SEPTEMBER 1999

FEATURES

GRADS ON A
ROLL WRITING FILMS

By Katrina Miles
Staff Writer, Florida State Times

Scott Devine and Will Hooke are swimming with the fishes.

Sounds a little daring, but then you have to be if you're writing a movie about 15-foot-long, bloodthirsty, great white sharks..

"It's been a totally wonderful experience," said Devine. "I've been having a good time, and I can't wait to do it again.".

It took nearly four years to get the movie produced and ready for release, but "Shark Attack!," a Nu Image production starring Casper Van Dien of "Starship Troopers" fame, was scheduled to premier nationwide sometime late July to mid-August as a Home Box Office (HBO) original movie..

It was written by Florida State grads, Devine and Hooke. "How Scott and I began working together is a very interesting story," Hooke said. "He just called me up one day and asked me. I told him 'sure.' ". Actually, it's even more interesting than that.

Nu Image producers wanted to make a shark movie. But they didn't have a script. Devine has an encyclopedic knowledge of sharks. He was working as an executive assistant at International Creative Management (ICM), a talent agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., when his boss, Jack Gilardi, got a call about the project.

Devine asked if he could take a shot at writing the screenplay with a promise to ship up a treatment in one or two days with the help of his writing partner, Will Hooke. "All I had to do was pick up the phone," said Hooke.

Devine and Hooke originally called the script "Red Tide," but the studios wanted the simple title of "Shark Attack!" And they wanted plenty of attacks.

Hooke and Devine are already hard at work on the sequel.

"It's pretty phenomenal," said Devine, who recently quit his job at ICM to concentrate on his writing. "'Shark Attack!' hasn't even been released yet, and already they want us to write 'Shark Attack! 2.'"

Hooke and Devine, both 30, are graduates of the 10-year-old School of Motion Pictures Television and Recording Arts at Florida State. They earned Master of Fine Arts degrees in 1993. The two agree that the film school at Florida State was the best thing to happen to them in movies - before their current gigs as big-time Hollywood script writers, that is.

"I wouldn't exactly say we're big time considering this was our first time out, and we were working on a low budget film," said Devine. "We know it's not 'Jaws!' But we think it's a very good movie."

"Shark Attack!" may run on the short end of the millions-of-dollars range, but Devine's first FSU feature, what the school calls a "thesis film," was made on an even tighter budget.

"Ah, 'Chaos In Congerville,' " said Devine, chuckling. "Well, it's a quirky comedy about how seemingly unrelated events conspire and can lead us to great success or failure. We call it chance." Devine is almost famous for taking chances. The Mequon, Wisc., native said coming to FSU was a big chance. He didn't know anyone, and the film school was barely four years old. He met Will Hooke, but they never got a chance to work together or write together. They were just friends. After graduation, Hooke moved to California, where he got a job as a director of photography and began making behind-the-scenes documentaries.

He has his own company, Reel To Real Productions. He's made behind-the-scenes shorts for several films including box office hits like "Crimson Tide," which starred Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman and "Enemy of The State," in which Hackman starred with Will Smith. Devine moved to California two years after he graduated from FSU. He took a job in the mail room of ICM and worked his way up until he just happened to be at the right place when the call came through from Nu Image.

And Hooke was in the right place, at home. "The telephone rang and it's Scott," Hooke said. "He wants me to help him write a treatment for a possible movie deal. By tomorrow. And I've never been one to turn down a challenge. I said yes."

Should they ever find themselves on the Late Show with David Letterman, they both have pretty spectacular stories to tell.

"Florida State was what I needed at the time, though I did not know or fully appreciate it until later," said Hooke.

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