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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Death of Story

There is hope.. I point to "The King's Speech" ...have you seen it? And the writer had to wait so long to see it come to fruition.
 
I once heard a theory that one needs to spend ten years in therapy to know oneself as well as one perceptive person will know you after spending ten minutes chatting at a cocktail party. Setting aside the questionable value of therapy for a second: we all need to be that one perceptive person when we sit down for coffee with a perspective partner/producer/financier. On some level we all know almost immediately whether or not this person is right for us but unfortunately when someone says they love our work we usually go overboard inventing excuses and rationalizing questionable comments.

An elderly friend of my mothers had a rule for buying used cars. The first thing she did was turn on the radio and see what stations were programmed. If she heard music from stations she considered too raucous she walked before even taking it out of the parking lot. She's always had great "luck" with cars.
 
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I think the best way for a writer to keep his, or her, sanity is to settle on one thing before starting. That is, "Who am I writing for?"

Using myself as an example, I have undeveloped ideas that only Hollywood can make. I've had previous ideas, one (trilogy) in particular, that only Hollywood could make, but that Hollywood would never make in the context I conceived it.

I harbor no illusions that any tenderloin offered to the Hollywood Machine will not end up as ground hamburger, because more people eat hamburger than tenderloin.

So what I'm saying is, if writing for others to interpret, I expect different than I wrote. When writing my convictions, to remain true I have to figure out a way to get it done as I visualize it or I have to do it myself.

Doing it yourself often comes with a high price in time and expense. If successful, the self-satisfaction could be worth it. If not, at least you gave it a shot.
 
Hi again, Alex,

Recently I've taken to writing the novel versions of my scripts. This will guarantee that they see the light of day in the form I wrote them. The copyright of the novel will not be part of any film deals. I will register the novel and own that version of the story, period. It can also be created as an e-book or paperback.

This multiple version approach is not easy, at all. But I think it's worth it. It actually worked out better by writing the novel and then going to script rather than vice-versa.

Multiple passes forces you to go deeper into the story and explore more options.

On my latest project, an epic superhero script, I just finished the first draft of the novel version, which came in at a whopping 26,000 words. I'll need to do a lot more brainstorming to expand it to where it is even in the ballpark of a YA novel's size.

Still, Hollywood is abusive and often oblivious. Those who bring the money are the "alpha dogs" and therefore must piss all over everything in sight. Good luck.
 
In choosing to be a writer one doesn't agree to sell their work with no protection. The market may push you to let your screenplay go with little control, but it will always be you that accepts payment and signs the contract. It is pretty hard to argue a writer didn't understand the legal jargon no matter how technical.

I am not making light of this. I would just as angry to see my baby mutilated and dragged down main street. But there is only one person that can ultimately prevent this. Allow me to be the irritating voice, if that's how this is received.

To tell a story in this audio-visual medium we can't just write a script. Only one millionth of the audience will read our words. We've all heard this a thousand times, but fact is there is so much more to do before we have a movie. So writer-only storytellers are expected to hold out till they find producers with similar taste, who are equally or more talented than us, and who are passionate about the screenplay because they understand it. They are out there! And they know how to make piles of money with the good stuff.

Joe brings up a good point. "Simultaneous" novel-script projects must require a towering amount of work and commitment. I think all work --and pain-- has an outcome. I suppose we just need to try to do things in the wisest order to get the most out of them. Only we can chose to endure this pain before hand, so that it builds the project instead of kill it.

I don't mean to sound like a know it all, I am only trying to articulate my thoughts in hopes to be corrected by those that can teach me further.

0.02

Hope you write the novel. And that it is wildly successful.
 
What Roberto said.

It reminds me of the hoopla that we saw a few years ago when there was a big movement to colorize films sitting around the Turner vault. Yeah the vast majority of the colorized films seemed like a REALLY crappy idea but the outcry from the writers and directors of those films mystified me. Nobody, as the expression goes, put a gun to the head of the writer or director to endorse the check and stick it in their bank account. Of course if they're anything like me it was half spent before the envelope even hit the mailbox.

Maybe the best way to do it is the way Jim did. Make a couple billion in something that you're passionate about that makes money and then use a good chunk of it on something you're even MORE passionate about.

Easy to say....
 
Really no way to quell the heartache other than commiserating with the many others who have also suffered re-write hell. Perhaps you'll find some comfort in Terry Rossio's blogs about this very issue:

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp15.Building.the.Bomb.html

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp47.100.Million.Mistake.html

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio eventually acquired more creative control thanks to a good relationship with Jerry Bruckheimer. Most screenwriters can only dream of being so fortunate. Nevertheless, I find one of the best ways to work through being burned on a script is to simply start writing another one.

Best of luck.
 
Eric Strunz said:
... Perhaps you'll find some comfort in Terry Rossio's blogs about this very issue:

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp47.100.Million.Mistake.html

Best of luck.
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This is a great article Eric. Lot of great info and advice that I have cut and paste to sit with my screenwriting notes.


"..And please be ready when someone tries to justify a costly mistake by saying, "It's a director's medium."
If they do, I can at least give you the proper reply, something that becomes painfully clear after so many humbling failures. Here's what you say:
"Wrong, you idiot. Wait 'til the first preview, and then you'll know the truth --
"It's an audience's medium."
 
The book option sounds like the way to go, at least on a few choice screenplays. Tinkerd with novel writing before, so it won't be a from-scratch learning curve. Well, almost, but sure would save some future heartaches.

I need to look into self-publishing.

Feel a little better knowing I'm not alone on this, not that I would wish it on any of you.

a
 
Mind you, it's a very different connect when working on assignment, knowing full well it will be a collaborative project, with a meshing of ideas, pet scenes and characters, etc. (whick I love, by the way). Original work, however, cuts to the bone when stripped and rebuilt, by what seems to be a coldly objective approach.

Admittedly I have been on both sides of the machete.
 
If you don't wish to share your storytelling with other creatives then by all means, be a novelist. For a screenwriter, collaboration is part of the job description. A screenwriter who is unable or otherwise uninterested in collaborating is a chronic masturbator with masochistic tendencies who is doomed to fail.
 
Hehe... Aggressive right?

So many folks seem to go into screenwriting as auteurs. Why not when the whole process begins alone? But smart folks know that a fully realized screenplay is one that ends on the screen, and virtually nobody makes a film alone. Writers for the most part are very smart, so I figure if they are unwilling to see the nose on their faces that aggression is required. ;-)

The tone is largely one of jest, peppered with a pinch of asshole. It's how I like to write... And maybe it's also me.

Disclaimer: I'm not a writer.

I've heard that writers are masochists by nature. Is there truth in that?
 
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I actually agree with the spirit of your statement, Scott, if not the tenor.

Everyone has to sacrifice something in order for a production to get made in all but the most unusual circumstances. The writer will have their story changed, the actors will have their acting controlled, the director will have his vision impeded, the DP will have his lighting and framing altered, etc.
 
Michael Olsen said:
I actually agree with the spirit of your statement, Scott, if not the tenor.

Everyone has to sacrifice something in order for a production to get made in all but the most unusual circumstances. The writer will have their story changed, the actors will have their acting controlled, the director will have his vision impeded, the DP will have his lighting and framing altered, etc.
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+1a.
 
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