Matt gets millions to make a movie
I’ve received a couple million dollars to write and direct my own picture. I am in doubt as to whether or not I have the talent to pull it off.
I hear writers always talking about horrible writers and great writers. Does that actually exist? If so, what is it that makes great writers great and bad writers bad?
Also do you feel that in order to write an amazing screenplay your knowledge of grammar and your size of vocabulary are important factors? I feel that vocabulary and grammar are my weaknesses. However, I continue to think what Ron Howard once said that, “Your screenplay should make sense to an eight year old.”
In stating that, what is the most important thing for me to work on? My lack of grammar knowledge? Or my lack of vocabulary? Or do these two factors have any relevance at all to a screenplay? To sum up, what should I be focusing on?
– Matt
via imdb
You should focus on being very careful as you cross the street, because I suspect there are several hundred aspiring writer-directors reading this right now who might “accidentally” run you over. That’s why I’m not printing your last name.
Seriously, Matt. “I’ve received a couple million dollars to write and direct my own picture.” Did you win the lottery? Rob a bank? Blackmail some rich old guy?
I ask because you clearly didn’t get it by any ordinary means. See, most people don’t get to write and direct a multi-million dollar film out of the gate. Rather, they write a few scripts. Direct a charming short film. They do something that proves to the People With Millions to Spend that this young writer-director is worth the investment.
No offense, but that doesn’t sound like you, Matt.
The only reasonable scenario I could envision is if you’re actually tremendously talented in one of the other filmmaking crafts, and are now getting to direct for the first time. Maybe you’re a terrific production designer like Bo Welch, or an acclaimed cinematographer like Jack Green. Could be.
Or maybe you’re just really effing lucky.
Regardless, if someone is giving you several million to direct your own picture, make sure you don’t let them see this self-doubt. More than anything, the money people want confidence.
As to your actual question: Does grammar or vocabulary have any relevance to a screenplay? Um, yeah. A fair amount. It’s easy to get a smart person to help with your grammar. Vocabulary is tougher. I’d advise against a thesaurus, however. In my experience, they’re helpful in finding exactly the wrong word for the situation.
If you’re really in doubt, the best idea might be to spend some fraction of those several million dollars on a screenwriter with a strong grasp of grammar and vocabulary. (Along with character, dialogue, structure, pacing, atmosphere, tone and theme. Those help, too.)
For what it’s worth, good luck. I really don’t begrudge anyone getting to make their movie.
Articles
January 4th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Not be to be an ass, but how does a guy who wonders if vocabulary and grammer matter in a screenplay get a few million dollars to make a movie?
January 4th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Haha, I eat my fist. By “grammer” I meant “grammar.”
January 4th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Did Ron Howard really say “Your screenplay should make sense to an eight year old”? Isn’t that a little too simplistic. Or was he suggesting that most producers only have the intelligence or attention span of an eight year old?
January 4th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Hey, for $50,000 I’ll write a script for Matt, and spell the hell out of it.
January 4th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Even if I don’t think “Matt” is telling the truth here, grammar and vocabulary isn’t the first thing you should be worried about.
I really LOLed with this:
“(Along with character, dialogue, structure, pacing, atmosphere, tone and theme. Those help, too.)�
That is what you really should be worried about I think. If you have this, I doubt the producer will say:
“Sorry Matt, I can’t buy it. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was a fantastic script!! It has a really powerful story which will definitely sell! If only it had correct spelling too…�
January 4th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
If Matt is on the level, he should surround himself with experienced people who are dedicated to supporting his vision. An experienced producer, writer, DP, AD and UPM can go a long way to making the movie work.
Also, if Matt is on the level, he can drop me a note to find such people, and at popular prices.
January 4th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Why are we caught up on spelling here? Neither grammar nor vocabulary mean spelling. Grammar is important for any writer. It’s what makes it possible for me to decipher the meaning of, for instance, Matt’s sentences. A strong vocabulary is just as important for much the same reason. I would rather read one word and understand Matt’s meaning than have to trudge through the three extra clauses he had to use because he didn’t know that one precise word.
Spelling? I think we can all operate a spellchecker, no? And if we were Matt, and someone had given us ‘a couple million dollars,’ I think we could pay someone else to operate our spellcheckers for us if we had to.
January 5th, 2006 at 12:25 am
This has to be a hoax.
January 5th, 2006 at 12:41 am
A hoax? I don’t know, Matt sure seems insecure enough to be a writer… Maybe he’s been hired to write Dead Poets Society II, and he’s just worried about authenticity. Then again, maybe WE’RE the fakes, maybe Matt made his big bucks the way most of us have: by buying houses and hotels on Broadway and Park Place.
