Success comes to screenwriting alumnus
Alumni spotlight: Marty Musatov

-- Margaret A. Pribel

Marty Musatov switched from a business major to a screenwriting major in one day. Though he was licensed to trade stocks and earned up to $8,000 a day at American Express Investments, Musatov found the work cold and calculated.

While online in the computer center, he stumbled across the screenplay for Quentin Tarantino’s classic film, “Pulp Fiction.” It was the first time he’d ever seen a screenplay and he read the entire thing right there. Musatov was buzzing. “It had never dawned on me that I could be creative for a living,” he mused. Already online, he started his research into screenwriting. It was fortunate that he was already a Metropolitan State University student since this is the only university in the state that has a screenwriting program. “I knew it [screenwriting] was a fit by the energy I felt,” he explained.

Musatov changed direction and it’s paying off. He sold his first Hollywood script, and production is slated to begin this fall on “Solstice,” a screenplay he wrote with Ethan Erwin. Musatov met Erwin, a New York University Tisch School graduate, during his summer internship in Los Angeles working for Jerry Bruckheimer.

Someone told him that the best way to learn the industry is to work in the talent agencies. Musatov had several internships: In the spring of 2000, he worked with the Minnesota Film Board; in the summer of 2000, he interned with Jerry Bruckheimer and MTV films before his 2001 summer internship at International Creative Management (ICM).

Wanting to work for a motion picture literary agency, he got a job at ICM working for a literary agent. He had great opportunities to interface with professionals, even legends among screenwriters at ICM, where he had already started making contacts during his internship. Working with agents is challenging. “People scream and throw staplers, they just want their stuff done. Don’t take it personally,” he said casually. Musatov, being easy to deal with and unfazed by stapler-throwing, caused agents to ask for him to fill in for their assistants.

Musatov maintains relationships with people he worked with at ICM, a tactic that has proven key in getting this script seen by the right people. “Readers are the gatekeepers,” he explained.

He took his script to readers at Village Roadshow during his 2001 internship and got a “consider” even though that wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. He took it to Mason Novick at ICM and because of that “consider” was able to get through to Novick. They stayed in touch and when Novick became a talent manager at Benderspink, Novick introduced Musatov to Dan Myrick, the director of “The Blair Witch Project” and they agreed to work together on “Solstice.”

Then one day Novick called saying they got Lions Gate as the distributor. “Lindsay Lohan was supposed to be the female lead but that was before she became ‘Lindsay Lohan,’” Musatov explained. “Now we have Danielle Panabaker, who is phenomenal. She’s the next Julia Roberts,” raves Musatov. Panabaker played Christina in the Emmy-nominated HBO miniseries “Empire Falls,” as well as the female lead in the sleeper box office hit “Sky High.” Following a pet project all the way from development to production, you learn very quickly that it’s a constantly evolving process.”

“Solstice” was originally set in Hawaii but they wanted to shoot it in Louisiana and I hadn’t been to New Orleans, so I had to do research, but I think it works better,” Musatov explained.

Musatov, who grew up in Coon Rapids, was in the Twin Cities visiting family and friends over the summer. He did some writing as well. “I’d love to move back here, but the movie business is mostly in California and New York still.”

However, he planned to leave before the weather turned cold. Musatov would love to come back and teach a summer course here at Metropolitan State University. He misses his friends and family.

His stories about working in Hollywood could be the basis of a screenplay. Musatov says the energy in Los Angeles is almost tangible. He met Wes Craven and was an extra in the movie “Pearl Harbor.” One day he found himself covering the reception desk after hours because a late meeting was being held. He was handed two sets of keys and realized one set was Jennifer Aniston’s and the other was Brad Pitt’s. He said, “You step outside yourself and it’s so surreal.”

No one is happier for Musatov’s success than James Byrne. Byrne is the coordinator of the screenwriting program at Metropolitan State University; you can reach him by email at james.byrne@metrostate.edu.

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