This is my last chat for 2025, and I’m ending with one of my favorite writers: Paul Guyot. He’s a screenwriter from Arizona, and he’s been writing for television and film for quite a while. He’s produced and written over 200 hours of television, and he’s written feature films as well. The book he wrote, which I love, is a topic in our interview.
He shares with me three fun facts, which I always ask and which are one of my favorite parts of the interview.
Since Christmas is next week, he talks about his favorite Christmas album. I’ll be checking that out on Pandora.
Introducing Paul…
Paul, so lovely to have you on my blog. What do you love about your life right now?
I love that I’ve been blessed with three amazing kids who are all becoming quality adults despite having me as a parent. I love that I get to write for a living and am able to play golf now and then!
You have screenwriting credits on shows like Felicity, Judging Amy, and Leverage. Do you have a favorite show that you’ve written for?
Far and away my favorite career experience was writing on Leverage for TNT. Writing on TV series is like Thanksgiving with your family every day for months on end. There are lots of laughs, sometimes tears, yelling, arguing, hugging, good food, bad food, big messes to clean up, and in the end, you’re always thankful and look forward to doing it again… just maybe not at the same house.
Leverage was special in that there was almost no arguing or yelling, and there was always laughter. We shot the series up in Portland, Oregon, which is a fabulous city with great people and great food. Our cast was comprised of fantastic actors who all got along and enjoyed the process, and the writing staff was one of the best I’ve worked with. Everyone in the room checked their egos at the door, and we were all working together to make the best show possible. And have fun doing it.
Our showrunner, John Rogers, is a smart, funny, passionate, caring storyteller who is probably the best showrunner I’ve ever worked with, and one of the best writers. He’s why the experience was so great. I miss that job every day.
Was there a writer or particular film that inspired you to become a screenwriter?
I am inspired by so many; it’s hard to choose. Off the top of my head, the writers who inspired me early on and who I wanted to “be like” were William Goldman, Toni Morrison, Agatha Christie, Scott Rosenberg, and Robert Towne.
Once I began writing, Tony Gilroy, Shonda Rhimes, and the Coen brothers all humbled and inspired me.
But before all that, there was a high school guidance counselor named Kevin McGirr who was the first person ever to tell me I could be a screenwriter before I even knew it was a job. I would talk to him about the TV shows and movies I loved and all my own ideas for movies, and he told me I should try writing them. It never occurred to me those things were written!
You have written one of my favorite books of all time: Kill the Dog: The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth. I have read the hard copy and listened to it multiple times. I even had it in my photoshoot earlier this year. One of my favorite chapters is: The Writer’s Voice. Your book has encouraged and inspired me to keep pursuing screenwriting. What was your motivation or reason for writing it?
Funny you ask because honestly, the original motivation was anger. Ever since the trades starting printing screenplay sale prices in the 1980s, everyone thought writing a screenplay was like buying a lottery ticket where you only had to pick one number between 1 and 3! That begat an entire industry of conmen and snake oil salesmen preying on folks with promises of fame and fortune just by following a recipe or formula.
As my career unfolded, I kept running into new or aspiring screenwriters who had all followed the Save the Cat steps, or Story, or Syd Field’s book, etc., and they couldn’t understand why they were getting nowhere in their careers. I began to research and realized 99.5% of ALL screenwriting books were written by folks who either tried and failed at a screenwriting career or never even wrote a screenplay in their entire life!
When I began writing Kill The Dog, I showed a writer friend the first 20 pages, and he said, “Wow, you’re mad! You might want to dial it back a bit.” I wasn’t writing a book so much as simply ranting. So, I started over and soon fell in love with the process. While the book tells the truth (some of which folks don’t like to hear), it’s also a love letter to
the screenwriter’s life, and what writing means to me.
You said in your book: “Before a screenplay can be anything, it is a read.” I know what that means now, but I didn’t when I read that section in your book. Understanding this opened my eyes to screenwriting, and helped me to see it differently. Can you explain what that means? It seems so easy to understand that sentence, but it has so much more meaning to it.
This goes straight to one of the main problems of the gurus and “experts” with their books and social media posts – they never talk about the WRITING. It’s always about inciting incidents and page counts, and how the movie or TV episode needs to be on screen. It’s all blueprinting, formula and engineering.
But right there in the word “screenwriting” is W-R-I-T-I-N-G. It is not screen engineering or screen formula. It is writing, and all writing is read. A screenplay isn’t a movie or television episode; it is words on paper. What the gurus fail to understand (because they have no informed opinion) is that BEFORE a screenplay can be a movie or TV episode, or anything with actors, directors, cameras, etc., it is a read on the page. And if that READ isn’t entertaining and engaging and compelling, then it will never become a movie or TV show. Writers – all writers from poets to screenwriters – must focus on the language and syntax the writing, otherwise you have a bunch of words that elicit no emotional response in the reader whatsoever, and the producers, agents, financiers, executives, etc. – the readers – will toss it and move on to the next script.
