The goal of Final Draft’s Big Break Screenwriting Contest has always been to boost the screenwriting career of winners and finalists. For writer Benjamin Kramer, winning the 2021 Big Break Action/Adventure category was just the push he needed to not only get great feedback on his script Pulp in San Lorenzo, but to sign with a management company that really values his work. 

Early Film Obsessions

In a chat with Kramer, he revealed his love for film goes all the way back to fifth grade, when he says he became obsessed with IMDb’s top 250 movies. But he couldn’t always grasp the mature themes in the top-ranking films. “Movies like The Godfather were just way too nuanced for an 11-year-old. I would try to write my own version of a gangster thriller or organized crime, mafia script – something every fifth grader knows tons about!” he says with a laugh. 

Exploring the complex relationship between good guys and bad guys would play out in Kramer’s writing as he got older. Fast-forward to after college when Kramer decided to attend the Peter Stark producing program at USC Film School. It was during this time that his assistantship with producer Shawn Levy (Deadpool and Wolverine), not only taught him about telling stories with subversive protagonists, but also creating a strong work ethic. “It was a very demanding job, but Shawn was a great boss,” he says. 

After putting in 10 hours a day at Levy’s production company, Kramer would go home and spend the entire evening writing – but it wasn’t always easy to stay focused. “I had to write a project or find topics that would be interesting enough to me that I would have enough passion to stay energized after working all day.”

When Kramer discovered a true story from World War I about a combat cinematographer who was hired by the British government to stage combat footage for war propaganda, he knew he was on to something. “I really put my heart and soul into that script for a while. I had an agent at the formerly APA who started sending it out. That actually landed on the Hit List, which is kind of like a mini Blacklist back in 2018 and just got a very good response. And I was very lucky it opened some doors and got me my first paid writing assignments. That allowed me to leave the assistant gig and start writing full time,” he says. 

Winning Final Draft’s Big Break

To write the 2021 Big Break-winning script, Pulp in San Lorenzo, Kramer discovered what he calls, “A wild bit of information that happened during the Bay of Pigs [in the 1960s, when there was a tension point between the U.S. and Cuba that nearly led to war].” 

By now, Kramer’s fascination with espionage and organized crime had become more sophisticated as he delved into secretive military operations. “They’re two sides of the same coin. The tactics are the same; it just depends on who you’re working for,” he says.

Pulp in San Lorenzo came out of extensive research on real-life CIA operations, particularly their covert dealings in Latin America. “During the Bay of Pigs invasion, United Fruit Company provided boats for the landing. At the time, key U.S. government officials had direct ties to United Fruit through their law firm. It was a blatant example of corporate and government interests intertwining,” he says. 

But Kramer struggled with tone. Initially, he wrote a more comedic version but later revised it into a noir. After hearing that period films were difficult to get made, he made the decision to set a fictionalized version of the story in modern day. 

“It was actually a really fun experiment to not only come up with a story that wasn’t tethered to the facts, but I actually came up with a fictionalized island called San Lorenzo. It was heavily inspired by not only operations in Cuba but also Guatemala where the CIA was operating really intensely and very violently. And it was kind of just an amalgamation of a lot of CIA operations across all Latin America,” he says. 

But Kramer still wasn’t sure if this was the best story he could tell.  

“My manager at the time wasn’t responding well to the changes. I felt like I wasn’t getting useful feedback, so I submitted to Big Break to get an objective evaluation.” The competition provided exactly that, plus a huge validation of his writing choices when he won. He signed with a new management company, Heroes and Villains Entertainment. 

Producing with Wiser Films

In addition to screenwriting, Kramer co-founded Wiser Films, a small independent film financing company. Their focus is on “last dollar in” investments, which helps projects secure final funding. “We keep our investments small, no more than $300,000 per film, so we can move quickly when the right project comes along,” he says.

Through Wiser Films, Kramer has helped produce several acclaimed projects, including The Apprentice, Unicorns, and The Cut, as well as the upcoming film, At the Sea, starring Amy Adams. “Our model allows us to work with great teams while ensuring the films get completed,” he says.

Advice for Writers 

For writers looking to break into the industry, Kramer emphasizes finding topics that inspire passion. “Find a subject that excites you enough to sustain the long, grueling writing process. The best scripts come from writers who are genuinely invested in their stories,” he says.

He also stresses the importance of receiving and interpreting feedback, like the feedback he got from the Big Break Competition. “Take notes seriously, but don’t take them personally. Sometimes a note pinpoints a problem, but the suggested solution isn’t necessarily the right fix. Your job is to address the underlying issue in a way that serves your story,” he says.

Kramer offers the simplest yet most critical piece of advice: “Apply pants to seat. Writing is about showing up and putting in the hours. There’s no magic trick—it’s just doing the work.”

Final Draft’s Big Break Screenwriting Competition is now open for submissions.