Laura is a fantastic and driven artist who has found herself dipping into several of the creative arts including screenwriting. Laura has a unique voice and view about the world that she is compelled to share with others. This is why I am excited to introduce you to her.
This is Laura Cor…
Mini-Bio:
I’m from a small Southern town, and all I could ever dream about was leaving and becoming someone else. I didn’t know who, exactly, but that was an inconsequential detail at best. Something to figure out, later. I waited out the years and planned my escape.
When I moved to Texas, I lived less than five miles from the University of Houston. This detail is only significant because it is the university where my favorite childhood writer, Donald Barthelme, had been a founding member of the creative writing department. It may seem strange that I came all that way to never attend that school. But Donald Barthelme was dead, and his students were my neighbors.
Q: Who/what inspired you into taking this path?
If I had to distill it, I guess that would be familiarity and longing. I’ve been witness to chance encounters, twists of fate, natural calamities, cool explosions, etc. And I remember the first realization, when I was a teen, that it took so little to be able to tell a good story. At the time, it seemed so punk rock and romantic—two adjectives I wanted to describe me. I am still both these people.
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There’s a case I’ve legged with me for over a decade. Inside this case is a folder full of notebooks, scribbled napkins, photos, notes on receipt paper. It documents the strange and fantastic occurrences witnessed in Houston, Texas. A storage lot filled with president’s heads, the disappearance of the neighborhood wizard and a mysterious fire the same night, poisonous black water in the bayou. I needed to call it something, so the folder is titled ‘Malice in Wonderland.’ I think it’s time to consolidate this all into a more digestible medium and give it a proper title.
Q: Who was the first person who believed in you?
Hands down, Mrs. Dreher. She was my art teacher who, despite the fact that I was a terrible student, let me spend lunch period in the studio with a crew she had assembled. In exchange for work on projects for school functions, we got an hour of bliss with unsupervised access to soldering irons, Dremel tools, adhesives, and countless pointy objects. Not only did we manage not to burn the school down, but had together amassed a four-year body of work of posters, props, and costumes for every dance and ball game. We would not attend a single one. Everyone in that group has gone on to pursue a career in the arts. Thanks, Mrs. D. Sorry I didn’t work harder on my Junior portfolio and stole those Nat Geos. The collages I made with them were pedestrian.
Q: When was the moment you knew you wanted to be a screenwriter?
I don’t know if I am ready to call myself a screenwriter… yet. But I think I’ll be able to soon. Am I a writer, certainly. But I’ve always been an artist, and I like to mix mediums.
I initially started writing to describe what I could not create. Now I want to create what I cannot describe.
Q: What’s been the most important skill you've developed on your path to screenwriting?
Brevity!
Q: What’s been the greatest reward in the choices you've made?
Marrying my writing partner, I think. Greg Corcoran came to visit me from the UK, and on the second day of our road trip, we decided that there were a lot of collaborations we could have together. Several novels (at least!) and a romantic relationship. This kind of project tends to take a long time, and international airfare is expensive. Better to just get married and get that over with.
Seven years later, we’ve spent countless hours writing together, and have challenged each other to improve. Recently, we’ve finished our first joint pilot: Shadow Blister. Set in Detroit on a verge of another renaissance, An-Nur and Nola must find the right crowd or die trying. We were thinking of asking the members of Script Summit to have a look sometime.
Q: What do you want to learn from a community of your peers?
Oh my god! Can anyone teach me how to make a screenplay even better? Simply having access to a community of creatives is such a blessing. It’s so much easier to learn by watching many people working at once. You can learn a lot about one person from watching their process. But then that’s all you learn. At the risk of sounding like a dilettante, having that kind of exposure to a diverse community will enrich all who participate.
