WOMAN’S BEST FRIEND by Joey Day Hargrove
NATHAN PATTON interviews JOEY DAY HARGROVE about her television pilot WOMAN’S BEST FRIEND.
Nathon Patton: Can you tell us a bit of what your script is about?
Joey Day Hargrove: WOMAN’S BEST FRIEND is about a single woman and her slightly unhealthy relationship with her dog – who magically turns into a person. My official logline is: When a lonely 30-something’s beloved dog magically transforms into a very enthusiastic person, she must teach her out-of-control, drama-inducing BFF how to be human, while realizing she has a lot to learn herself.
NP: What are some of the themes of your script?
JDH: It’s about friendship and people’s obsessive relationships with our dogs, But on a deeper level, it is about what it actually means to be human And I do think, as cliché as it sounds, that humans could learn a lot about enjoying our lives from dogs.
NP: What inspired you to write this script, and why is it important for you to tell this story?
JDH: I am a dog person. I never got a dog until I was married, and I realized how much I talked to my dog and how much she knew about me, And I had a moment where I was like – oh wow, what if f she could talk and tell people stuff. I also must say that I’m lucky that I didn’t get a dog until I was married because as a single person I fear that having a dog may have been enough – that I would have been single way too long because I had a dog’s love to come home to.
NP: What is your favorite moment in the script and why?
JDH: There are so many little quirks of Goldie as she’s figuring out how to be human that I love. But I think the moment where Goldie confronts Stacey that learning to be a human is just learning to lie is my favorite. That’s always my hope for my scripts that they’re funny and true to the characters but actually have something a little deeper to say. And in this moment, hopefully, a reader or audience laughs but thinks that it’s true as well, that we do spend so much time trying to project ourselves in a certain way and that does sort of hide who we really are from people – and not from our dogs.
NP: What do you think was the hardest thing for you in telling this story?
JDH: Stacey is the hardest thing. I mean Goldie is an easy character and so much fun, but Stacey is the emotional center of the story and to try to find a way to make this total homebody, anti-social, awkward, slightly pathetic woman not only likable but sympathetic has been a struggle. I want people to really root for her.
NP: So if Stacey isn’t your favorite, would you say Goldie is?
JDH: Of course. Who doesn’t love a dog?
NP: Monsters. Did Goldie surprise you in any way?
JDH: A bit. She wrote herself in a lot of ways because I was just staying true to her essence as a character, but I would just let her run free on the page.
NP: A writer will often create a character that is a version of him or herself; Is one of these characters based on you?
JDH: Stacey is definitely the alternate universe still single version of me. Which is embarrassing to admit as I just called her pathetic.
NP: Do you think there are things you’re working out through the characters?
JDH: Not necessarily, but I do think while Goldie has a lot to learn, she also has a lot to teach. As a woman who was raised in the American South, I have a tendency to maybe be a bit quiet and meek and not stand up for myself, but Goldie is a great reminder to maybe be a bit more impulsive.
NP: What audience do you hope to activate with your script?
JDH: It’s definitely skewed towards women. And dog lovers. But I hope it’s a show that families can watch together. Older kids and parents and grandparents. I want something that brings people together. And of course anyone that wants to laugh and feel good – and who doesn’t want that especially in today’s world?
NP: What are your biggest hang-ups when it comes to turning your script into a film/ TV show?
JDH: I guess it would just be the hope to keep it light and fun. I would hate for someone to try to make it dark or edgy. I’m sure there could be a very dark, disturbing dog-turned-human project out there. I mean my dogs are ridiculous protective of me and a little obsessive –but that’s not what this is meant to be.
NP: Speaking of films, did you ever consider making it a feature-length script? It really feels like it hits that ever-elusive “four-quadrant” range.
JDH: It’s funny; It actually started as a web series because I wanted to write something that would be easy to film — or maybe not easy, but ‘doable’ — so I wrote it that way at first, and then it evolved into a pilot.
NP: Finally: What was your experience being a part of the Casino Theatre?
JDH: One of the most frustrating things about choosing to be a screenwriter is that we are writing an unfinished project. It’s not like a novel that I can self-publish. A screenplay is just the beginning, it’s not something most people read and enjoy on its own. We write the blueprint basically for a film or TV show so unless it gets made into a film or TV show, I never get to see it, it’s never really finished. My favorite thing about the Casino Theatre was getting to see my script performed. To have actors, not just do a cold reading, but to have them staged and directed. And it was just a lot of fun to get to come together with a group of writers, actors, a director, a producer, and artists and put a performance together. And just a really fun couple of nights out with more of an unmasked crowd than I’ve seen in two years.