love in this year's Suzanne's Prize winner
from the 2010 Expo Screenplay Competi-
tion. Named for Creative Screenwriting pub-
lisher Bill Donovan's late wife, Suzanne's
Prize is awarded to the best love story entered
in the competition. The winning script is
the brilliant Transit, written by Jason
Groce, which tells the story of bus driver
Max Witham, whose route takes him to
many places, including romantic ones.
periences to construct his tale of the driv-
ers and passengers in life. "Some years ago,
I was going through some financial trou-
ble and my car got repossessed," he recalls.
"I had never really taken the bus before
that, but here I was really forced to just to
get around. I started observing other pas-
sengers and bus drivers, and the idea of
writing an ensemble comedy about bus
drivers came together. A year of taking the
bus to and from work and I had all the ma-
terial I needed to get started."
the usual speed bumps involved in being
a new screenwriter. "The most difficult
part was taking it from its initial incep-
tion as an ensemble comedy of observa-
tional humor to something with more of
a romantic comedy arc to it," he remem-
bers. "Then, once the central spine of the
plot came together, it was hard to get rid of
all the subplots and other material that no
longer fit. There's nothing harder than hav-
ing to lose some of the original inspira-
tion." Groce decided that his story should
focus on Jessica, a lost soul who stumbles
onto bus driver Max's bus in the arms of a
giant inflatable penguin.
Groce sought to discover the correct tone
for his project. "[Allen and Kaufman] can
come touching and poignant without you
really being aware of it," Groce says. "Their
characters are so unique that you just fall
into whatever the situation happens to be,
and you let yourself get pulled along,
laughing or crying."
have complex characters and intelligent di-
alogue that creates tension and delight. I
can enjoy movies on a number of levels,
but the ones that inspire me to write are
ones that display a compelling vision and
an original wit."
characters' humanity. He says, "I consider
myself primarily a writer of comedies of
manners, in which awkward characters try to
navigate their way through the social hierar-
a.m., and I'll write for a few hours before
going to work," he says. "In the evening
when I get home or on weekends I'll revise
what I did or work on the outline of another
my best work; the only problem with it is
getting on a roll and having to break off."
himself. But he is excited by the feedback
he is getting from some of the contests he
has recently entered. "I can have charac-
ters talk at each other for hours; the trick
is making believable dialogue that propels
the story forward with a minimum of
words, but I've enjoyed learning how to
do that and look forward to honing this
more," he says.
from the cash prize and access to industry
insiders? "As someone new to screenwrit-
ing, I'm just hoping to learn more about
the world of screenwriting and hopefully
gain access to some new opportunities for
my writing," he claims. "More than any-
thing so far since the contest results were
announced, I've felt a great new enthusi-
asm for my writing and a renewed passion
for my existing projects. Having success
stand what I do well as a writer and how I
can develop."
board for a living. "Like a lot of others, I've
worked a full-time job for the last 10 years
and have been writing on the side, and my
goal is to be able to spend my days working
on my writing projects," he says. "Whereas
now I have to make myself put the laptop
down each morning to go to work, it would
be a great freedom and opportunity to just
be able to keep plugging away."