Has anyone really taken you up on your statistical challenge yet? As somewhat of an aspiring screenwriter (who has yet to find the confidence that he really wants to pursue it) and someone who studies economics, I think it’d definitely be interesting, and if I can find the time I’d love to try to come up with a statistical test.

That was so subtle I missed it first time around!

I’d never made that connection before in my head.

Thanks for the inspiration and advice John!

Seems a lot of potential there for abuse of power.

I reread my first post and admittedly, I sound quite hostile — it’s been a bad week.

The example you site as Johnny Depp changing the last line of dialogue isn’t what I was talking about. That’s a line change that would add something positive.

More to my point, I feel that the screenwriter and director have an overall scope of the film that often individual actor’s do not have. Therefore, if you as the screenwriter have labored incessantly about a line in scene 12, and know that it HAS to be said in a certain way or scene 75 and 81 of a different actor’s plight won’t make sense, that should be respected.

And it doesn’t seem like it is.

Screenwriters rewrite other screenwriters. Executives get their say, even when they have no screenwriting experience. Directors, rightly so, can sway a project anyway they want.

But you do have to admit, that lack of vision and focus is a major problem in a lot of movies. Too many cooks in the kitchen.

Regardless, I think I’ll stop posting, as I’m usually in too big of a hurry to actually make sense when I do. I’m not half the bitch I sound like. I’m a nice girl, I swear.

Whoops sorry, didn’t read closely enough, you already answered this. Thanks!

Do you feel the same way about the label, A SOME DIRECTOR FILM ?

Does this seem like less of a credit grab to you?

I was having this discussion with a friend about a short film that I wrote/directed/produced that will be making the festival rounds soon…I wasn’t going to put A SOME DIRECTOR FILM, but my friend told me to not be so modest considering I had a hand in every part of the short (even with 30 other people working on the short) and that it’s good to get my name out there in this early stage of my career.

Why do people always jump to the extreme end of the spectrum when arguing a statement that obviously and deliberatly was made somewhere in the mid-range? I’m sure Schopenhauer had a paradigm for this form of arguing but I’m too lazy to look it up… I actually think it was the first.

Unless all you watch are soap operas – where the dialogue is scribbled on poster boards for the actors to read – yes, you are missing something… Actors change their dialogue all the time. And that’s a good thing! The way you write a line sitting in the comfort of your local Starbucks, and the way one delivers that line standing atop the mast of a sixty foot galley in the middle of the Atlantic are two different things. Thats’s why directors rehearse. That’s why they let the actors improvise. That’s why the writer should be on set!

To answer your question – “Why stop at reshaping dialogue?” Because it is not the actor’s job to “create all their dialogue”. That would be the screenwriter’s job. But it is PART OF the actor’s job to contribute. An example – according to one of the screenwriters of PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN the last line in the first movie was Mr. Depp’s creation: “Now bring me that horizon…”. Arguably one of the best lines in the entire film!

Now, why would Verbinsky allow this to happen? Rossio and Elliott are two of the top writers in Hollywood. Who is some tattooed mime to change their dialogue?!

You get my point.

I hope.

Nearly everyone will value their own contribution more than the contribution of others. People are naturally egocentric. No biggie.

The screenwriter develops (either from his own idea or on assignment) a plot and actions and characters and dialogue for a storyline The actors have to make the characters from the script seem like “real” people The set designer makes the places from the script seem like “real” places The costume person figures out what they would wear The cinematographer does whatever they do that I know is very important but I don’t really understand The director makes sure everything makes sense with everything else and looks like one unified story The editor makes it watchable The producer tries to make sure it is started and finished and paid for and actually comes out

And I’m sure more and more and more people do more and more and more

So there is no point saying so-and-so is more important than so-and-so or whatever. Just worry about what YOU do and be glad other people do what THEY do. If the lighting guy doesn’t show up no one will be able to see your beautiful script.

People like to get all bent out of shape. Feh.

– Johnny says, “Reshaping dialogue is part of an actor’s job.” –

Since when?

And to say that “an actor knows the part better” than the screenwriter that CREATED it seems absurd to me. Isn’t that a bit like directors that constantly slam screenwriters by saying the script is “only” a blueprint of the film. The script is ALL YOU HAVE. And if it were all that easy then why don’t actors just create all their dialogue, action, and character arcs in every movie? Why stop at “reshaping” dialouge?