Where do you write?
I haven't been writing much except marketing copy, to make ends meet. So 2020 brings a proverbial New Year's resolution to pick up my creative work again, and towards that end I've perched a small table in front of my living room window in St James, a small seaside neighbourhood in Cape Town, South Africa. There is plenty to distract me in the world out front, and I'm just a moment away from the couch in front of the SmartTV.
Which screenwriters are you most inspired by?
"Dark" (but funny) Americans: Richard Ford, The Coen brothers, Cormack McCarthy, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, PT Anderson, Wes Anderson, and the one New Zealander––Taika Waititi.
What’s your proudest moment as a writer?
When I read fellow South African "man of letters", and the country's finest (self-avowed alcoholic) satirist, Ben Trovato, describe me as "a talented writer who could go far if only he can stop surfing and chasing women."
What are you working on at the moment?
Deadly boring marketing copy for various clients, a feature film screenplay for Triality, and a tan.
What made you want to write in the first place?
My father was a part-time sportswriter and from as early as I can remember, he would let me play in this outside "study" while he tapped away on his articles. As soon as I could write, he let me have my way with his typewriter: I remember clearly the very first story I banged out––a terribly spelled outright plagiarisation of a sci-fi TV show.
What are your favourite films/tv series?
Paris Texas, No Country For Old Men, Dead Man, The Thin Red Line, Pulp Fiction, Barry, True Detective, Breaking Bad, Watchmen, South Park, The Sopranos, Lost in Translation, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Ghost Dog Way of the Samurai, Almost Famous, Boyhood, Mindhunter, What We Do in the Shadows, Fargo.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
Surf and chase women (very unsuccessfully).
What sort of characters interest you?
Conflicted stone-cold killers. Like Barry.
Where’s your favourite place in the world?
A tiny beach near my house named Dangers.
Where can we see your work?
The last short story I wrote was published in The Johannesburg Review of Books: https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/2018/12/05/fiction-issue-how-the-war-ended-for-jonathan-a-new-short-story-by-byron-loker/
What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer?
Making ends meet.