Because not all screenwriters live in Wisconsin
I recently did an e-mail interview with the good folks at the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum, only to realize that a significant percentage of my readership base (aspiring screenwriters, confused Christians, web-surfing office drones) lives outside of our 30th state, and therefore might not receive the newsletter.
So with WSF’s kind permission, I’m reprinting it here.
Could you tell me a little about the process you went through from the time you decided you wanted to write screenplays, to the time you wrote GO?
I wrote my first script in graduate school. It was a romantic tragedy set in Colorado. Reading it now, I don’t think it’s all that good, but the writing showed enough promise to get me some meetings, and ultimately an agent. By that time, I had already written the first part of Go, designed to be a short film. It was only several scripts later (after How to Eat Fried Worms and A Wrinkle in Time) that I went back and wrote the full version of Go.
I pretty much always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t really know anything about screenwriting until I got to Los Angeles. Like all new screenwriters, it took a while to get used to the format.
How did GO make its way from an idea in your mind to your first produced feature film?
Go came from a bunch of little incidents I’d collected over the years, some true, some not. A lot of people focus on the structure of it, but I think what makes it work is that moment-by-moment, you’re not sure where the hell it’s going. That’s very much the experience of being twenty.
What process do you adhere to, if any, when approaching an adaptation?
Adaptations are really no different than originals. You’re looking for what’s inherently the “movie idea.” Sometimes that’s obvious (Jurassic Park) and sometimes that’s more work to uncover (Big Fish). But in both cases, you’re best off building the movie from the ground up, rather than trying to force the original material into a cinematic shape.
What are some of the smartest things you’ve done in regards to your career? Things you feel have helped bring you to your current level of success.
I was never a big networker. I didn’t keep up relationships on the off chance that someday I’d work with a certain person. But I learned how to be good in meetings, which means knowing when to talk and when to listen. When people would give me stupid notes, I wouldn’t reject them outright, but would rather try to intuit what they actually wanted, even if they couldn’t articulate it. And I’ve always tried to be the guy who comes up with solutions, rather than pointing out problems.
Have you made any mistakes along the way, in regards to your screenwriting career, which others could potentially learn from?
Especially early in my career, I’d fall in love with a given scene and do anything to keep it in the script, even if in my heart I knew it wasn’t working for the story. Now, I’m a lot more ruthless. There will always be other great scenes. What’s important is that the piece as a whole is working.
How do you approach writing that snappy dialogue you’ve become popular for?
Dialogue is just the way people would talk if they had a few extra seconds to think about what they were going to say. It’s not exactly natural; it’s more compressed and streamlined. I think it’s a lot like how illustrators do animation, flipping pages back and forth to see how it moves. I’m constantly reading from line to line, making sure the rhythm works.
What are some of your favorite movies? Screenplays? Books?
My favorite movie is Aliens, which is probably my favorite screenplay as well. I don’t know that I have one favorite book. I don’t tend to re-read books the way I’ll re-watch movies, so I don’t have the same kind of familiarity with any one work. But in general, I love the dysfunctional family genre, such as Augusten Burrough’s RUNNING WITH SCISSORS or David Sedaris’ NAKED.
What piece of advice could you have used back when you were an aspiring screenwriter?
To worry less about the format and more about the words. Honestly, if a script has terrific writing, no one will give a rat’s ass about the margins and sluglines. There’s far too much emphasis on doing things right, and not enough on doing things brilliantly. When you read a great script, the paper disappears and you feel like you’re watching a movie. That has nothing to do with 12 pt. Courier. It’s artful writing, and that’s the only crucial element
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January 19th, 2006 at 6:34 am
Just so we are clear on this…..you mean Aliens and not Alien?
January 19th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Definitely Aliens with an “s”. The original is groundbreaking and amazing, but to me the sequel is where it all comes together.
January 19th, 2006 at 9:59 am
They were both excellent films. Might have to give the nod to Aliens though, it was just too cool.
January 19th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
ALIENS is the perfect – Perfect – movie on so many levels, especially script. Cameron gets way too little credit for his writing: “Silent and endless. The stars shine like the love of God… cold and remote.” I mean, come on! There is only ONE imperfection in the movie, and the script: Ripley is drifting in space for 57 years (!) and happens to be saved the same week as they lose contact with the colony–!? This feels a tad “serendipitous”. In the theatrical version it could be a ploy by Burke to get Ripley to go, but the director’s cut shows Newt’s family getting butchered, next, Burke tells Ripley they lost contact, implying strongly that this just happened. Just had to get this out of… I mean OFF my chest.
