Greenlee’s Screenwriting Club attended a showing of the dark comedy “Election” on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Varsity Cinema in Des Moines. After the showing, Tony Moton, the club’s advisor and an assistant teaching professor, participated in a question-and-answer session about the film’s production.
Screenwriting Club members at the event were Chris Tull, Luciano Vitelli, Linnae Topf and club president Liam Brennan.
“Going to the Varsity Cinema with the screenwriting club was a full circle moment for me. We had talked about going on field trips early on in the club’s inception, but now we are really doing it! I see bright things in this club’s future,” said Brennan, senior in journalism and mass communication.
The club was newly formed this fall semester, and members are currently developing and writing short-form screenplays with the intent of filming a project in late spring.
Any student is welcome to join the club during meetings on Tuesday nights from 7-8:30 p.m. in Hamilton 0010A.
First-year student in computer science and club member, Will Carlson, was unable to attend the Varsity field trip, but very much enjoys feedback on his work.
“I was always interested in screenwriting and movies, but I didn’t know where to start. The Screenwriting Club has provided me with some great information and helpful feedback and I’m excited to see the evolution of my work, as well as others,” Carlson said.
Moton formerly worked as an entertainment columnist at the Omaha World-Herald and covered the 1999 film’s production in the hometown of two-time, Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Alexander Payne. Moton, who later earned a master’s degree in screenwriting from Payne’s alma mater UCLA, said he first met Payne when the filmmaker made his first feature film “Citizen Ruth” (with Laura Dern and the late Burt Reynolds) in Omaha.
“I remember Burt Reynolds telling me how special he thought Alexander was as a director when ‘Citizen Ruth’ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, ” Moton said. “He was right.”
Three years after “Citizen Ruth” was released, “Election” starred Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick in the satire about a student-body election. The film is based on a book of the same by Tom Perrotta.
“I visited Los Angeles and visited Alexander at the apartment he shared with co-writer Jim Taylor in Hancock Park,” Moton recalled. “He showed me a finished draft of the script for ‘Election’ and it was cool to see that they used two keyboards connected to one computer screen to write it together.”
Moton was interviewed by the Varsity Cinema’s executive director Ben Godar, an Iowa State graduate who has backgrounds in acting, journalism and screenwriting. He also is credited with the short film “Birth of the Cy-Hawk,” a short documentary about the history of the Iowa State-Iowa football rivalry.
“Anytime we can have filmmakers and special guests in person at The Varsity, we love to provide that opportunity for our audience to get closer to the film,” Godar said. “We were thrilled to have Tony join us and share his experiences with Alexander Payne and being on the ground as Election was being written and filmed.”
Payne and writing partner Taylor earned a best adapted screenplay Oscar for 2004’s “Sideways.” He later partnered with writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash on 2011’s “The Descendants” for his second best adapted screenplay honor.
Earlier this year, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won an Academy Award for her work in Payne’s “The Holdovers,” which also was nominated for best picture.