Screenwriter Brook Driver might be relatively new to the industry, but he's already a winner. The U.K. native won the Final Draft Screenwriters Award at 2021's SXSW® festival — along with co-writers Matthew White and Nick Gillespie — for Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break.

"It’s a great honor to win any award. In fact, it’s just great to know that anyone’s watching your work and enjoying it," Driver told Final Draft. 

"Ninety percent of what you write doesn’t even get read, let alone made and watched in theaters so you’ve already won if you get to this stage in my opinion!" 

The movie is a horror/comedy about a weedy charity shop worker who is set on winning a big national talent show. But when the actions of five selfish people cause him to miss his audition, he sets out to seek deathly revenge.

Driver said he was brought to the project some years after White and Gillespie had been working on it.

"It was very much their baby. I was asked to workshop some of the comedy and then was given a go on the final draft, which is always difficult. Everything you change or take out you know has been meticulously worked on by the other writers so it’s a tough thing to do."

Co-writing can be a delicate art to even the most skilled screenwriter, and according to Driver the movie's producer, Finn Bruce, was instrumental in creating a cohesive environment. 

"[He] set up more of a writers room for the development of this script, which was great. It was very collaborative and unlike anything I had done in the past."

When it came to Driver taking his turn at the script, he said they didn't have long until production, so "the pressure was on."

"Luckily, I was working with a great foundation in the draft from Matt and Nick, which we had by then extensively workshopped together."

While Driver said he's always been a "keen" writer, it wasn't until he completed a year at the University of South Carolina as an exchange student that he became interested in writing for the screen.

"I took classes in both writing for TV and film with professor Northrop Davis, who really encouraged me to pursue the craft seriously. Since then I’ve never stopped."  

Prior to writing Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break, Driver worked on a number of features and TV pilots that had been picked up by various production companies in London. However, "Paul Dood is the first project that I have worked on that has actually been made," he said.

Currently, he's reworking one of his favorite feature scripts for television with a production company, and he's set to work on a film with Bruce, which is set to shoot in September. 

As for his advice for aspiring screenwriters, he recommends trying to enjoy the writing process.

"You’re gonna have so many knocks and so much rejection in your career. If you don’t love writing then it’s probably not gonna be worth it." 

Unfortunately, the team wasn't able to attend SXSW due to COVID-19 restrictions, however Driver hopes to attend the festival and more in the future. And while he has yet to experience the impact of his new award, "here’s hoping they rocket propel you to Hollywood stardom!"