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GVN Interview With 'Shadow Force' Co-Writer Leon Chills

With credits spanning television, comics, and now a high-octane action film starring Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, Leon Chills is one of the most exciting multi-medium storytellers working today. Geek Vibes Nation spoke with Chills about his love of storytelling, the origins of the movie, and upcoming projects. GVN: Hey Leon! Thanks for taking the time to speak to Geek Vibes Nation. How did you get your start as a screenwriter? Have you always been a storyteller? Leon Chills: I didn't really have the lightbulb moment until I was working for J.P. Morgan in New York. I had a bit of a quarter-life crisis. I had a good job, but I wasn't happy, and I wasn't feeling fulfilled. I thought back to moments from my childhood, and I vividly remembered watching the live-action Hercules TV show, then running to the computer to write my own episodes. In high school, I would get out of writing papers by making short films instead. I thought I was cutting corners, but I'm sure people thought I was doing the most. It was looking back on moments like that that made me think that maybe I was a storyteller. I've also loved movies and TV my whole life. From there, I started reading [screenwriting] books, reading film scripts, and tapping into my network [to assist me with my goal]. I attempted to go to film school, but after that didn't work out, I decided to go without it. GVN: What was the inspiration for Shadow Force ? How did the story evolve as it went from original idea to a finished product? Leon Chills: Initially, I just wanted to write the type of movie I wanted to see. I've always loved action, and when my parents divorced when I was a kid, I would go watch action movies with my dad on the weekends. So, I have an emotional connection to the genre because it reminds me of spending time with him. So, a lot of times when I sit down to write a movie, it has some action involved. I'm also a hopeless romantic, so I added a love story too. From there, it was about following the unique perspective of a Black father and son, which you don't see a lot. A lot of times, [Black fathers] are absent in the media. In Shadow Force , it's the extreme opposite. Not only is the father there, but he's willing to do anything it takes to protect his son. Initially, [the main characters] were like the Romeo and Juliet of the assassin world. They both came from rival assassin organizations. The mythology of John Wick films was a huge influence initially. After Black Panther came out, I just felt like I could finally write something with my full imagination unleashed and that it had a chance of selling and getting made. GVN: How did you get comfortable with rewriting and making changes? It sounds like there were a lot of drafts along the way. Leon Chills: We hit a wall [with an early draft] where people liked it, but they didn't think it would sell because there was too much mythology. So I had to strip all of that out and make them ex-special forces. That in turn made the entire script more grounded and changed the tone a little bit. When it comes to revisions, I think it's just up to [the writer] to maintain their own artistic integrity. That note about the mythology didn't mean the story couldn't be about a Black father and son and a Black family and Black love and all of that. Those were the most important parts of the script. It was really just a concession in being a collaborator and realizing the changes could be for the better of the project because it didn't change any of the core values of the film. GVN: The movie's tagline is 'Family Over Everything.' How did your relationship with your own family inform the story? Leon Chills: My relationship with my dad, and him being the reason I love movies, informed the relationship between the father and son. My mom inspired Kyra, the character Kerry Washington plays. [My mom] has always been a fierce protector of me and my siblings and a working mom who does whatever it takes to look out for us. She's been a fighter for all kids, really, because she's worked in higher education her entire career. What's interesting is that I didn't have kids when I sold the script, and I think subconsciously part of [writing it] was processing my fear of having kids. How do you bring kids into this world when there's so much danger all around? So, this movie of parents having to do everything they can to protect their kid came out of me. The process of writing Shadow Force helped me deal with that because, as of the release of this film, I have three kids. GVN: Thank you for sharing that. Also, you based the character on your mom? Talk about the ultimate Mother's Day present. Leon Chills: At the premiere, I told Kerry [Washington] on the red carpet that my mom inspired her character and that we should get her to meet my mom. Later, as Kerry was introducing the film before it played, she mentioned that I told her that story. It was the ultimate pleasant surprise. My mom started crying. Photo Credit: Hallo Smith Photography GVN: Were you able to visit the set while filming? Leon Chills: No, I wasn't, unfortunately. Originally, they were going to shoot in Atlanta, which would have been easy to travel to. But once it switched to Colombia, I didn't end up getting a chance to go. I wanted to, and it was a lesson in that as a writer, if I want to see the entire thing through, I'll need to become a writer-director. So that's on my list of things to do. GVN: Awesome! I was going to ask if you had any interest in directing or if you were more comfortable sticking to writing. Leon Chills: I've directed a pilot presentation [in which] the goal was to shoot a small project for YouTube and eventually try to sell it as a TV show. It did well, and although they say don't read the comments, all the comments were really positive. But COVID happened and derailed the whole thing. That project was my first time directing, and I think I'll do it again. GVN: What surprised you the most about seeing your script brought to life? Were there any moments that landed differently on screen? Leon Chills: This is a bit of a spoiler for those who haven't seen the film, but it was the moment when Isaac and Kyra were fighting each other and Kyra reconnects with Ky, her son, after not having seen him in a while. That part was pretty much exactly how I'd written