Adam Scullin, a Wyndham local for a majority of his life, has returned to the west, and his passion for the screen and writing still remains strong. He spoke Jack Sutton about where his ambition for screenwriting and film came from and how he continues to stay motivated.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do
My name is Adam Scullin and I’m a writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and Brisbane Lions member – not necessarily in that order. I write short stories and, at the moment, a novel, as well as spec screenplays for TV and film. Like anyone, I’ve got a wide variety of interests – but I often find my writing tends to gravitate back towards masculinity and the way it functions in a world that doesn’t know what to do with it.
What’s your connection to Wyndham?
I grew up here! I’m a Wyndham Vale boy and lived here until I was 21, but have recently moved back. I went to MacKillop College in Werribee, played basketball for Woodville over at Eagle Stadium for 13 years (I even briefly had the club record for games played) and I played for the Wyndham Devils back when they were the Werribee Devils. All my roots are here.
What do you like about where you live?
A funny thing about the place you’re from is that you can’t change it. I’ll always be from here, and that can be a strange relationship. The things I like most about Wyndham are the things I most dislike because they’re all so, so personal to me. I love the Plaza because it was a social hub growing up and I’ve spent so many days goofing off with friends there and gone on so many first dates to the cinema, but it’s also a place I’ve had my heart broken. When you’ve spent the bulk of your life somewhere, every corner has a story – and if you’ve really lived your life somewhere, those stories are a mixed bag.
But for a shorter answer, I like that the people are genuine. What you see is very much what you get, which is becoming a rarer and rarer trait elsewhere.
Do you have a genre you like to stick to when writing?
I’d love to say that I’ve got a broad range of talents and I like to dip my toes into all the genres, but I’m the last person you’d wanna read a comedy from. No matter how hard I try, my screenplays always seem to float back towards the darker genres; thriller, horror, crime, mystery, etc. As for my short stories and my novel, they pretty much always fall into ‘literary fiction’, which is a fancy word for “absolutely nothing happens in this story”.
Where are some places you find motivation for your writing?
Being back home in Wyndham always puts me in a very creative mindset. My life has spread out into and beyond the city, and so coming back home gives me a chance to step out of that skin and back into a more familiar place, where I can look back on my experiences with a bit of clarity. At the end of the day, that’s what artists are doing – rendering their experiences and feelings in a way their audience can understand or, at least, to feel. It’s impossible to do that if you can’t get a clear look at those experiences, and coming back here always does that for me.
Do you have an ultimate goal you would like to achieve?
They chop and change every day. Would I love to win an Oscar or the Booker Prize? You betcha. But those are grand things that feel less like the ultimate goal and more like a cherry on top. When I think about what I want to have achieved by the time I’m on my death bed, it’s often very simple; I’d love to have a novel published. Whether it’s a big hit or only my parents read it, that’s semantics. I just want to get my art into the world and be able to pay the bills with it. The rest – whether it connects with people and brightens their day – is out of my hands.
What sparked this passion for the screen and how has writing become so important to you?
My passion for movies comes from a place I think many young men’s passions come from; my father. My childhood was a smorgasboard of films I absolutely should not have been allowed to watch, but they were always watched with the safety of my Dad sitting next to me. It stoked my imagination and was my first real love. When that imagination led me to writing, I discovered something integral to my day-to-day life; honesty. Ironically, I think we are often the least qualified people to truly know ourselves. We’re a little too close to the storm that is our wacky brains to get a clear read. But when I write, my subconscious kicks into overdrive and gives to my characters pieces of me I wasn’t aware of. Quite often I read over something a few years later and think my soul is quite transparent on the pages, even though I had no idea at the time. So what has writing given me? Honesty and clarity – and I’m forever grateful for it.
