Marc Rosenberg

Rosenberg grew up in the U.S. but has lived half his adult life in Australia. At the University of Texas, he started a literary and art magazine before setting off to work in London. He then travelled through Europe and Asia. Once in Sydney, he was accepted as a ‘Writer-in-Residence’ at the National Australian Film and TV School. It was here he began his screenwriting career.

Rosenberg has written seven feature films, producing three. He’s worked with Miles Davis, Daniel Radcliffe and Jeremy Irons. An award-winning screenwriter, he’s taught in India, China, the U.S. as well as Australia.
Always a writer, avid reader, and adventurer, writing novels has become a new passion.

Neil Kyd walks a razor’s edge between moral ambiguity and fierce love. When you crafted him, did you see him first as a father or as an operative—and how do you imagine that duality would play out visually or emotionally on screen?
I saw Kyd first as a father. He’s drawn back into the espionage ‘game’ because it’s a chance, a last chance, to save his daughter’s life. I have a daughter, so identifying with Kyd’s desperation and courage, even if it crosses moral boundaries, made it easier to imagine. A parent’s love for their child has no limits. I’ve been a screenwriter for many years and can’t help but see stories through my mind’s eye - cinematically. Economical character description, plot and pace come naturally to me. 
The father-daughter relationship feels like the heartbeat of the story. If this were ever adapted, do you see that emotional thread taking center stage, or staying subtly woven beneath the espionage tension—similar to slow-burn narratives like The Night Manager or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?
Hopefully, the motivation for Kyd to take the risks he does and return home to his daughter come through strongly enough that a reader won’t need to be reminded that it’s the beating heart of the story. The espionage plot stands on its own and adds the pace and intrigue every tale needs. As with le Carre or Jason Matthews’ “Red Sparrow”, there is always an emotional element that gives the character believable depth.

Readers feel the constant pressure chasing Kyd. Was there a particular scene that, in your mind, crystallized the entire tone of the story—something you could picture as the defining moment, whether on the page or on a screen?
A scene or moment that sticks out to me is when after all that he’s been through, the things he’s seen and done, Kyd wonders whether he is the same person he was a week earlier, when he left Kansas. He’s murdered someone and questions whether other people will recognize that he’s changed, he’s become someone else. 

Your description of Moscow reads like a character in itself. Did your travels and global perspective inform that cinematic sense of place, and do you envision a specific atmospheric style—gritty realism, elegant tension, or psychological intimacy—if this world expanded beyond the page?
I see locations as a character; they add the context and metaphorical atmosphere that helps a reader (or viewer) to identify with the character’s circumstance. In KYD’S GAME, Moscow is a real city, a location where Kyd can assume certain things – familiar and strange at the same time. The grittiness has to do with my love of film noir movies and books. I wanted to create something as stark and evocative as an Edward Hopper painting.

Kyd’s Game sits beautifully between literary espionage and psychological thriller. Were there writers or filmmakers who helped shape that tone for you—whether John le Carré, Patricia Highsmith, or perhaps influences from your own screenwriting career?
I’ve always been an avid reader and admire so many authors, but my writing has been most influenced by Patricia Highsmith, Donald Westlake, Ross Thomas, Denis Lehane, Peter Blauner and of course le Carre. I like the sparseness and elegance of their books. I worked with Miles Davis, and I still feel his music and personality influence me. I very much enjoyed the espionage series “The Bureau”, the French production.

Redemption versus survival is a powerful theme here. If Kyd’s journey continued, do you see him moving toward healing—or is he a character fated to exist in perpetual motion, always hunted by both enemies and his own past?
If Kyd’s journey were to continue, I see him much like Walter White in “Breaking Bad”. He can’t turn back, he’s opened another side of himself that pushes him forward. 

The world you’ve created hints at deeper layers beyond this mission. Do you see potential for a larger narrative universe—sequels, character spin-outs, or deeper looks into the Agency and his past relationships?
I have thought about a sequel for Kyd and have the opening and ending, but the middle is still being worked out.

You’ve written for powerful screen talents like Miles Davis, Daniel Radcliffe, and Jeremy Irons. With that background, do you find yourself writing with an internal visual rhythm or structure—even when working purely in prose?
One of the tricks I’ve learned through screenwriting is to cast characters in my head. It’s helpful to know how they walk, talk, breathe. All things being equal, I would cast Kyd as Cillian Murphy or Michael Fassbender. I understand enough about filmmaking to know the writer’s wishes are not a top priority. 

The line “Life and death shadow each other to the last page” feels almost like a thesis statement. What does that mean to you personally, and how would you want that haunting tone preserved in any future interpretation of Kyd’s story?
“Life and death shadow each other to last page” was a gift from the author Peter Watt, but it sums up what I wanted the reader to feel. Once Kyd takes on the CIA’s mission, there is no turning back and he continues to become the man he needs to be regardless of the deadly risk.

Now that you’ve stepped into the world of novels after a successful screenwriting career, what excites you most about the idea of Kyd as a character who could live in multiple forms—on the page, in readers’ imaginations, and possibly in a visual world one day?
I’ve been very encouraged by the reviews I’ve received and most of them see a film or TV series in the book. Kyd is a cinematic character. He’s not someone who can turn a cell phone into a satellite dish, or a martial arts expert, but an everyman, someone a reader or viewer can relate to. The action is cinematic, but the emotional core is personal.

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Purchase the book here: 
https://www.amazon.com/Kyds-Game-Marc-Rosenberg-ebook/dp/B0CXLSZBC2​