Michael Weber, a Syracuse University graduate, and Scott Neustadter have become a dynamic duo in the world of screenwriting. Together, they made Variety’s list of 10 screenwriters to watch out for and wrote the screenplay of the summer hit ‘(500) Days of Summer.’ Weber told The Daily Orange how he became the writer he is today and how he learned ‘everything he knows about screenwriting’ from an SU film professor.

The Daily Orange: What was your major at Syracuse?

Michael Weber: TRF (television, radio and film) in Newhouse

The D.O.: Were you involved in anything related to that on campus?

MW: I worked at WAER, the radio station, for a little bit. I was terrible at it. There was a small group of writers, most of whom had professor Evan Smith. We were all excited about writing specifically for the entertainment industry. We met to talk about writing, gave each other assignments, and we met usually over beers. We used each other as a sounding board, to bounce off ideas one another. It was fun and valuable.

The D.O.: What is your relationship with Scott? How does it work writing a script with someone and getting it to work out together? I know this isn’t the first screenplay you’ve written together. What is the communication process like?

MW: I met Scott when I was at Syracuse and I was looking for a summer internship. Junior year, my friends all went away for Spring Break and I couldn’t afford to go away. That’s when I met Scott, who had just started working at a production company in N.Y. After I graduated, much to the horror of my parents, I went back to continue interning and I essentially just hung around long enough till they hired me. Scott and I were friends at that point, started writing together. We were both writing separately and had a lot of time on our hands. We were writing just to make each other laugh. But even then we were never writing in the same room. I know some writing teams write in the same room hunched over a computer – I’m not exactly sure how they do it. But he’d be on the Upper West. I’d be on the Lower East. We outline extensively by phone, e-mail and sometimes in person. But when it comes time to write, we will just divide up the scenes and e-mail back and forth. ‘(500) Days of Summer’ happened when he was living in London and I was in N.Y. and then he was living in L.A. and I was in N.Y.

The D.O.: How do you decide who is going to get to write a specific scene?

MW: Based on my background at Newhouse, I don’t write a word until the outline is there and typed. So then we divide up scenes so it’s I take three, you take three. The good thing about having a partner is that if there is something neither of us wants to write, we know we have to look at the outline again. If neither of us want to write it, who’s going to want to watch it? On the flipside, if we both want to write it, and both have ideas for something, we know we’re onto something.

The D.O.: Do you and Scott have similar writing styles?

MW: I think we have similar comedic and storytelling sensibility. I don’t think we could do this if we didn’t. Just through reading each other it’s streamline. It’s mostly about having a similar sensibility both in terms of comedy and storytelling.

The D.O.: How exactly did you get the script read?

MW: Working at a production company – I was there for a while, I made friends, but we were having a difficult time getting representation. And unbeknownst to us, a friend and former colleague at the pro company was a fan of our writing. We had about two fans, and she gave the script to my current manager. She read it, called us and asked if we had representation, and we said no. We met with them, and they were terrific. There’s some luck, but working in the business, making friends, and meeting a lot of people, you end up with a lot of advocates for your work, and we just had a lot of people pushing for us.

The D.O.: Before ‘(500) Days of Summer’ got picked up, how many other screenplays had you written in hopes of them coming to life?

MW:I’d written a couple of scripts at school that are now sitting in a drawer somewhere collecting dust. I don’t know when you think, ‘Oh this is the one.’ You just keep writing and hope and you expect for each one to get better as you go along. When you get to a point when other people are reading your writing, then there are some baby steps involved. Mine and Scott’s first script was not this – it was a different kind of comedy about sex, actually. It had a tone kind of like ‘Family Guy’ – it was a little outlandish. We didn’t expect it would get made, we kind of wrote it to make each other laugh. Our friends enjoyed it, and then we tried something different. I wrote a number on my own, and then we wrote another one or two before we came to ‘Summer.’

