Write On: 'Splinter Cell: Deathwatch' Creator/Writer Derek Kolstad

Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

“As you do draft after draft, it becomes shorter and rendered down. And [Keanu Reeves and I] would go through scenes going, ‘Can people say less? Can the action be tighter? Can the action sequence be shorter?’ The action is an extension of the hero’s journey and if you don’t give a sh*t about the character, it doesn’t matter how great your action is,” says Derek Kolstad about his writing process with actor Keanu Reeves when they worked on the script that would become John Wick and spark an entire franchise.

On today’s episode, we speak with screenwriter Kolstad about his masterful John Wick action movies and his new animated TV show, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch based on the popular video game.

Kolstad also shares his surprising advice for coming up with action scenes that feel fresh and inventive by going back to the silent era. “Look at Buster Keaton. Harold Lloyd, and Fatty Arbuckle, the Keystone Cops. Look at how those sequences were done, and then there's Asian cinema, you know? What I love about the things that I've been a part of is there's always this sense of humor at play. Nothing's so dark and so bleak that you're not enjoying it.”

To hear more, listen to the podcast.