Screenwriters’ dinner
Last week, I attended the First Annual WGAw Screenwriters’ Dinner. I’m not sure one should call a first-ever event “annual,” but it was successful enough that it merits a repeat in 52 weeks.
Since screenwriters tend to work alone, there’s not a lot of water-cooler talk on a daily basis. Message boards help to some degree, but WGA events are often the only venues for catching up in person. For example, it had been 23 months since I’d last seen Simon Kinberg. I know because our kids were born the same week.
The event also gave me a chance to meet a lot of writers I’d only known by name — Billy Ray and Jeff Nathanson, to pick two tablemates. Seeing my nametag, Iris Yamashita said she’d just pitched a project as being “Big Fish meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which was flattering. I wanted to point out that she has the Oscar nomination, but we were already being urged to take our seats. I introduced Jessica Bendinger to Robert Towne, even though I didn’t really know Mr. Towne. It felt like the kind of event you could get away with that.
I got roped into recording an interview for a video podcast. If it ever hits the inter-waves, you might notice my hands shaking. I had just arrived, and was incredibly hungry. The mini-pizzas hadn’t made their way over yet.
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May 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Sounds like a fun event. Make sure to let us know if you get the URL of the podcast so we can take a look!
May 28th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
So, did you ask Simon Kinberg about the unfilmed fourth act of Mr. & Mrs. Smith?
You know, the ending where it turns out that “Mother” and “Father”, the heads of their respective agencies, are/were actually a married couple too?
How I wish I had been a fly on the wall when they decided they had to scrap those scenes, after all the setup had already been filmed.
May 28th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Inaugural is a less oxymoronic synonym for “first annual”.
May 28th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I second Andreas’ motion for the podcast URL. So, how collegial are the big fishes? Not much would be my guess, despite what you’ve mentioned about Iris.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Martin (#4):
The big fishes are disarmingly collegial. Yes, screenwriting is competitive in the sense that there are a small number of quote-unquote big-name writers, all of whom would like to keep being big-name writers. But I suspect top physicists and top Boggle players are also collegial, and welcome the chance to talk with peers about what they spend most of their waking hours doing.
And here’s the other thing about screenwriting: except in arbitrations for screen credits, feature screenwriters are rarely at odds. Contrast that with television writers, who work day in and day out with other writers. Along with the many benefits of that interaction in television comes the very real annoyances. TV is like any other workplace in that way. Feature screenwriting is spared that. I met the guys who wrote WEDDING CRASHERS, which opened the same day as CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and I’m really happy for their success with that movie. Screenwriting doesn’t feel like a zero-sum game.
True: I can afford to be magnanimous. But even when I was just a struggling writer sleeping on the floor of my apartment, I found working screenwriters to be terrific and generous.
Aspiring screenwriters? A mixed lot, I’m sorry to say. Fear can lead to the dark side.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:23 am
I’ll have to agree about working screenwriters. Aside from sites like this and Jane Espenson’s, I met a working screenwriter at a local film festival. He’s been hugely helpful with advice on my career and scripts.
As for aspiring screenwriters, I’d like to think that the British ones are in general pretty nice. Maybe it’s because there’s less money in it over here, and hence less desperation.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Sounds like a fun evening. We all have our personal pantheons, and I wonder if you could see the gravitational force of the more iconic figures (such as the aforementioned Mr. Towne, or possibly William Goldman if he were present), exerting itself on the masses.
One would asume that the fawning was kept to a minimum. But I doubt that I would be able to control my enthusiasm (or possibly my bladder) if I were in a room full of people who have inspired me for so long. I know they are real people, and they struggle as much as any of us for the right words. But still…to be in that room as a (theoretical) peer must be amazing.
May 29th, 2007 at 10:51 am
And to be clear, when I say “theoretical peer” I was referring to my hypothetical self, not you John. You are among the best in the business, and not just because of your snazzy website.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am
So, did you throw down with Susco?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Slurp slurp Jim.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Tuck (#9):
I didn’t see Mr. Susco. But it was hard to check name tags. If people would just wear them on their foreheads, there wouldn’t be that awkward glancing to figure out who the hell you’re talking to.
May 29th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Oooooh, that´s one thing reality could learn from World of Warcraft: floating names above everyones head.
And cute one-eyed monsters following you and killing critters, of course.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
If I HAD been able to attend, I’m sure the only “throwing down” that would have occurred would have been if John had challenged me to a game of Gin or Go Fish.
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Dinner sounded great, but John…?
No doggie bag for us hard working scribblers?
Maybe next year.