting for a pilot children’s television and are entering the editing studio. The show, called “On The Shanna Show,” is based on a concept that features “Miss Shanna,” a somewhat typical but fun, communicative, mom-like roll model that hangs out with and teaches children realistically about various subjects. It is targeted to kids and Moms alike.

On The Shanna Show is straight forward, from the heart and looking for a production home. The pilot’s topic is transportation.

But, Hanavan’s rooted passion is for the big screen. There are those like Hanavan and Bennett, normal people currently living non-Hollywood lives, all the while looking to a possible date with a feature film. A portion of each meeting together focuses on new idea generation. But, most know that is a date that proves difficult to get.

“It is not an easy thing to do,” says Bennett, Hanavan’s working partner who co-produced and directed their 80,0002B independent short film Clean Up Aisle 3 that was completed in 2003 and shown at private premiers in St. Louis and San Diego. The film was selected for inclusion in the 2003 Wilmington Independent Film Festival.

“We know it is difficult and that we might have a better chance of winning the Missouri or California or North Carolina Lottery than getting a screenplay turned into a major Hollywood film,” Bennett said.

Yet Bennett and Hanavan are far from pessimistic. The same is true for Hanavan’s third writing partner San Diegan and native Minnesotan, Kevin Curry, who together with Hanavan has written a 50+ page treatment based on a story about a deceitful insurance mogul who is into thoroughbred racing. The treatment has already garnered some minor interest in Hollywood circles with no firm contract yet.

Hanavan and Bennett are lucky though in a sense as they have been ask to adapt a medical mystery thriller novel into a screenplay for a future medical industry charity event in St. Louis. For them it is the next logical step following the learning process that engrossed Clean Up Aisle 3.

For them too, the dream has taken a while. It is a dream they both developed together while fraternity brothers in Lambda Chi Alpha at the University of Tulsa where they graduated in 1985. That while took 17 years to finally come to fruition. Not really knowing where to begin, Hanavan simply sat down at a blank Word page in his computer, and focusing not on original ideas he and Bennett had in the past, but on an idea that could be written and produced using a Canon digital video camera and a virtual budget of $0. In reality they were able to produce the film for less than $5,000 using non-professional actors and actresses.

Bennett chose a bit different route while Hanavan was writing freelance magazine articles for various trade publications. He enrolled in the film studies program at Meramec Community College in St. Louis in the fall of 2002 to foster his interest in movies and filmmaking. He has completed several courses and plans to continue his studies while balancing family and daytime career.

For all four, writing and creating has become more and more a part of everyday life. For Hanavan, who writes everyday, it continues to be a passion. Such dedication in the face of almost certain adversity is inspiring.

“Life on Earth in modern Western society is all about timing,” Hanavan says. “One little thing done differently at some point and your life could be different. And, unless you write and produce projects like Clean Up Aisle 3 or On The Shanna Show, you don’t even have a remote chance of being in the right place at the right time. You never know what possibilities are out there. There are so many of us out there all doing the same thing. Someone has to make it big.”

Hanavan is correct in that there are plenty of aspiring, creative and energetic writers out there. A simple check of the Internet finds literally hundreds of screenplay competitions open for entry, the most famous being Project Greenlight and its connected HBO reality show (that will run this season on the cable channel Bravo). Another quick check at Amazon.com leads you to enough screenplay “How To” books to fill a small library.

Film writers typically fall into two categories. There are those that have immersed themselves in the business and the writing is a part of the greater whole. Then there are those who are writers, the ones who may not know a network of local directors and producers. But as the examples of Hanavan, Bennett, Stanton and Curry all show going from novice outsider to semi-connected or completely immersed insider seems to be a natural progression.

That progression is best served with networking and low-budget guerrilla self-marketing that should be non-stop and relentless.

“Would be videographers and screenwriters, local filmmakers on shoestring budgets can invest thousand upon thousands of dollars on equipment but unless you have concept-content-concept wrapped around those “techie” cameras it is not going to do you any good,” Hanavan said.

Hanavan and Bennett used a low-end, simple Canon ZR20 to film Clean Up Aisle 3, a digital video camera that sold at the time for about $699 and was used to film a television commercial as a promotional strategy soon after that line of cameras were introduced. Stanton and Hanavan are using the same camera to film the On The Shanna Show pilot.

With a minimal investment in technology local screenwriters can contour based on having the technical ability to make a film themselves if no one else takes interest.

If you keep coming up short, then grab the camera, a blank digital tape cassette, a charged battery and head out the door.