As part of our continuing interviews with industry players, Creative Screenwriting Magazine spoke with Justin Ross, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Development and Production of Bohemia Group. Ross began his film career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, working on spec for director Maguy Cohen (12 Years A Slave, Ghost Protocol). He now lives in Los Angeles and continues to write, connecting his two passions: good people and great stories.
What is your specific role of Executive Vice President?
Good question! It may be different at other places, but here at Bohemia Group Originals (BGO), my title means that I am in charge of story development. I work closely with writers, directors, and producers on both TV series and feature films to get a story into the best place it can be.
Then, I take or help take the script into the marketplace and look for financing, production partners and talent to bring the project to that next step; together. I answer only to the company CEO, Susan Ferris who is so, so supportive and an “out of the box” thinker, and a wonderful person too (don’t tell her I told you!). (Note to Justin: We just contacted Susan’s office to tell her!)
How do you balance development and production duties?
Most of my job is in development, which I am defining as all that happens up until there is a physical production of a screenplay. On A Dark Place, the film we helped make in 2018, I helped the team hire one of my colleagues to be the physical, ‘boots on the ground’ producer for the shoot. For the next project, I might be doing the physical production.
Development is ongoing, as projects are in different stages. It is like putting on different hats, which I absolutely enjoy. I heard John Ottman talk about editing vs composing vs directing (he does all three), and he said how enjoyable each of those is for him. I would say it’s the same about development and production for me.
How do you acquire scripts?
Bohemia Group acquires screenplays via a myriad of ways. Great question. Referrals, certainly. I am fortunate to be connected to a management company (Bohemia Group) so I get scripts from the literary side. Contests at times, yes. I also utilize a small group of services and sites which I have found to be a treasure trove of good screenwriters and great stories. The short answer is there is no one way.
Do you have a preference for IP or original material?
If there was a choice between one or the other, IP. It is easier to sell an idea if it has already been proven, or existed in some other fashion. That just makes good and simple business sense. And this is a business after all – an imaginative and fun one, but still a business. That said, the thing that sparks the most for me and I think at the core for most people is compelling stories. That always triumphs over its source.
What proportion of your time is spent developing scripts vs developing projects?
We keep the feature and the series slate lean and mean, so in separating scripts in the works vs a script/project that is ready to be talked about in earnest, I would say it is about 60/40 in favor of script development. It might be 50/50.
How big is your slate? How many active/inactive projects do you have at any given point in time?
Bohemia Group has roughly 10 series in various stages, and about the same on the features side, give or take.
At what stage do you acquire projects to develop? Would you acquire a pitch/ concept or does it need some elements attached?
We acquire at all stages if it is a concept/story I feel we can, and want to, get behind, and I/we can offer something to that project. Most often, I would say it starts with a script and not just an “idea” with nothing else yet behind it.
Having elements attached can be a Catch-22. I have had projects I like a lot, but the attachments that the project has before it came to me, actually undermine its value, or better said, undermine what I feel we can do with it.
An example might be a director attached to a $1 M+ movie who does not have any kind of real track record – maybe he or she was the writer’s friend. This doesn’t mean they couldn’t do a good job, but it makes for another, what I like to call “perceived obstacle” in getting it sold or made – another thing for a potential buyer or investor or collaborator to have to overcome.
How do you balance your personal tastes with market need?
I have a pretty good grasp on why things are succeeding even if they, quote-unquote, “are not something Justin would/will watch.” If I feel I can get behind something, regardless of my own personal tastes, I will. Something politically-charged, for example. It may not be my politics or my belief system, but is it a compelling, even challenging story? That is the question.
I tell writers never to write for the market…because the market just changed while I typed this. Write what you want to write and bleed on to the page. THAT is what stands out. I also, and this is important, tell writers to be aware of what the market IS at the same time. A writer may have to table a certain story until the market comes back around.
How do you categorize the state of the market right now in terms of types of content, and how can screenwriters capitalize on it?
It is a story-driven, largely TV series-based marketplace as I answer this. We are trending toward character-driven material like perhaps never before. We can do more on the production side with a “dollar” than we could even a year ago, so imagination is limitless.
The more WOW factor that is in a script, and the more real the characters and the story are (in other words the project does not FEEL like it was written to appease, but more written because it HAD to be written by the writer), the better its chances of success.
That is how a writer can capitalize: by being authentic and having it all on the page.
What are you watching now? What should screenwriters be watching to be on the pulse of the industry?
It is impossible to watch everything, but a good writer should be mindful of the TV shows and films that people are talking about. For example, even if You on Netflix isn’t your kind of show, know the basics about it and how it is being received.
Read the trades or at least skim the headlines. I do that first thing every day like a lot of execs I know and I have for years – long before I was named an EVP. I did it for fun and my own knowledge, to be honest. I watch a little of a lot of things. Even if I don’t finish a series.
One show I am finishing up watching now in real time is True Detective.
What attracts you most to a project?
In a few words… heart, voice, dynamic story, fascinating characters, WOW. The best projects leave me no choice but to say YES to them in an industry where yes comes with tremendous responsibilities.
Many producers define writers by their voice. What does the term “voice” mean to you?
I like to think of voice in musical terms. I find it easier. John Williams is a musical hero of mine (and millions of others). I can always tell a Williams melody and yet, I am also keenly aware of those composers who influence John’s orchestration and themes. A writing voice is the same, I think. The “melody” is their own and yet, like us all, they are influenced by the great writers that either came before or they currently admire.
It’s the screenwriter that can both get out of the way of their influences (and with that, the notion of what the writer THINKS they should write) and themselves, to just let the work stand without comparison.
What’s the most peculiar pitch you’ve had?
I have two that come to mind. One was a pitch that I saw…no lie…where a man pulled a dinosaur out of his bag and went, “Rrrrroooooaaarrr” all across the execs’ desk. The other was a pitch in which the writer said, “well it’s about a mitten.” Pause. “Oh and the gateway to an alien universe.” It then ended with, “do you want to read it?” Read what? I don’t know anything about your story!
What advice can you give emerging screenwriters to crack the business?
Read, read, read. Ask, ask, ask. Absorb, absorb, absorb. Write, write, write.
Are you a dog or a cat person?
I truly love both cats and dogs though I own neither at the moment. I once had a black lab named Cherubim (we called her “Cherry”) and a cat named “Poirot” like the Agatha Christie inspector. He was a very muscular orange tabby with a big notch bitten out of his ear.