January 19th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
As a card-carrying WSF member who doesn’t get out much, I heartily object to the statement “not all screenwriters live in Wisconsin”.
I will need to see some independently verifiable evidence to back up that dubious statement before I accept it as fact.
January 19th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Johnny –
I’ll take serendipity. But I think it could be argued that there’s a substantial time gap between when Ripley’s ship gets intercepted, and when they come to her about the colony. For all we know, she had that cargo job for a while.
But probably not.
January 20th, 2006 at 11:37 am
The discussion about Cameron’s writing in the Aliens script brought something to mind. Screenwriters like to talk about great writing in screenplays. However, I’m wondering if any of you have read screenplays that are full of mediocre writing, yet were made into good movies. I imagine this would occur more with writer-directors who may have a vision in mind but don’t necessarily get that vision on the page. For instance, there’s this line from the fourth draft of Star Wars (the original): “Artoo is a short, claw-armed tripod. His face is a mass of computer lights surrounding a radar eye.� To me, this doesn’t accurately describe R2-D2, nor does it make me want to keep reading. But Lucas wasn’t working as a screenwriter; he was a director who already had funding for this project in place by the time he wrote that description. I’m guessing he was just filling space until he could get in a room with a concept artist to bring Artoo to life. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I’ve written a screenplay that admittedly has some lazy descriptive writing in it. This is for a small indie project that I’m planning to make locally for as little as possible (though there are a couple production companies that have shown interest, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I may have a real budget). The central character is an artist and much of the art for the project has already been created. So I find myself being lazy and typing “A painting of a walrus hangs on the wall.� That’s obviously not very interesting or descriptive. I didn’t really worry about the lazy writing since I wasn’t looking to sell this script anyway. I wasn’t even aware of how lazy I was being until a writer friend who’s read several drafts stopped by my house and saw some of the paintings and started laughing (yes, it’s a comedy and some of the art is meant to be funny). Clearly my descriptive writing was not very descriptive. So I’m wondering if any of you have read some mediocre screenplays that made good movies. I’m not talking dialogue; just the descriptive text. To bring up Lucas again, he said on the Revenge of the Sith DVD that the first draft of that screenplay had cheats such as “They fight.� Whether you like that movie or not “they fight� hardly describes any of the lightsaber duels or battles. Does anyone have any other examples?
And no, I’m not bringing this up as an excuse to justify my lazy writing. Now that a few production companies have asked to see my screenplay, I’m scrambling to rewrite all that stuff that’s in my head (or on a canvas or storyboard) but not on the page.
January 20th, 2006 at 11:51 am
I’d go with Alien over Aliens. I love both movies, but the first film has definitely aged more gracefully that the sequel.
On a recent viewing I found Aliens more gung-ho and cheesy than I remembered the first time around.
Still, Bill Paxton if fantastic in that movie, even when spouting lines like, ‘stop your singin’ and drop your linen.’ His finest couple of hours on celluloid.
January 20th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Sorry, Matt — it’s actually “Stop your GRINNIN’ and drop your linen.” Which has the advantage of rhyming.
And to this day I still squeal “Why don’t you put her in charge?!” in that whiny-Paxton voice… oh, at least once every two or three weeks.
January 20th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
I disagree with Matt. I saw ALIENS at the Arclight (best cinema in LA) recently and shot glimpses at the audience during the finale – total and complete emotional immersion! The only shot that didn’t quite hold up – imho – was the drophip plunging into the planet’s atmosphere. But the queen, that is one bad mother… Which reminds me, screw cg (in horror movies – for if it ain’t real, it ain’t scary).
January 22nd, 2006 at 7:51 am
“Hudson, Sir. He’s Hicks.”
Now THAT’s writing. :-)
Could have been a long conversation between characters about how Gorman is green and unsuitable for leading the mission, but those four words say it all.
January 22nd, 2006 at 10:06 pm
>> There’s far too much emphasis on doing things right, >> and not enough on doing things brilliantly.
Damn.
That’s just too good to NOT scribble it on a Post-It and add it to the paper corona of cool thoughts and motivating quotes plastered around my monitor.
Have you considered writing professionally? I think you might be able to make a go of it. . . . B