Tyler screenwriter sets sail for the arctic

Published 10:45 pm Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Screenwriter Scott Simpson is preparing to sail away.

Simpson, who grew up in Tyler and graduated from Columbia Film School in 1984, has been writing screenplays for most of his life. In 1983, he began a screenplay for a movie in the style of “The Road Warrior” called “The MacKenzie Breakout.”

Like the Mad Max series, 2015 will see new life breathed into Simpson’s more than 30-year-old project set in the Arctic.

But before he does his rewrite, Simpson plans to embark on a journey, sailing for three weeks in October around the Svalbard Archipelago with 24 other artists and scientists. Simpson first learned of the opportunity from a Columbia School of the Arts newsletter. After some encouragement from his wife, Kathy, a civil engineer and fellow John Tyler Graduate, Simpson picked his script back up.

Unlike “MacKenzie,” many of his screenplays are set in East and South Texas. Simpson said he funds his passion as an advisor for Community Based Organizations, helping the nonprofits diversify their fundraising streams.

Although his projects haven’t quite made it to the big screen yet, Simpson has received many honors for his screenwriting. In 2006, Simpson was named a semi-finalist for screenwriters in the Austin Film Festival. He was a quarter-finalist for the 2008 Nicholl Fellowship, a quarter-finalist in the 2009 Fade In Awards and a quarter-finalist for the 2009 PAGE International Screenwriting awards.

Simpson has steadily written since receiving his master’s degree in fine arts. in screenwriting from Columbia. His projects range from family-friendly adventures to historical dramas, but after all this time, it is still “MacKenzie” that he is drawn back to.

“I wrote it in like a fever dream over five days, it was really just unreadable,” Simpson said. “And then my wife said, now there is a deal with global warming and people are exploring and opening the Arctic Ocean. This thing that you wrote 30 years ago is relevant now … and she badgered me for five years to get back to it.”

The second act of the story consists of a journey via boat through the arctic, before the hero arrives in a Roman-style empire.

“You just don’t know what you don’t know,” Simpson said about why he wants to make the voyage. “Everyone else is going to have specific projects that they’re going to do. My specific project is finding out what it’s like to take a boat ride across the Arctic Ocean.”

Before he gets to the artic, though, Simpson is hard at work on another project. Simpson describes his latest writing project as a 10-episode premium cable series in the style of “Deadwood” or “Boardwalk Empire,” focusing on the East Texas Oil Boom and the Wildcatter culture.

To learn more about Simpson’s projects, visit gofundme.com/texpatriot or email SSimpson@nyc.rr.com