January 5th, 2006 at 1:27 am
I’m wondering why John didn’t say “well, first give me a million dollars…”
January 5th, 2006 at 5:17 am
“One can’t write a picture. One describes a picture. And one thing can be said about a really good screenplay: it reads like it’s describing a movie already made.” –Robert Towne
The skills you need to be a great writer don’t change because you plan to “describe” a movie instead of “novel.”
That said, I also cast me vote for it being a hoax.
January 5th, 2006 at 6:21 am
I’ll pay Matt a million bucks (deer) to write Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2.
And they had a Dead Poets Society II. It was called The Emperor’s Club.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0283530/combined
January 5th, 2006 at 6:24 am
Or maybe he’s an aspirant with a seriously rich parent who knows nothing about the movie business and assumes that if you give your kid a couple of million to follow his dream, the rest is up to him. If so, all I can see happening is that the money will disappear. The starting point for a movie is a robust idea. That’s the Big Sticky Thing that you use to pick up the necessary collaborators, supporters and eventually the cash. Start with the money and you’ve nothing to stick it to.
January 5th, 2006 at 7:07 am
Maybe we’re going to get another posting in which Matt asks John how to create characters, then one asking about plot, then one about structure, and so on until Matt has finished his script. I once worked at a large discount bookstore in New York when a guy came in saying he had just been paid to write a screenplay, and did I know any good books on how to start. Perhaps there are people giving away dollops of cash to ‘aspiring’ screenwriters and we just don’t know about it.
January 5th, 2006 at 7:55 am
Colin Woodward - is your website http://www.colinwoodward.com/ a spoof? I can’t quite tell… it’s half in 1st person, half in 3rd person and is a little too sincere and spooky…
January 5th, 2006 at 8:14 am
I’ve known of novelists being hired, on the assumption that the skills will automatically transfer.
January 5th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Good luck to Matt. Don’t listen to these buffoons. Grammar? Spelling? Psshh. Don’t worry about that. Just write from the heart.
And when your producers start talking about “script doctors” don’t worry about that, either. That’s a good thing! Just refer them to me.
R
January 5th, 2006 at 10:01 am
I’m almost certain Matt is not a hoax.
That’s not saying he really has millions of dollars to make his movie, but I don’t think he’s deliberately yanking our collective chain. I have his last name, and his IP address. A little Googling suggests his question is sincere, even if the bank account is unverifiable.
Also, it’s kind of scary how much you can figure out about someone based on their IP address.
January 5th, 2006 at 10:34 am
To Anon:
Ah no colinwoodward.com has nothing to do with me. I didn’t even know there was a colinwoodward.com, and now I wish I got there first. There is however a http://www.carolinewoodward.com which belongs to the missus but it isn’t scary, I hope. Sorry for going off the topic.
January 5th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Matt, you just got some very bad advice from Rene Garcia. You don’t want to look like a putz because regardless of the origin of funds for this project, the money is consumable and one day, you’ll need more funds, either for this project or for a future one. What will the people with deep pockets think?
Get grammar help, vocabulary help, or hire a screenwriter.
Bottom line: regardless what any of us thinks about the importance of grammar and vocabulary, your future funding could depend on it.
January 5th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
This is NOT a hoax? Scary world we live in…
January 5th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Maybe his dad is a lobbyist?
January 5th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
I can’t pick my jaw back up off the floor.
January 5th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Is this guy making “Manos the Hands of Fate: Part 2″?
I can’t wait to see his $2 million movie. I have a feeling it’s going to be great, in that Mystery Science Theatre kind of way.
January 6th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Matt, I´m asuming that you got the greenlight for this film on your own merit and that you have (however meager the vocabulary and hanous the grammar) written a GOOD STORY. If you were writing on spec THEN bad grammar and a slim vocabulary would probably scare away producers, money people, directors and so on……But your movie is alreday going to get made (hopefully) and if you´ve got a good story you could write the darn thing in klingon for all I care. Get the best actors money can buy, hire an experienced screenwriter to co-write the thing and work with those parties on dialogue and whatever else depends on sound grammar and a vast vocabulary. Best of luck to you.
January 7th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Why do I get the impression that these letters are actually attempts to make John August lose his patience?
I don’t know if you agree with me but, of all the screenwriting bloggers out there, John is by far the most polite. And I’ve always wanted to see him actually lost it and respond something along the lines of “Hey, buddy; are you dumb?” I really thought the Bible question was it.
However, if the above question didn’t do the trick, I guess nothing will. This puts John way above Ned Flanders in my book.
January 8th, 2006 at 5:24 am
Two words: Uwe Boll.
