How an unknown screenwriter convinced Netflix to make his original superhero movie 'Project Power'
- Insider talked to "Project Power" screenwriter Mattson Tomlin about bringing his idea about a pill that possesses superpowers to life as a Netflix movie.
- Tomlin said he came up with the idea thanks to his love of superheroes and a need to get a script sold after years of landing any deals.
- The screenwriter also explained the lengths he went to keep the freestyle aspect in the movie, including performing his own rap in front of a room full of agents.
- Tomlin's hustle has paid off: Along with "Project Power" going to Netflix, he's also the cowriter on the anticipated movie "The Batman."
You probably don't know the name Mattson Tomlin, but by the time you finish reading this, you'll understand why this 30-year-old is the latest go-to screenwriter in Hollywood.
After years plowing through script after script and not selling any of them (some of them even made it on the coveted Black List, which highlights the top unproduced scripts), Tomlin finally hit the jackpot with a script he wrote in 2016 called "Power."
Set in modern-day New Orleans where a drug is beginning to circulate that gives you superpowers for a limited time (but you don't know what that power is until you take the drug), the story came to Tomlin out of a desire to have a script that would get made.
Seeing he was a fan of the superhero genre, and Hollywood is clearly leaning into that, he went full geek.
"I don't have the rights to any comic books and Marvel and DC aren't going to ask me to do anything, so it was just figuring out how can I play in this space with a big original idea," Tomlin told Insider over the phone.
The strategy worked. Tomlin got the movie sold to Netflix and, 11 months later, filming began on "Project Power" (the name was changed as not to be confused with the 50 Cent series "Power") with big stars like Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached as the main characters who try to get the Power drug off the streets.
Tomlin was so driven to get freestyle rap in the movie he rapped himself at a pitch meeting with agents
The screenwriter recalls how hard he had to fight to get one of the most unique parts of the movie to stay in throughout the development process: a character who freestyle raps.
In the movie, Robin (Dominique Fishback), a teen who deals the Power drug, has a talent as a rapper. She shows that by freestyling on several occasions during the movie.
Tomlin said there were rap lyrics that he created placed throughout the script since its original draft — including a lengthy rhyme that appeared on the very first page. To show how serious he was about rapping being a component in the movie, Tomlin said he himself even rapped during a pitch meeting to a room full of agents.
"My manager said he thought the script was worth having some people hear the pitch, so I went to this agency and at the head of the conference room table in front of all these agents I just started rapping for like a minute and a half," Tomlin said. "It stunned people. Not stunned by how great it was, mind you, but stunned that this psychopath got into the building. But it all worked out so it doesn't seem quite as crazy."
And when it came to the superhero powers, Tomlin said that the goal was always to showcase something that would be new to the audience.
Tomlin wanted to come up with superpowers that audiences hadn't seen before, so he turned to the animal kingdom
"I knew that I didn't want to do anything telekinetic, or psychokinesis, anything that would involve actors standing on a set putting their hand out with their palm spread and concentrating really hard," Tomlin said. "I wanted to stay with powers that were more visceral."
Tomlin said things really got interesting when Joost and Schulman came up with the idea to link the powers to those that animals possess.
"As we were trying to figure out what that looked like we found out how coral fish are really able to camouflage themselves, it looked like something out of 'Avatar,'" Tomlin said. "Once we had that, that seemed like something we should hang our hats on."
It led to the powers in the movie deriving from the abilities of animals, yet another original take the movie would bring to the superhero genre.
This all has resulted in "Project Power" not just being another impressive action movie for Netflix, coming on the heels of "The Old Guard," but proving that Tomlin is the next big screenwriter you should know about.
Next up for Tomlin: 'The Batman' starring Robert Pattinson
Though Tomlin can't say much about the project, he did reveal that working with director Matt Reeves has been a "mind-blower."
"We were in the same room at a desk together for many months and just going through the process — I'd never written with anyone before — and co-writing it with him, I really do think he's one of our great filmmakers," Tomlin said.
And the good fortune has continued for Tomlin. He's working with Joost and Schulman on a movie focused on the video game character, Mega Man. And he recently sold a sci-fi spec script to Paramount.
But it's all thanks to this movie about a pill with superpowers. Tomlin is aware of how lucky he is.
"I'm so grateful," he said, having a moment to look back on it all.
"Project Power" is available on Netflix now.