The Oscar’s were held recently, and there were some great screenwriters up for the awards. If you’d like to see a full list of the winners, check out our post: Oscar Winners 2017. This week is the last week of our in-depth interviews of the nominees. I searched the internet for the best interviews I could find on each writer and their writing process with their screenplay. They’re all in our feed if you feel like searching for some inspiration.

This week we’ll be covering Mike Mills, who wrote and directed the original screenplay for “20th Century Women.”  Mike is most well known for his other films, “Thumbsucker,” and “Beginners.” This film was very personal to him, and was based off of his mother’s life.

A quick look at the interview:

The director acknowledges that his mother, who died in 1999, was a private person and might have been resistant to a movie about her. He says he grappled with her spirit while he was writing the film.

“My mom is a very tricky ghost,” Mills says. “At one certain point, there was a conversation with [her] ghost that went something like, ‘OK Mom … I’m sorry, I’m just going to do this, and I know that it’s filled with enough love and enough understanding that I feel like if I ever see you again I can defend myself — or I can deal with your ire.’ “

A link to the interview:

NPR: Mike Mills Grapples With His Mother’s ‘Tricky Ghost’ In ’20th Century Women’