it on the page and exactly the way I'd also envisioned it in my head. It was definitely my favorite moment to see come to life for sure. GVN: How has your perspective as a Black writer shaped the kinds of stories you're drawn to tell? Leon Chills: For me personally, I didn't realize it in the beginning, but the mission has become clear to me: center Black characters in genres they're normally pushed to the side in. That's why you have this big-budget movie like Shadow Force , which usually goes to white leads, and the characters [were] specified as Black in the script because I want [Hollywood] to know that I wanted the characters to be Black. I also wanted Black actors and actresses to get the opportunity to read something that is specifically written for them in new genres. That also extends to the Black superheroes and comics that I write. I feel like part of what I'm in Hollywood to do is to give more representation to [African Americans]. GVN: Sinners doing so well, and Shadow Force coming out on the heels of its success, has me hopeful that we'll get to see more genre films with Black actors and actresses at the forefront. Leon Chills: Like I mentioned, Black Panther empowered me to write the Shadow Force script, and now the movie is coming out after Sinners , which has brought people back to the theaters. I've got to give a shoutout to Ryan Coogler for sure. GVN: What do you hope audiences walk away with after watching Shadow Force ? Leon Chills: Yeah, first and foremost, I hope they walk away feeling like they had a good time. I've seen people [at advanced screenings] laugh, cry, and yell at the screen while watching it. So, I hope they're able to do all of that. Also, again, I hope Black audiences feel seen and feel excited to see Black characters in ways that we typically don't get to. I hope they feel like they were entertained. That's the main goal. GVN: You've written for shows like The Wilds and Spinning Out — how does the writers' room experience differ from solo screenwriting for film? Leon Chills: Movies are always, and still are, my favorite thing to write. It was writing for TV that made me a professional writer. It was during a peak time for TV, so there were a lot of opportunities. The big difference between the two is that when you're working on a TV show that someone else created, you're there to service their vision and their voice. You make sure you adopt their writing style as much as possible so that they don't have to do a massive rewrite on your script to match the creator's voice. You're there to help solve problems and be an expert in any way you can. You're there to help [the creator] get their vision across, versus when I write a movie, it's my vision completely. GVN: How does writing for comics compare to writing for screen? Leon Chills: Comics are some of my favorite things to write because I get to see [my ideas] realized a lot quicker. Movie scripts are my favorite, but it just takes so long — if ever — to see them come to life. With comics, I can write it, then two or three weeks later the artist is sending back the panels they've drawn. That's just such an amazing feeling. [Comics] are very different in that they're completely visual, so you get a lot less dialogue [than you would in a film script] and you're being more visual because you have to create panels. I think something I've adopted from [writing comics] is the kind of cliffhanger style of storytelling. Comics, from issue to issue, come out weeks apart, so you want to leave the reader on edge so that they come back to read the next issue. So, yeah, I really enjoy [writing comics] a lot. GVN: I know you've written quite a bit for DC/Milestone, but do you ever see yourself writing creator-owned comics? Leon Chills: Absolutely! I have a movie idea now that I may have to create as IP first because it's such a big idea. So I may have to reverse-engineer it into a comic created by me. As a movie, it's live-action and anime hybrid. There are no comps. I haven't seen it done before. It's an uphill battle, but one way to make it easier is to create my own comic and hopefully it sells well and builds an audience. [From there] I could bring in all of that along with the movie script [to a studio]. GVN: I'm hearing a lot about screenwriters branching out to other fields to create IP with the hopes that it'll get their film projects made. Do you think that will become the norm? Leon Chills: I don't know if it'll ever become the norm, but I think for [screenwriters] who are hustlers, it just feels like something we have to do for those ideas that we're very passionate about. GVN: What projects are you excited to explore in the film and TV side of things? Leon Chills: Yes, the project I just mentioned. I have a dream [of making] a live-action and anime hybrid movie. I grew up on anime. It's another story with a family at the center of it, and when the son falls into a coma, the family is trying to do anything and everything to help bring him back. Ultimately, there's this technology that allows them to go inside his mind and help him fight against the nightmares he's up against. Those nightmares are based on his favorite shonen anime. The idea is that when they're in the real world, it's live action, but when they're in his mind, it's animated. GVN: What is your advice to aspiring writers trying to break into these fields post-COVID and post-writers' strike? Leon Chills: This is the toughest time that it has been to break in since I started this journey, honestly. Even when I was broke in 2014, I felt better about the industry than I do now. People [in power] are just spending less money, so there are fewer jobs, and it's rough. All you can do is all you can do. So, control the things you can, which is [improving] at the craft itself. Make sure you're very passionate about it. Make sure you're reading the [screenwriting] books and reading film scripts. I think that's the best education. From a mental health perspective, make sure you have things in your life that make you happy outside of this dream coming true. If all your happiness is tied to a script selling, [this industry] is going to be rough. Give yourself some time and runway to get to the point where that happens. You must have other things in your life that bring you joy while you're waiting to get to that point. Shadow Force is now in theaters. Check out Leon's TV pilot presentation, Party Chat, over on YouTube.