The Science of Screenwriting: An Interview with Paul McCudden
by Daniel Greeson
This article originally appeared in theWinter 2025-26 issue of Art with Altitude.
Paul McCudden has spent his career moving between the worlds of physics and film. In this interview, he discusses how these disciplines complement each other, what he learned from working in Hollywood, and the importance of storytelling.
Art with Altitude: You’ve had such a unique career path—going from studying physics, to screenwriting in Hollywood, and now teaching physics, astronomy and screenwriting at Colorado Mountain College. Have you seen any connections between the physics and film worlds?
Paul McCudden: It’s kind of “right brain, left brain.” The underlying idea is that both are about thinking clearly about the world and explaining it: one from a physical point of view, the other from an emotional point of view.
AwA: You have a master’s degree in physics from Harvard University. Did you focus on physics-related projects while you were in the film industry?
PM: There was one project I worked on—an HBO miniseries called From Earth to the Moon. It was produced by Tom Hanks, and each episode focused on a different Apollo mission. I wrote the Apollo 12 episode. There was a lot of research into the technical side of the Apollo missions, but ultimately it was a fictional narrative. That’s as close as I’ve come to scientific screenwriting.
AwA: What other film projects have you worked on?
PM: I wrote a film that Johnny Depp starred in and directed, called The Brave, though it was never released in the U.S. I also worked on a project for HBO based on a true story about identical twin Chinese brothers who were separated by the Chinese Revolution—one fought for the Communists and one for the Nationalists. They each went through their own adventures and, by sheer chance, 40 years later, they were reunited. I got to do research, talk to the brothers, and travel to China. I think it turned out to be a pretty good story. But again, it was one of those projects that just languished in development.
AwA: You were named Faculty of the Year at Colorado Mountain College in 2021. Do you attribute any lessons from your screenwriting career to your success in teaching?
PM: All teaching is telling a story. There has to be a beginning, middle, and end to every branch of knowledge. I like to think I bring some of that structure to teaching, rather than just throwing knowledge at people. The idea of a story is that every scene follows logically from the previous one. I think it’s the same with teaching: you have to connect what you just talked about to what comes next to make a coherent chain of understanding. Beginning, middle, and end—telling the story of whatever it is you’re teaching—I think that’s important.
AwA: So a screenplay and a college course have similarities in how they’re structured?
PM: The audience has an expectation of what they want to see next, and you either fulfill that or frustrate it. I think it’s the same with teaching. When you’re teaching, the class has an expectation of what might come next, and you have to fulfill that or counter it in some way. But you have to know what they’re thinking to move on to the next thing.
AwA: Can you tell me a bit about what you’ve been working on at the Wildhorse Cinema in Steamboat?
PM: We started this summer with a rodeo film series—five films all set in the world of rodeo from different eras—and it was a lot of fun. Now we’re in the midst of a Western film series. I picked one representative Western from each decade, from 1900 to 2025. We just screened Stagecoach last night. When the Western film series wraps up in December, we’re going to do a series of classic foreign films, one from each continent.
AwA: Do you still have any involvement in the film industry?
PM: There are still a few projects that surface now and then. In fact, the last Western we’re going to show in the series at Wildhorse Cinema is the Kevin Costner–directed Horizon: An American Saga. That was actually a project I worked on years ago that went through a lot of changes before it finally got made.
AwA: It seems rare what you’ve done, moving between right-brain and left-brain fields throughout your career. What would you tell someone who’s struggling to decide between the two career paths?
PM: I always tell students, no matter what they’re studying, take your time to explore all kinds of ideas—whether it’s coming to Wildhorse to see an old movie or exploring the night sky. I encourage people to go outside their comfort zones and explore both the natural world and the artistic world. Those experiences can challenge you and lead to very rewarding discoveries. I think that’s important.
Elevate the Arts: Watch for future classic films series at Wildhorse Cinema. Visit WildhorseSteamboat.org for information on Paul’s Foreign Film series in December. DG
