What’s it like being the writer and director?
Being the writer and the director on a project it seems that you both
create the story and then bring it to life. What are the biggest
struggles in doing this? And how much liberty do you allow an actor to
take with the lines?
– Steve
Lakeland, Florida
For readers who don’t know, I just finished directing an indie movie that will hopefully see the light of day in 2007. (I’ve been chastened against continuing to call it a tiny movie, because it’s not about an albino’s friendship with a cricket, or somesuch. The producers would like me to stress that it actually does have commercial prospects, even if not measured on a blockbuster scale.)
For me, the biggest challenge in being a writer/director is that I really wasn’t a writer while I was on set. I was 100% director, figuring out how to get the scene to work, how to get the performances right, how to get in four more setups before lunch. On other films, when I’ve been “just” the writer on set, I’d often notice things that the director might overlook — small inconsistencies or subtle changes that could screw things up four scenes later.
But here, there was no writer. There was just me. And I was too busy directing the scene to step out and think about the bigger picture.
To some degree, I’d anticipated this going in, so I tried to compensate. “John’s Big Notebook” was a fat three-ring binder that held not only the script and the storyboards, but also my notes on every scene — sort of a last chance for the writer to tell the director what to pay attention to. (In truth, I ran out of time in prep, so the scene notes stopped after the first act.)
During production, I got up at five every morning to write the day’s shot list, which is basically a crib sheet for what shots I thought I would need to shoot in order to complete a given scene. That was usually my last chance to really study the scripted scene and figure out what was important.
I also relied on others. The script supervisor would point out if I was omitting a scripted action, and my producers were nearby to offer assistance.
But at times, the writer resurfaced. One night while watching dailies, I realized something new about one of the characters. So I rewrote a scene for the next day. After two solid weeks of strictly directing, it was oddly exhilarating to remember that I am in fact a writer. Directing is just my day job.
In terms of leeway with the dialogue, I was always willing to let the actors say something better. Often, it wasn’t better, so after a take or two, I’d nudge them back onto the text. (This is also the script supervisor’s domain.) I don’t think I was being particularly writer-ly in getting actors to stick to the script. John August, director, knew what he wanted. Most actors, these actors, respond well to thoughtful requests.
One section of the movie has a combination of scripted and unscripted scenes, which ended up being my favorite thing to shoot. The luxury of having gifted actors and a lot of videotape is that they could simply start having a conversation in character, and seamlessly work in all of the scripted material. One scene had an 18-minute continuous take.
To me, this section was the best synthesis of writing and directing. While I was listening, I had to keep thinking how to steer the scene in an interesting direction. It was a screenwriter’s dream: My characters were alive in front of me, looking for something to talk about.
Articles
June 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
As a very aspiring writer-director-producer-actor-editor-caterer-etc. who is temporarily doing his best to get his first project off the ground, I can say that what you wrote is in a way similar to how I feel - being a director is a day-job, technical work. Being a writer is a state of mind.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
I’ve often read about the sheer physical demands of directing, how 18-hour days and the fact that everyone on set has about 100 questions to ask you, every day, and you have to respond more or less instantly, making decision after decision after decision, really take their toll: is it true? Did you lose like 20 pounds just from the stress?
June 28th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
The whole process sounds fascinating to me- I really respect the fact that you both wrote and directed this movie. It’s an amazing feat that’s super inspiring. Every time I watch a movie, all I can do is analyze the process that went into making it- from writing to directing to casting and acting. So amazing.
I sort of have a random question- when you first starting writing, how did you know when you had someting “good”. Like, really “good”. Did you always have that mentality that your writing would “go someplace” or is an attitude that was adapted? Do you think we’re kidding ourselves if we think our work is “good” immediately? Is it pretentious?
I apologize if you’ve already answered questions like this before- I’m a newbie to your site. Have a good one.
June 28th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
that sounds awesome
June 28th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
I was better at the 100 decisions than I thought I’d be. Basically, I forced myself to make a choice immediately, even if the choice was “none of the above.”
I didn’t lose or gain weight, but it sort of got re-distributed. Unless I eat and exercise enough, I tend to get skinny arms and a gut. Think ET. So yeah, that happened.
I don’t sleep much in the summer anyways, so the hours were surprisingly okay.
June 28th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Did you grow a beard? Did you wear a monocle - or are you more the baseball hat type?
June 28th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
And now, the editing begins (or has been long underway). Are you sitting in the edit suite? Or are you letting there be an opportunity for an objective creative eye (your cutter) to look at footage and edit it in way they see it best working (keeping you vision/story in mind, of course).
Or are you hovering?
ps great blog
June 29th, 2006 at 5:53 am
I look forward to seeing the film, John. I hope you don’t take this as an insult given your later successes, but “Go” is my favorite movie of those you’ve written. I tend to enjoy smaller films with commercial prospects more than big Hollywood vehicles. I liked “School of Rock,” for example, but my favorite Richard Linklater films are “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset.” So I look forward to your indie directorial debut. Best of luck with the project.
