‘Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break's Matthew White
August 6, 2021
Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break, which won the Final Draft Screenwriters Award at 2021's SXSW® festival, was a labor of love for screenwriter Matthew White, who shares the honor with co-writers Brook Driver and Nick Gillespie (who also directed the film).
The idea for the comedy/horror flick came to White back in 2009. The original story was a lot different than the finished version, which features a charity shop worker who's set on winning a national talent show — and his lunch-break killing spree of the five people who caused him to miss his audition.
"It was an odd script," White told Final Draft.
"Originally, it was an odd, real-time thriller about a bullied kid who returns to his old hometown to kill five people. The original protagonists were the victims, and we watched each of them going through a messed-up game of 20 questions, with death as the prize for failing or succeeding."
But the more time he spent on the script, the more he found himself empathizing with the killer; and in particular, the protagonist's challenge: killing five people in different parts of town in 90 minutes.
"So it became a thriller about a guy trying to kill five people in his lunch break," White said.
During this time, White got to know Gillespie and eventually told him about his script.
"Nick's first suggestion was, 'Make it funny,'" White said. "So I did!"
When it came to working with Gillespie and Driver on the script, White said they had an "unusual but productive" relationship.
"I spent around eight years working on it, with regular input and suggestions and inspiration from Nick," he said.
"When Finn Bruce (producer and owner of Belstone Pictures) optioned the script, he pulled us all together for a writers-room style development session where Nick, Brook, Finn and I tore the script to bits and put it back together again."
White eventually created a final draft based on more input, and then Gillespie and Driver worked on the script afterward until a working script was made.
However, according to White there were "some very long stretches of it being locked away in a metaphorical/digital drawer, whilst Nick and I went off and did our own things."
White even walked away from screenwriting for a few years, in part to "a few painful experiences on other films."
But every time he met up with Gillespie, he would say, "I still want to make
Paul Dood."
In 2015 Gillespie directed his debut feature,
Tank 432, which was produced by Belstone. And afterward, Gillespie pitched the story to Bruce, who also liked it.
"So eventually, Nick did get to make
Paul Dood. For which I am eternally grateful!"
In terms of what they all brought to the script, White says his original version of the story was "an evil, spiky knockabout comedy."
Gillespie, he says, pushed for emotional depth and a dose of realism.
"And then Brook brought some great comedy and, working with Nick, a better structure and a vastly improved ending that really sings."
When the trio won the Final Draft award, White says he felt "a little bit of disbelief and a bucketload of pride and gratitude. It means a huge amount to me."
White says he became a screenwriter because he's always loved movies and wanted to write for a living. He wrote four different screenplays before completing the first draft of
Paul Dood and figures he's written more than 30 since.
"What I like most about screenwriting is the purity and discipline. It's such an odd, tightly controlled format for writing," he said.
"But it means that we have to do so much with so little; a script is part haiku, part blueprint, part painting. Now, I'm a naturally chaotic person; if you give me a blank page I'll start writing something, and then I'll get bored and draw a picture of a monster, and then I'll set fire to the desk by mistake. So the discipline required to write a script is a real help to me — and it can encourage inspiration in some quite odd, but invigorating ways."
"But it means that we have to do so much with so little; a script is part haiku, part blueprint, part painting. Now, I'm a naturally chaotic person; if you give me a blank page I'll start writing something, and then I'll get bored and draw a picture of a monster, and then I'll set fire to the desk by mistake. So the discipline required to write a script is a real help to me — and it can encourage inspiration in some quite odd, but invigorating ways."
He calls the Final Draft award "a piece of whimsy" for a piece that he was tinkering with for years.
"For it to become a labor of love for so many talented people was amazing. And then to have a little British indie film both accepted at SXSW and recognized by the festival and Final Draft was the extra sprinkle of sugar on the cherry on top of the tastiest cake I've ever eaten."
Right now, says White, the film is being pitched for distribution, "which is good because my family wants to watch it!"
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Written by: Brianne Hogan
Brianne Hogan is a freelance writer currently based in Prince Edward Island. A film studies graduate from NYU, her byline's been featured in Creative Screenwriting, ScreenCraft, The Huffington Post, among others. "Jurassic Park" is unashamedly her favorite movie (at this moment). You can follow Brianne on Twitter via @briannehogan- Topics:
- Screenwriting
- Interviews
- TV/Film
