Veteran Screenwriter Bob DeRosa Talks Films, TV & Podcasts

Film and TV writer Bob DeRosa known for his work on White Collar and Killers has seen many turbulent changes in the business during his decades-long career. Bob shares his thoughts with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about his writing journey .

Describe how you broke into the industry.

I lived in Orlando in the late 90s, making short films, writing scripts, doing improv, acting in the occasional commercial, and working for the Florida Film Festival. I was hired by a local producer to rewrite a script, and we really enjoyed working together. After he moved to LA, I sent him a spec script that he loved, and by the time I moved out here, he was on track to becoming a manager. He showed the script around, and studio execs loved it, but it was a small romantic dramedy. He encouraged me to write a big genre script, and the resulting screenplay got me signed with a great agency and it went out wide. The script didn’t sell, but it made me a lot of fans, including an exec at Revolution Studios. I pitched on a project they wanted to make and landed the job. I wrote two drafts and got into the WGA, and I’ve been making my way as a professional screenwriter ever since. 

What types of stories are you most interested in?

I love character-driven genre stories that straddle the line between grounded and heightened. Gritty is not my thing. I focus on action/thrillers mostly, but I love sci-fi and horror, too.Thematically, I’ve written often about people who have gifts that are also curses. Lately, I’ve been writing about characters trying to find balance in their lives. The struggle for work-life balance isn’t anything new, but if you add some espionage or karate to it, it makes it entertaining and relatable. 

Define your writing voice. 

Wow, what a question! It’s interesting because I write in so many different media (film, TV, audio, theater, and fiction) and I hope that my voice carries through all of them. I like lean writing that makes you want to turn the page with propulsive action lines and engaging banter. I don’t write comedies, but I did improv for years, so I love sneaking in some humor when I can. And no matter what genre I’m working in, there’s always some heart and poignancy. 

Where do you source potential story ideas and seek creative inspiration?

I watch plenty of movies and TV. I love to travel. I’ve been reading a lot more in recent years. I generally read two books at once. I read non-fiction (and journal) before I write. Then at night, I don’t look at my phone and instead read fiction in bed until I go to sleep. I’m not a fast reader, but this has helped me read around forty books a year which is a game-changer for me.

What is your typical writing process? Do you start with a premise or something else?

I’m totally premise-driven. What’s the big idea, the hook, that I can hang a whole movie on? I have an exercise where I choose a genre and list out five or ten movie stars. Then I brainstorm loglines for each star in that genre. Most aren’t good, but every once in a while I come up with a winner. That’s where Killers came from, and my most recent movie Classified (which was made earlier this year with Aaron Eckhart, Tim Roth, and Abigail Breslin). I test out potential loglines with my reps and friends until I have something that really hooks people.

Do you outline or go straight into the script?

I went straight to script early in my career and got lucky a couple of times, but I realized pretty quickly that being a professional screenwriter means having a repeatable process. After I have a good logline, I write up a beat-sheet (one or two pages max). Then I put notecards on the board. Not every scene, but enough to give me a general road map of where I’m going. I like to leave a little room for discovery. Sometimes I write a treatment, but not often. I like to say that if I have twenty or thirty notecards on a board, I have enough to write the movie.

You’ve written in both film and television. What are the biggest differences in the writing process?

I’ve only been in one actual TV writers’ room and that was on the fourth season of White Collar. It was an incredible experience, and I learned a ton. The main difference is when I’m writing a feature script, it’s just me. I have complete freedom to do what I want, But if I run into story problems, then I’m on my own. TV writing is super collaborative in that we’re serving the vision of the showrunner and the studio and network that are financing and airing the show. But the incredible thing is that when you run into a story problem, there’s a roomful of super smart writers to help solve it. Even if we’re all stumped, someone throws out a bad idea and that inspires other ideas, and before you know it, problems get solved. The camaraderie in the TV writers room is really special and something I’m glad to have experienced.

Is there a particular film or TV show you’ve written that means the most to you?

I’ve written three movies and one season of a TV show, and honestly they’re all special to me. I co-wrote The Air I Breathe with director Jieho Lee and it was our first produced feature. We put our hearts and souls into that one, for sure. Gifted, which was the romantic dramedy script that helped get me my start in the industry, was very personal. It never got made, but I eventually adapted it into a stage play which has had two successful runs here in LA, and I’m so proud that I was able to finally tell that story. 

Describe your foray into writing for podcasts.

I probably never would’ve gotten into audio if it wasn’t for my good friend and director Ben Rock. We’ve done a lot of theater together and co-created an award-winning horror/comedy web series called 20 Seconds To Live that played over twenty international festivals and won a bunch of awards. Over the years, we established a great working relationship and a fun horror aesthetic. Our friends Mike Monello and Nick Braccia sold a mystery/horror podcast to Shudder and Ben and I were hired to co-write it (with Ben also directing). Video Palace is meant to sound like a real true-crime podcast that becomes a supernatural nightmare. Ben’s had a lot of experience making “found-footage” stuff (he worked on the original Blair Witch Project!) but it was my first time. We only had a few months to write and make a three hour podcast, which was crazy fast. It was an exhilarating process and to this day is probably the best working experience I’ve ever had in Hollywood. 

After Video Palace was released, Ben and I sold another horror show to Audible. Catchers is a monster movie for the ears with a full voice cast, original score, and monster SFX. That one took a lot longer to get made, but we’re super proud of the results. Working in audio is really fun and helped me realize that the most important thing for me, creatively, is to make cool stuff with my friends. Ben and I are developing some other horror projects, features and audio. Hoping we get some of those made soon!

What are the key changes you’ve seen in the types of films and TV shows over the past twenty-odd years?

Someone could write a book answering that question (and I’m sure someone has). Of course, the over-dependence on IP and the proliferation of streamers are on everyone’s minds. I really miss mid-budget movies. Currently, it’s either giant tent poles or low-budget movies with very little middle-ground. I miss those mid-sized stories and really hope we can get back to making them. As for TV, I think it’s cool that a lot of the basic boundaries have fallen away. It used to be half-hour comedies and hour-long dramas; period. Now there are half-hour dramas, light hours, and big genre shows approaching feature length. There are a lot of challenges in TV right now, but there’s also some really cool opportunities to stretch the form.

What separates the good writers from the great?

I’d say it’s a combination of a unique voice mixed with an incredible command of craft. Also, I really admire the pros’ ability to navigate the business so their work makes it to the screen relatively unscathed. That’s the part of this career that no book or class can prepare you for. Honestly, it’s hard as hell and making anything great is nearly impossible. But there are writers who do, and they do it often. Those are the truly great writers in my mind.