January 8th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Spelling and grammar do count to some people. I personally know one exec at a certain Hollywood studio that will reject a script outright if there are any spelling mistakes. He claims it’s too distracting to read and also, if the writer can’t be bothered to spell it correctly, he can’t be bothered to read it.
January 8th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
We can speculate all we want. But in the mean time why doesn’t somebody give advice on how to improve vocab?
I for one find it almost as difficult as screenwriting (probably because I’m doing something wrong.) I mean memorizing a word? Easy. But then using the 100+ words I’ve just memorized? It seems almost impossible. I mean they just aren’t there when I go to write. Then I find later that I could have used many of the words from the list of words I’ve learnt, but as I say they weren’t “there” to be used. So I suppose I never actually learnt them properly, even though I can tell you what they mean — I just can’t use them.
January 9th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Tom,
I think anyone can tell you that you improve your vocabulary by either reading or listening. Be sure that you are reading/listening to people who know the language.
After you hear the word “fatuous” or “sanguine” a few times you should have an idea what it means and when it is appropriate to use it. Then, you use it accidentally in conversation because it is sitting around in your mind waiting to be spoken. You immediately run to your dictionary to be sure that you used it correctly. If you are lucky you used it horribly incorrectly. The embarrassment you feel guarantees that you won’t make that mistake again.
The previous paragraph sounds to me like “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” There’s a book that should be optioned for a film!
Incidentally, doesn’t a good vocabulary mean that all of your characters sound like Fraiser and Niles? If you want to write the way most film characters talk shouldn’t you simply drop the “F-bomb” liberally throughout? Not that I am offended by the “F-bomb.” Simply, most characters are not Rhodes Scholars, and they don’t talk like they are.
How bad is Matt’s vocabulary anyhow?
January 10th, 2006 at 12:04 am
I automatically read this as a hypothetical question… If it’s actually true then good luck fella, I’d be poopin’ em too!
If Matt is actually the one directing (and lets assume he’s good hence the cash!), does it matter about his script? As he’s the one working from it, will it matter about spelling and grammar? Surely working with the actors and hearing his own dialogue back would show him where it was written wrong anyway regarding vocab, and the ‘black stuff’ would be what he is in charge of shooting himself?
Forgive me if I’m ignorant, I know a lot of other people would be working from the script also but I always thought that writer/directors had more leeway than a lone writer trying to sell a script?
FP
x
January 11th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Fred — Thanks.
January 11th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Ah I see — maybe you are trying to send me a message Fred. That I have “fatuous” and overly “sanguine” hopes of ever becoming a screenwriter…
Also, maybe I should take an English language/lit degree as well as a screenwriting one. Always wondered. Screenwriting is what I want to do, however. Though here in London there’s no such thing as a screenwriting BA degree (only a Masters), unfortunately. I don’t have A-levels, which doesn’t help either.
Plus have you got any tips on how to actually go about using the words when screenwriting? At the moment I’m having to intentionally use new words, with interesting results (the random words I’m forcing myself to use drives the story in weird directions.)
January 15th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I’m waiting for John to share Matt’s email, or the contents thereof, with friends. We will certainly see a transient showing of Matt’s mistake(s) played out on tv for ridicule. Something like ‘The Office’ tv show fits the bill, eh John?
Arman Khos
January 18th, 2006 at 9:12 am
It’s pretty clear Matt is boinking Paris Hilton.
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Great with the Matt jokes, you insecure, mostly unpublished and jaded writers. Dont hate Matt because he may or may not have found several million bucks to do his first film. I met a girl the other day in the Village who just got 4.5m to do her first film. Did she know someone? Well, duh. You can barely get a well-made short film into a film festival these days (one that counts anyway) without knowing SOMEONE. Why must we enjoy ribbing and/or interrogating someone just because we haven’t met someone who can do the same for us? Matt never said whether or not he did anything prior to receiving his supposed good fortune. I dunno, maybe the guy wrote and directed a killer short that did ok at a festival or 2. And after the guy or girl that knew him, got him into that festival, that got him the considerable accolades, maybe the same person or someone else took that and introduced him to someone else - a “money guy.” As the great PT Anderson once wrote, “these strange things happen all the time.”
And spelling? Psst. Gimme a break. Isn’t Tarantino famous for being one of Hollywood’s worst spellers? I guess “underachievers” like he and PT Anderson both felt content in returning all of the “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” rhetoric by doing to Hollywood what one of their characters Dirk Diggler did at the end of a movie. They pulled out their members and held them.
I read somewhere that he wrote that scene as a subliminal message to those who doubted him. And some of those people probably had a problem with the fact that they each got 1.5 to do their first features, with at least one of them having never had even a reel of previous work to show anyone.
Matt, unzip your pants. Its your turn soon.
Congratulations.