Is there any advice you would give to someone who wants to pursue a career in screenwriting? I know your book is packed full of knowledge, but are there one or two nuggets of wisdom you can share here in our chat?
One of the most important things to understand is there is no shortcut, no hack, no recipe. It is like any other form of writing; it requires hard work and dedication.
And here’s the crazy Catch-22: you can’t go at it thinking about potential outcomes —someone buying your script or making your movie is completely out of your control. You have to focus on the process, fall in love with the doing, and leave the rest of it up to the good Lord – that is how you will produce your best work, which ironically, gives you the best chance of success.
Can you share with me the joys and challenges of screenwriting? Also, what did you wish you had known about screenwriting before you started?
The joys are the same for any type of writer – those rare days where we hit that flow state and the words and characters and stories come out of us faster than we can get them on the page. Or when we’ve had a block or story problem, we just can’t figure out, then we’re in the shower or riding our bike (hopefully not at the same time) and a
lightning strike hits us and solves the issue. Those are the days that get us through the other 95% – when we’re grinding and grinding, convinced we’re failures and could never put two decent sentences together.
What I wish I knew about screenwriting earlier in my career is this: despite it being a collaborative medium, we must write for ourselves and ourselves only. The very best things I’ve written, be films or episodes of television, were when I wrote what I wanted to see; the story I wanted to experience. Anytime I tried writing what I thought would please someone else, the end result was never my best. We have to trust our writer’s soul and write for it and it only. Because here’s the thing – no matter what you write or what accolades you get, all art is subjective, so there will always be folks who love what you wrote and who absolutely despise it. There are people who hate The Godfather and Network and The Sopranos. And there are people who love GIGLI and Cop Rock and even Geostorm! So, write for yourself.
In our lives, we have failures, and often that leads us to success or just a big lesson. Do you have a favorite failure?
I have too many to mention! But one of my “best” is my failure on FELICITY that I share in my book. Talk about trying to please others! That failure was a massive life lesson as well as a writing lesson.
Are you currently writing a film or for a TV show?
Currently, I have several balls in the air. I am chasing financing for an indie film that will be my directorial debut. It’s a beautiful little script I found by a person who came to my website for help with their screenwriting. We have everything in place ready to go; we just need the other half of the money, and we will be off to the races! It will shoot here in Tucson sometime in 2026, fingers crossed.
I’m also co-writing a film I’m excited about. It’s a story of how human beings connect with each other in such disconnected times. It’s an ensemble RomCom, and really fun! I’m also writing a novel and working on another nonfiction book; this one is a humorous (hopefully) approach on how to play golf.
Lastly, I just completed a screenplay for a producer, and that experience was not an enjoyable one at all – but another good life lesson. Never take a job just for the money!
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what message would you want to convey to millions? What would it say?
God is real.
Christmas is almost here, and hard to believe 2026 will be here before you know it. Do you have a favorite holiday tradition?
My “unsatisfying” childhood sort of wrecked holidays for me. Lol. I absolutely loved Christmas when my kids were younger and filled with its magic. Nowadays I’m old and grumpy, and prefer quiet, low-key holidays that pass quickly. That said, I can’t go through this time of year without listening to the BEST Christmas album of all-time: Lena
Horne’s MERRY FROM LENA!
Who are your biggest supporters?
My spouse, Michelle, is my biggest supporter. She is an artist herself, a painter, and truly understands what no non-artist can: that when a writer is sitting in a chair staring out the window, we are actually working!
I can relate; staring out the window can be productive. Describe yourself in one word.
Blessed.
Alright, Paul, this is one of my favorite parts of the chat. Tell me three fun facts about you.
1. I have been called the Ezra Pound of making old fashioneds.
2. I came very close to having a career in baseball. Not as a player, but as a front office person.
3. I believe a good cup of coffee (or six) is one of the very best gifts we can give
ourselves.
I love ending the chat with a motivational quote. Do you have one that has inspired or motivated you?
I am a big-quote guy. I love quotes and can get a bit obsessed with them. For motivation, let’s see… how about Henry Ford’s “It doesn’t matter whether you believe you can or you can’t: you are absolutely right.”
Thank you for reading my interview with Paul! For someone like me, who is working on my dream as a screenwriter, I really enjoyed all of this.
Follow Paul on Instagram
Check out his website here.