A Film By (Reprise)

In his interview with Jeff Goldsmith on the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin stated what he wants for all screenwriters, which is this:

"... I want screenwriters to have the same relationship to the movies that they write as playwrights have to the plays that they write. It's that simple. I want us to end the festival of self-loathing that we're in... and I want us to take our rightful place as the authors of what we write. I hear all the time that film is a directors' medium. I don't know who first said it but I promise you it was a director, okay, and they pulled it out of their ass. It is no more a directors' medium than television or plays."

Sorkin then goes on to say how "incredibly lucky" he's been with the film directors he has worked with calling them "fantastic collaborators". None more so than with David Fincher on The Social Network saying that they were "partners". He then concludes:

"I love that [being partners] and I want that for everybody because it's no less than what you deserve when you write a screenplay that becomes a movie..."

Amen.

Waiting

One of the skills I have yet to master in regard to screenwriting is waiting. Waiting for notes, waiting for feedback, waiting on funding panels and news of submissions. But wait we must as the HAF projects aren't announced until mid-January.

I've put the script aside and don't intend to look at it for a couple of more weeks yet. Needs fresh eyes and other readers at the moment.

In the meantime, I am finding great value in a couple of US blogs and a newly discovered podcast:

Script Shadow which reviews Hollywood spec scripts.

The Bitter Script Reader which gives an interesting insight from a US reader's perspective including do's and don't's.

The On The Page podcast which has a wide cross section of guests on a range of screenwriting subjects.

And, of course, the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcasts.

But the waiting for Christmas is almost over, so have a good festive season and a creative 2010. I'm taking a break from the online world for a while so see you in a few weeks time for more misadventures!

Richard

Script Mathematics

I have a tendency when rewriting feature scripts to start from page one at every sitting. I recall Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich) on one of the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcasts saying he does something similar but how the math(s) is all screwed up. Obviously you spend more time on the first half of the script than the end.

I finished a new draft of The Red Bride last night (well, technically 6am this morning) and the first half feels really polished - of course - whereas most of the changes are happening in the 3rd act which feels a little wild and woolly.

To counteract my natural tendency (read obsession?) I am only going to print out the last forty pages to work on revisions before getting notes from my Forgeworks colleagues.

The climax has a very tricky sequence that I suspect I'll be rewriting many more times (and there have been numerous stabs at the 3rd act over several drafts) but I am happy with how far the script has progressed.

But for now page one is quarantined!

The Wisdom of Christopher McQuarrie

Christopher McQuarrie is, of course, the Oscar winning writer of The Usual Suspects. If you haven't heard the podcast of his interview with Creative Screenwriting Magazine's Jeff Goldsmith I would highly recommend it. Not only is it enormously entertaining, there is a vast wealth of knowledge about how the film industry works and the screenwriter's place within it.

One of the insights that is starting to increasingly resonate with me, even in the tiny fish bowl of the Perth film industry (if there even is such a thing), is that the director is paramount in getting a film made. McQuarrie cites his personal experiences which are clearly on a much larger scale but the lesson, I believe, holds true outside of Hollywood.

For example, the short film Kanowna - the director (and in this case, writer) wanted to realise his vision so he basically made the film (okay, I'm simplifying an enormously challenging task given there was no budget and it is a period piece, set on location in quite difficult terrain, with, amongst other things, horses and a baby!).

In contrast, my short script, Immortal, which I am very fond of, wasn't even short-listed for a recent local funding round and will now basically fade into obscurity. Why? Because, as a writer, I can't make the film.

Which leads me to feature scripts. If your director loves the material and has a passion to shoot the film, then you'll both find a way to make it happen. If your director loses that passion for the script you are dead in the water and the project will be on life-support, shortly to die. You may not even know it until the project is terminal. All you can then do is decide whether to find another director who embraces the script and brings a new wave of energy and passion ... or you call Dr. Kevorkian and administer the last rites.

Enough with the medical analogies!

You will find a link to download the McQuarrie podcast here:

http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/12/christopher-mcquarrie-valkyrie-q.html

or do a search in ITunes for 'Creative Screenwriting Magazine' and look for the Valkyrie Q&A. Trust me, the Benicio Del Toro anecdote is worth it alone!