Name & year: LT Verrastro, SAS ’14
Hometown: Scranton, PA
Major: English
Street: Can you tell us a bit about your artistic involvement on and off campus?
LT Verrastro: Most of the stuff I do is not Penn related. I play guitar and love to write. Fat Angel, the garage band that I started in high school, still makes music. We play a couple gigs each semester around the Drexel/Penn area, and we always have a couple songs in the works. I would say that the main “artsy” thing I do is screenwriting. I’m mostly a comedy guy, and I have written a bunch of scripts for TV, film, and shorts. It would be a dream come true to write and produce a feature film that makes it to theaters.
That being said, I love the Penn arts community! I work with the theater groups on campus, and I am a company member of Penn Singers, which is a light, opera group.
Street: You write lyrics for Fat Angel, screenwrite for your films and are an English major—do you see writing as uniting the arts for you?
LTV: Totally. I realized a long time ago that writing is the basis to most art, and different styles of art showcase different styles of writing. Music is like poetry because it focuses on emotion. Film, on the other hand, is more similar to prose because it focuses on story. Even in my experience working on the commercial side of the music and film businesses, my jobs relied on being able to read and write well. Deep down, the written word connects all the arts together.
Street: Both film and music–making involve groups of people working together. Do the arts have a social component for you?
LTV: As a writer primarily, my interaction is mostly with a keyboard. It takes an enormous amount of “alone time” to make a good screenplay. However, it would be crazy to think that it happens in a vacuum. Writers are constantly reading other writers’ works and getting feedback. I have a feeling that most art, by nature, is social.
Street: So artistic collaboration must be quite central to your work. How do you feel working with other people on something which is ultimately as personal as a film script? You must really trust the other people involved!
LTV: Sharing your script with another person can be the most nerve–racking feeling in the world, but it’s a necessary evil. I need someone else’s input during the writing process, or else I get caught up in my own traps. I really only ask for feedback from three people, two of whom are writers themselves. Writers tend to be able to spot specific moments where my script can be improved, and since they know the writing process, they give better answers than “I liked this” or “This seemed weird.” Only give your work to people you trust and whose advice you really believe could take your work to the next level!
Street: Have your interests in singing and scriptwriting ever crossed paths?
LTV: Whether on stage or on film, musicals are awesome. It’s fascinating to think about how much work goes into them, from composing the score to creating a script that seamlessly works in the music. It combines poetic and prose writing, and they take collaboration to a whole new level. I’ve never written a musical, but who knows! Hopefully in the future I will get the chance.
Street: Who or what are your inspirations as an artist?
LTV: There are so many great artists, and I hate labeling any as my “favorite” because I immediately regret that choice. Instead of naming names, I would say that my inspiration is any writer who takes the time to create a good story with a healthy splash of humor.