Are you allowed to talk about how big or small this is with regards to budget? Some people consider $5 million a small budget, but of course that’s almost $5 million more than Shane Carruth spent on “Primer.”
June 29th, 2006 at 7:04 am
We’ll see where the numbers end up once all the bills come in, but the budget fell between Go ($5 million) and Primer (supposedly $7,000). Which is admittedly a pretty huge range.
The challenge for any movie is making one dollar feel like three or four, and on that level, I think we did very well.
I’ll be less coy about the hard numbers once we get closer to being finished.
June 29th, 2006 at 9:47 am
Excellent. I look forward to seeing it in a couple years. By the way, since I mentioned “School of Rock” earlier, I should note that Linklater didn’t write that screenplay, Mike White did (though Linklater co-wrote “Before Sunise” and “Before Sunset”). But my same biases apply. I liked “School of Rock” and “Orange County” but my favorite White-penned movies are “Chuck and Buck” and “The Good Girl.”
However, I’m not sure I’d be into a film about an albino’s friendship with a cricket, though I have nothing against albinos or crickets.
June 29th, 2006 at 11:25 am
Congratulations John, what an incredible accomplishment! If you get a chance, can you tell us more details about the pre-production and post-production processes? Like: How did you create the story boards? Did you find a story board artist? How close did you stay to the story boards? Were they helpful on the set? And how is the editing process going? Do you sit in the cutting room all day with the editor, or watch cuts and give notes? Thanks.
June 29th, 2006 at 11:27 am
I see you shot digital. Judging from your entry, looks like it was a good expereince. Why did you choose tape over film? Which camera did you use? Lasty, how does it look?
Zatoichi
June 30th, 2006 at 4:59 am
I am about to venture into the same territory where as I will be directing my own screenplay. Putting together a crew with a talented cast seems way more difficult to me then putting the words to paper. Having owned and operated my own company for the past twenty two years giving orders comes natural to me, but I must admit I’m really scared about how actors will react once the camera are rolling. Did you ever get into any confrontations with any of the actors or staff? If so, how’d did you handle it, and did it affect you in any way?
June 30th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Hey John,
I noticed you mentioned “videotape”, I was not aware that you were shooting this on DV or was it HD I believe you mentioned before.
Could you provide some technical specs for the film you shot? What kinda camera did you use? What are you editing on? Were you especially involved in the choice of lenses & lighting set-ups? How technical were you in your directing, or did you mostly focus on the performances the majority of the time and let the DP do his job?
June 30th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
John,
Congratulations on your recent accomplishment. You’re part of the elite club. I’ll be sure to watch it.
June 30th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
To clarify: We shot film — the old-school chemical stuff that Kodak makes — for the majority of the movie. The difference is, once we developed the negative at the lab, we immediately transferred it to HD videotape. Those tapes are really the “master” at this point, because we’ll never go back and cut the film negative.
(For the film-geeky, here’s why: We shot 3-perf 35mm, the less-expensive form used in television, rather than 4-perf, the kind that runs through projectors at the cineplex. So we couldn’t cut negative if we wanted to. More and more films do this; THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a recent example.)
In addition to 35mm, we shot Super-16, a film format that’s used in many indie films and TV shows (such as JUNEBUG and “Veronica Mars”). This was also transferred to HD.
Finally, we shot a portion of the movie on the SDX-900, a videocamera frequently used in reality TV. It’s standard-definition (as opposed to HD), but we up-rezzed to HD. There are a lot of reasons why we decided not to shoot the video section with HD cameras; that’s a much longer post, probably better answered by our DP.
To summarize, we were largely analog (i.e. film) while shooting, but we’re thoroughly digital in post.
June 30th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Wait, wait! Whatever happened to talking about brads and 12-point courier?! I know, I know… we all need to grow…..
And does how does Elle match up to big sis Dakota?
July 1st, 2006 at 12:33 pm
An 18 minute take! Are you sure your name isn’t John Luc-Goddard?
July 4th, 2006 at 3:19 am
John,
It will be interesting to read about your thoughts on editing the film.
All films are made in the cutting room.
Some of the best directors in the business started as editor: Scorsese, Schlessinger, Lean.
It will probably influence your future writing and directing.
July 6th, 2006 at 5:36 am
John, thanks so much for telling us more. My students believe that directing their own material is the best way to go, without really realizing that writing requires an entirely different skill set than directing. It sounds like you kept these things in mind, and were thoughtful about your process. It sounds like a fantastic experience. Enjoy the post process. I can’t wait to see it.
July 8th, 2006 at 8:47 am
Hey John,
I’m a filmmaking novice and fan of your site. Over the years I’ve picked up a few good books on directing. One was an old book by Edward Dmytrik I found at a local public library used book sale called, you guessed it, On Directing. The other was Sidney Lumet’s book. Any other good ones that I may have missed? Thanks.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
josh boelter, i do like “School of Rock” too!!!
i can still remember that in the school dormitory,together with my roomates,we watched it.very interesting.
that feeling will never come to me again,maybe,since all of us are departed since graduation. and have got the first job all over this country.