SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/81866
Leave It To Th e Beaver: Eagerly Awaited Film Has Austin Roots by Jette Kernion as "a very depressed, middle-aged toy executive who has a breakdown and begins to conduct all his business and personal aff airs through a British beaver puppet." Th e cast also includes Foster, Jennifer Lawrence and Anton Yelchin. Killen has no colorful tales about being inspired by kooky animals year, he will be on the red carpet for the world premiere of Th e Beaver, a movie he scripted that is directed by Jodie Foster. Th e Beaver stars Mel Gibson as Walter Black, whom Killen describes S creenwriter Kyle Killen is no newcomer to SXSW. Th ree years ago, the Austin-based writer volunteered as a projectionist so that he could enjoy movies and music without paying for a badge. Th is or executives; the idea for Th e Beaver occurred to him while he was completing an anthology of short stories a few years ago. When the fi nal story was no longer short, Killen thought it might work better as a novel. Still, the length continued "spinning out of control," so he decided to try the structure of a screenplay, which would limit his page count. He not only fi nished the screenplay but was fortunate enough to sell the completed script a week after his wife gave birth to their twin daughters. Another stroke of luck for Killen occurred when Th e Beaver topped the 2008 Black List of unproduced screenplays, boosting his writing reputation. Instead of hunting for screenwriting work, people began to approach him. Casting rumors fl ew about Th e Beaver, with Steve Carell and Jim Carrey speculated for the lead role, before Foster and Gibson signed on to the production. Killen never did complete his collection of short stories. Instead, him. "We had fi nished shooting Th e Beaver when I sold Lone Star, he explains. "We then shot a pilot, got it picked up, wrote episodes, shot episodes, and aired those episodes … and it was cancelled before they fi nished editing Th e Beaver." TV writing also gives him the ability to tell an ongoing story: "You get to live with these characters, and at the end of two hours, if you don't want to be done with them, you get to go on." At the moment, Killen is working on a pilot for another series, this time for NBC: REM, which he says is being pitched as "an Inception- style thriller." But he is nowhere close to being fi nished with writing movie scripts: "I think it's the ultimate advantage, to be able to play in Killen has found television scripting to be a much more hands-on experience than his work on the production of Th e Beaver: "With fi lm, as a writer, you put your baby up for adoption. You meet the parents, you turn over the baby and hope they've raised him well, and you wait to see how it turns out. With TV, you raise your own child. You're there every step of the way, it continues to be your baby." Th e immediacy of television writing and production also appeals to 44 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- I A 201 1 fi rst television series, the drama Lone Star, was cancelled by Fox in 2010 after only a couple of episodes had aired. he works on screenwriting, and when he has time, his blog, Th e Letter Eleven. His blog entries focus on his three children and his daily life, and he does not shy away from a funny story just because it is a little gross, like the time his kids intentionally kept trying to throw up. "It's led to some very awkward meetings while I'm making the rounds with this latest TV pilot," he confesses. "Had I known quite the number of people who would be reading, I might have chosen a diff erent subject." Th e Beaver is Killen's only produced feature fi lm screenplay so far. His miere of Th e Beaver. Unfortunately, the schedule of his NBC pilot show confl icts with the second half of SXSW. "But as long as I'm here, I'll soak it all up." ■ The Beaver will world premiere on Wednesday, March 16 at 7pm, at the Para- mount Theatre (713 Congress Ave.). town during SXSW: "SXSW is purely a place to get out and see a great slate of movies. And it's married to this incredible music festival— there isn't any other festival like it." Killen may not be able to linger at SXSW this year after the pre- both worlds. I hope never to have to pick between the two." Despite his success with TV and fi lm writing, Killen prefers to con- tinue living in Austin, where he rides his bike to a university library to write every weekday he is in town. "Th at's the great thing about writing: once you're on an assignment, you could go sit on the moon—no one cares where you do it as long as you get it done. If I've got a choice about where to do it, then I choose Austin." He could not be happier that Th e Beaver will premiere in his home- KEN REGAN