“Honestly, Killer Shorts has been the most helpful contest I’ve entered into.”
– Kelly Nugent
The Killer Shorts Contest is excited to bring you this interview with Season 3 finalist Kelly Nugent, with her script I Would Kill For You. Starting her career as a lawyer, Kelly quickly realized that path wasn’t for her, and with her words, “what’s the worst thing to happen if I try?”, she then pivoted her career to writer, director, and actor. Kelly has quite a few screenwriting contests under her belt, from the PAGE Awards to Filmmatic Screenplay Awards and many more. Due to her drive and dedication to her career, Killer Shorts was eager to set up a career consultation between Kelly and Coverfly’s Director of Writer Development, Tom Dever.
Kelly and Tom discussed what she wants out of her career, and with quite a few projects in the works, Tom set up a meeting with manager, Greg Weiss of Wonder Street. Impressed by Kelly’s work, and the fact that she’s a multi-hyphenate actor-director, Greg was eager to sign her. Killer Shorts is honored to have set up a meeting that led to Kelly finding representation. Check out the interview with Kelly Nugent below.
Conversation with Kelly
Where are you from and where do you currently reside? Do your surroundings have an impact on your writing?
I’m from Torrance, CA and I currently reside in Los Angeles. Living in the city that you’re “supposed to” in order to “make it” exacerbates my workaholic/ambition-centered tendencies. I usually just write about the things that haunt me about myself, so a lot of my writing is about the fear of losing myself to my own ambition.
You had a prior career as a lawyer before transitioning to writing. How did you decide to make that pivot?
I was very unhappy as a lawyer. I was one because I had a lot of pressure from my parents to either be a lawyer or a doctor, and I couldn’t be a doctor. I always felt the push to be creative, but I literally never knew I deserved to want something like that. That phrasing sounds weird but that’s how it felt. There were many reasons I wanted to stop practicing law, but the thing that pushed me was this thought of: “what’s the worst that could happen if I try? Will I die? No? Then it’s worth trying.” I always knew I would figure out my life, no matter what happened.
Can you give a brief synopsis of your Season 3 Finalist script I Would Kill For You?
A couple in love holes up in a cabin in the woods, but unwelcome visitors reveal the ghosts of their past. It’s a sad, scary ghost story about how cruel we can be in the name of love.
Check out I Would Kill For You on Coverfly here.
Your work has been recognized by many reputable competitions from Filmmatic to the PAGE Awards. How does Killer Shorts compare to other screenwriting competitions you have entered?
Honestly, Killer Shorts has been the most helpful contest I’ve entered into. It’s not just: here’s a meeting, best of luck. It felt like genuine interest in my work and career progress. Everyone has been so nice, and they touched base with me a lot. I really felt like they cared about their finalists.
Killer Shorts set you up with a career consultation meeting with Tom Dever, Coverfly’s Head of Writer Development. Can you walk us through the process of how this meeting with Tom led to you signing with a manager?
My career consultation with Tom Dever was amazing. We talked for a bit, not only about my work, but about my career aspirations as a whole, and what I wanted from life in general. I think it helped because I have a pretty solid view on what I want to do and what will give me fulfillment. It also helped that I had a lot of projects I was working on and had a lot of finished scripts that I felt really confident about. I have a feature in pre-production and Tom even offered help on that. I also felt like Tom understood me and genuinely cared about helping. It was nice–not every meeting goes this way, that’s for sure.
Check out Kelly’s Coverfly profile.
After you were introduced to Greg Weiss at Wonder Street, did he ask to read more of your work? Were you prepared?
Greg is great. He showed immediate interest in my work and workshopped immediately actionable ideas on how to push my career forward. He did ask to read more, I sent him all of my stuff (which was a lot!) and he had a lot of ideas on how to sell/market me. It really helped that he was specifically interested in a multi-hyphenate (I also act and direct). I was grateful that Tom set me up with him because some people I’ve met with in the past didn’t seem to know what to do with someone that did a lot of different things, whereas this was something that Greg specifically liked about me.
Did you ever expect in your wildest dreams that a short screenplay, or even a short screenplay competition, could help you land representation?
I really did not expect that at ALL! It was so wild. I really think Killer Shorts is such a sleeper hit competition, and I recommend it to anyone with a strong horror short.
How have things changed for you now that you’ve signed with a manager?
Just having someone in my corner is huge. Doing the marketing part of my career was so tiring, and not at all what I’m interested in–I just want to create things that I’m proud of while paying my bills! So it’s nice to focus on just writing and directing and acting. Greg is also helping me with prepro for my horror feature (Which is currently on pause for the writers’ strike), which is also a huge weight off my shoulders because I do not know how to do any of the business aspect of filmmaking!
What advice would you give to screenwriters considering entering a competition like Killer Shorts who hope you follow your path?
It’s never too late for notes. You might think something is done, but I’ve rewritten scripts on-set to account for details about the location that we didn’t know. I actually rewrote part of I Would Kill For You while shooting it, and it ended up better for it. Also, consider all the notes you get and don’t take any of them personally. A very small percentage of notes, you can be like, “lol this person did NOT get it,” but it’s much less than you would think! Most of the time, the reader was confused by something, and even if you disagree with their proposed solution, you can come up with a way to address the confusion and add clarity. And you can always feel free to ignore a note if after you (really) think about it, you know it’s not helpful to your story.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: You can purchase Short Script Coverage before entering Killer Shorts here!)
Were you always interested in the horror genre? Do you plan on continuing in this genre as your career progresses?
Yes, I’ve always loved horror. I do plan to continue in this genre–I think a lot of beautiful things can happen in horror. And I love it all. Camp, shlock, “prestige” (although I hate that term–that and “elevated” horror–why disparage the genre you’re working in?)
Do you have any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
I just finished post-production on a sci-fi horror short I wrote, directed, and starred in for AMC’s Content Room horror shorts project, and I’m going to hopefully start shooting my folk horror period piece in early fall of this year! I’m really excited.
What would be your dream writing job?
Just having someone pay me to create the stuff I want to create and that I’m proud of. And that people see it and feel different afterwards. I know that doesn’t seem specific or super ambitious, but I don’t really care about awards or recognition or anything like that. I am proud of the work as I’m making it, and I just want to be able to afford to live in the city I live in while just making stuff I love.
Final Thoughts
We hope Kelly’s story inspires you to submit to the Killer Shorts contest as it just might lead to you getting representation. We are impressed with the work Kelly has put in to further her career as a screenwriter, for these reasons, we were confident Tom Dever, of Coverfly, would be of great help to Kelly in navigating what comes next. Hopefully Kelly’s story of submitting to Killer Shorts, getting a meeting with Tom Dever, and being repped by Greg Weiss will encourage all you writers to submit those horror short scripts and short stories. You never know where it could lead.
Kelly Nugent on Coverfly.
Kelly Nugent on Twitter.
Kelly Nugent on Instagram.
Kelly Nugent‘s website.
Killer Shorts on Twitter.
Killer Shorts on Instagram.
Killer Shorts website.
