The Black List Interview: William Han
Today, we chat with William Han about his journey as a writer and how the Black List website became a part of his story…
What do you write?
I write lots of specs, so I’ve tried my hand at many genres. Sci-fi is probably the genre I’ve written in the most, but I’ve also done action, horror, drama, thriller, biopic, more specific sub-genres like legal thriller and action comedy, and one or two that I might call genre-defying. A question I like to ask myself in coming up with ideas is, “What if a genre A type story happened in a genre B world”?
Some recent specs include a female-centered action in the vein of JOHN WICK based on a medieval Chinese short story, a “vampire murder mystery,” and a horror film with a nod to HEREDITARY.
What would you love to write?
Every time I write a sci-fi spec, I hope to write something that measures up to the really original sci-fi movies that I love, like ARRIVAL, SOURCE CODE, PREDESTINATION, EX MACHINA, etc.
But it’s not really about genre. Some ideas just attract me so that I keep thinking about them, and they’re invariably about some aspect of the absurd situation we all face otherwise known as the human condition. Eternal recurrence in GROUNDHOG DAY, for example. The instability of memory and reality in THE TRUMAN SHOW and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. The ephemeral but nonetheless beautiful nature of human connections in LOST IN TRANSLATION or BEFORE SUNRISE. In 3:10 TO YUMA, Christian Bale’s character invests such meaning in the cause of getting Russell Crowe on that train that he’s willing to give his life for it, and I kept thinking about this “search for meaning” idea after I saw that film. The briefcase in PULP FICTION is in a way another expression of this idea.
I would love to write even one film that enters the cinematic canon that thematically embodies such a great idea.
What do you love to watch?
To state the obvious, I love all the films I’m mentioning here. Some recent films that struck me as very interesting include THE MENU and DREAM SCENARIO.
I also enjoy well-made blockbusters. TOP GUN: MAVERICK is damn close to being a perfectly crafted film. Christopher Nolan rarely disappoints. SKYFALL is the best Bond film in my book.
Of course, there have been lots of amazing series since the beginning of “peak TV,” too many obvious titles for me to mention. Recent favorites include THE FALL OF HOUSE USHER, SLOW HORSES, and THE REHEARSAL. I loved STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION growing up, so the recent third season of PICARD was a real treat. The spaghetti episode of RICK AND MORTY moved me to tears. SEVERANCE a couple of years ago was incredible.
Name a dream project.
What would be better than being in the writers room of a truly clever show like SUCCESSION or THE WHITE LOTUS? Being Jesse Armstrong or Mike White of course and creating such a show. I have one or two series ideas that maybe, just maybe, I’ll one day get to realize.
But most specs I write are features. I have one somewhat difficult to explain script that I’ve immodestly described to people as “Quentin Tarantino meets Wes Anderson.” It’s a dream to get something made that I feel is truly original, that swings for the fences. And obviously it would be a dream upon a dream to do so with a great director like Tarantino or Anderson. Hey, we can all dream.
And, of course, I’d love to incorporate my Chinese/Taiwanese heritage in a major project. I often draw on that heritage in my scripts. Let’s see if they get made.
Tell us your Black List story.
It never even occurred to me to try screenwriting until 2020. I grew up in Taiwan and New Zealand, about as far from Hollywood as is physically possible. And growing up I knew no one who worked in the industry. After high school I went to college in Connecticut and then law school in New York City, where I then practiced law for a number of years. During those years, what I thought I might want to do was to write novels, but I didn’t get very far in that regard.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I flew back to New Zealand to be with my family. While under Covid lockdown in Auckland, I decided to learn something new — screenwriting — but just for the sake of doing it and without expectations. I got the Syd Field and Robert McKee books, read them, and then started typing out my first attempt at a screenplay, a biopic. When I finished it, I had no idea what to do with it, if anything. I asked my friend Christina Pamies (who made the 2019 annual Black List) what people were supposed to do if they wrote a script but had no contacts in the Town. She mentioned the Black List website, which I was not aware existed.
In 2020 and 2021, I wrote several more specs, some better than others, and I began to put them on the Black List. One script, a WWII film about Chinese officers who participated in the Normandy landing, got an 8 in an evaluation, which encouraged me to keep writing.
In August 2021, I wrote PROSPERO. It received some positive feedback on the Black List. Then, shortly before the holiday season, I got an email from the assistant of an Oscar-winning producer, asking whether I had a production company attached to the project. The question barely made sense to me: Of course not; I wrote it on a lark.
After a few months, after I got a friend from law school to represent me in negotiating the deal, the producer optioned the screenplay. They haven’t made it yet. But last I heard, a terrific director was attached to direct and a great UK actress to play the female lead. Fingers crossed. I now continue to work with this production team and a couple of other companies on other projects.
Obviously, these doors would not have opened for me but for the Black List. For that, I’ll always be grateful to Franklin and the whole team there.
Cheers to you, William!