The D.O.: How long did it take for the two of you to write the movie?

MW: The actual writing started in 2004 and then it was put in drawer for a while. I don’t know how long it actually took to write because it was put away without an ending. I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, but we needed something to happen in real life that would inspire the ending. When we sold it to Fox Searchlight about three years ago a few changes were made, but not too many actually.

The D.O.: You and Scott have said in other interviews that the relationship between Tom and Summer is based on a past relationship of Scott’s. Did any of your own past relationships contribute to the screenplay?

MW: Yes. We officially started with the idea of telling the movie out of order. We made a list of relationships, but I don’t think you can honestly write about a relationship without putting yourself in there. We needed Scott’s heartbreak to serve as a catalyst for telling the story.

The D.O.: Did anything happen at SU that became part of the movie?

MW: Hmm, I don’t think anything happened at Syracuse that is directly in the movie other than my learning how to write movies, which isn’t in the movie, but without Syracuse, Newhouse and, even more specifically, professor Evan Smith, I could not have contributed to the movie. Anyone who has any interest in possibly pursuing this should take as many courses as possible with professor Smith. Everything I know about this starts with what I learned from him.

The D.O.: What sort of things were you exposed to while at SU that influenced your career?

MW: I would say other than what I learned, the people, in a way … you meet people, a lot of my friends from school are still my closest friends now. A lot of my friends who had the same interests as I did 10 years ago are still my closest friends today. One of my friends from Syracuse now does the marketing for Fox Searchlight, and we were both working on ‘(500) Days of Summer.’ That’s great, we couldn’t script that.

The D.O.: Are you and Scott currently working on any projects together?

MW: We are currently working on a couple different things. We are finishing an adaptation of a book called ‘The Spectacular Now.’ It won the National Book Award last year for young adult fiction. Marc Webb, who directed ‘Summer,’ is also going to direct that, and it is (through) Fox Searchlight. We are also working on another book adaptation called ‘Beginners Greek.’ It’s going to be a big romantic comedy in the theme of ‘Love Actually.’ It’s about two people that meet on a plane: The guy looses the girl’s phone number and then there are a bunch of twists and turns after that. We like telling stories when they come from a real place. The D.O.: What has been the best part for you since the movie has come to life? MW: Opening week was a great week. It’s been a lot of fun since Sundance, which was our world premiere. It’s been a lot of fun going to the different festivals and showing the movie. The response has been overwhelming – not only that people are finding it funny but that they can relate to it. It’s very gratifying.

The D.O.: Did you go watch the movie in theaters opening weekend? What was that like for you?

MW: I did. I went on the Friday night it opened to the Union Square (N.Y.) theater with 100 of my closest friends. It was great and a real thrill. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was sitting in class at Newhouse and now this, so it’s been a fun ride.

The D.O.: What do you hope viewers will get out of the movie?

MW: I hope they think that it’s more honest than how Hollywood has been making romantic comedies in recent years. I hope they enjoy it, and if they’ve got a good story to tell, maybe it will inspire them to sit down and write it.

The D.O.: Was there a defining moment when you realized like, wow this is actually happening?

MW: Well even now we’re working on a couple different things. We’re trying to line up something else, so it’s dangerous as a writer to get complacent. While there was a moment during the first day of shooting, I thought ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is happening.’ Soon after, it really becomes time to get back to work.

The D.O.: In as few words as possible, how would you summarize ‘(500) Days of Summer’?

MW: Anatomy of a relationship and a breakup.

The D.O.: Is that what you were going for since the beginning?

MW: Yeah, my relationship with Scott was founded on mutual admiration of Woody Allen, Cameron Crowe and others of our heroes. They would tell a certain type of story, and it’s been a while since there’s been a movie like that. ‘(500) Days of Summer’ is the type of movie we wanted to see but wasn’t being made, so we wrote it and we were lucky enough that it got made.

rltoback@syr.edu

Published on August 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm