Debbie Harpham
by Joe Stillman
“The Man Who Came and Went” began as a screenplay, back in 1991. The first draft was done a year later, then the second draft, then third draft. That was back when I used draft numbers, not realizing a screenplay could get up to “30th draft”, or “49th draft”. Much simpler and less discouraging to use the date.
Pretty early on I figured out the characters Belutha, Maybell, Rose and Martin. Bill Bill was there, and he did the things he did, cooked what he cooked. But I couldn’t say I really knew him. And if I didn’t know him, then no one else would.
The screenplay was intended to be an independent movie. The problem for me was: how do you get to the heart of Bill, how do you express who he is, without getting too pedantic or worse, too touchy-feely? But it turns out I was wrong about that, as I was wrong about many things. The real issue was that I just didn’t know Bill.
When I moved to LA in ’96 I had three drafts in hand. I wasn’t done, so I went about rewriting between jobs for hire. After “King of the Hill” a new draft. Before and after “Shrek”, two drafts. As work came and went, I kept digging back into this story, again and again. After some drafts I had decided, “This is the one!” I told myself all the effort was justified. But then I would read it over after the next job, finding that I still hadn’t gotten it. I still didn’t know Bill.
During all this time, the screenplay was nonetheless well-regarded. A powerful agent at my agency, CAA, took it underwing. I came very close to signing a deal to have it produced, but stepped back in the last minute, as I sensed the movie wouldn’t have the comedic element it needed — and Bill just wasn’t there. Ten years and something like 15 drafts later, a Broadway star, Christen Chenoweth, grew interested in making this into a stage musical, and brought a famous director on board. Songs were written. The songs were good, but the tone wasn’t the story I intended. I also remembered a dream I had decades before, where I attended a Broadway show I had written and the show had changed so much that I didn’t recognize it. Plus, I hadn’t figured out Bill and I knew that if I hadn’t, the people turning this into a musical wouldn’t either. Again, I backed away.
As I kept rewriting, and not finding Bill to my satisfaction, I came to regret both those decisions to walk away. So much time had passed since starting this project, that the independent film market I had intended this for had all but dried up.
It was a colossal waste of time. Worse, a waste of a career.
25 years into this process, I decided to finally get this story off my computer. If I wrote it as a novel, then at least it would exist somewhere for people to see. I thought that the character of Belutha, who was by far my favorite of any I had worked with, should tell the story. The moment I sat down to write, the story and Bill Bill clicked into place.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Joe Stillman co-wrote “Shrek” for Dreamworks which earned him an Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Annie and BAFTA Awards. Other produced features are “Beavis & Butthead Do America”, “Shrek 2”, “Gulliver’s Travels”, “Planet 51” and “Joseph King Of Dreams”. In television, he was co-producer and writer on “King of the Hill,” for which he received two Emmy Award® nominations. He was a writer and story editor for Nickelodeon’s “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” and a writer on MTV’s “Beavis and Butthead”. More recently he worked on Nickelodeon’s “Sanjay And Craig” and “Kirby Buckets” for Disney. Other TV credits include “Albert” for Nickelodeon, “The War Next Door” for the USA Network, “Clueless”, “Doug” and “Danger And Eggs” for Amazon. Joe is currently working on a “Curious George” feature for streaming on Peacock. Joe’s debut novel, “The Man Who Came and Went,” is literary fiction with elements of magical realism. It’s been a passion project for years, in between jobs for hire.
AUTHOR VISITS:
Joe Stillman is available to visit with book clubs via NovelNetwork.com.