Raiders story conference
Reader Jonas tipped me off to this great post at Mystery Man looking at the 125-page transcript of the conversation between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan as they first sat down to discuss the movie that would ultimately become Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I haven’t read the .pdf transcript — in fact, it’s hosted on one of those sketchy providers that I wouldn’t link to — but MMoF’s long post gives you ample excerpts and a lot of thoughtful commentary.
LUCAS: What I’m saying is that character just would not fit in a college classroom or even as an archeologist. He’s too much of a scruffy character to settle down. A playboy, or however you want to do it. He’s too much of a wise-guy, maybe that’s a better way to say it, to actually be a college professor. He really loves the stuff, but he became too cynical, he’s too much of a wise guy to fit into an academic situation, or even an archeological situation. He’s really too much of an adventurer at heart. He just loves it. So he obviously took this whole bent that was different because it’s just more fun. He just can’t settle down. It’s a nice contrast. It’s like the James Bond thing. Instead of being a martini drinking cultured kind of sophisticate, he’s the sort of intellectual college professor James Bond. He’s a superagent.
I’ve never worked with Lucas, but the snippets with Spielberg feel very accurate based on my interactions with him on JP3, Minority Report and Big Fish. He’s always looking for the little moments that click:
SPIELBERG: …it would be funny if, as they’re talking about this and the olives are between them, you see a hairy little paw is pulling olives off the plate, coming in and out of frame. Finally the paw comes up to grab an olive and begins slipping, like palsy. You use a little mechanical paw. And then you hear a thump.
The screenwriter’s role in marathon meetings like this is to listen and refocus the ideas. You’re trying to capture not just the plot points, but the enthusiasm. Fast forward a few drafts, and there will likely be torturous meetings in which every decision is micro-analyzed. But at this first step, the only goal should be mapping out the territory you want to explore.
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Similar meetings occur in the early stages of RPG design, though they’re remarkably different because we tend to know so little about the specific characters that will be created later. But there’s a similar process of pitching a million ideas to be assembled and dramatized later on.
In the case of these Indy meetings, I think it’s fascinating to see the character and the action emerge as products rather than whole-cloth Visions. They know they’re building a product, but they’re not so cynical about it that there’s a conflict between its appeal and its vision. This is a great artifact of craftsman-style filmmaking.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am
John… this is fantastic, unbelievable! Pure gold.
I downloaded the 6MB .pdf file and can’t wait to read the whole thing. Hope I didn’t catch an electronically transmitted disease. I have the file if you’d like to repost it (is that allowed?)
To me, Raiders is THE film that redefined the action-adventure genre 30 years ago and has never been surpassed. This transcript is a huge, undreamed-of gift to posterity.
How common is it for story meetings to be taped? (Wait a sec… was that a mic hanging over your kitchen island?)
March 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Very helpful insight into what the role of the writer is when sitting in early development meetings. I have always wondered, especially when a producer has a specific POV he/she is trying to achieve, how much clarification and pushback is appropriate on my part. Usually, I try to stick with the maxim of never saying no – and rather building on and molding an idea that initially might seem unworkable.
PS – though I’ve not commented before, let me take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to spread the wisdom of your experience.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
@Jordan:
I don’t know how the transcript came to be released, so I’m leery to host it or otherwise disseminate it without permission. Do let us know if your computer starts spamming.
In my experience, most of these big meetings aren’t taped, but there is often someone taking notes. For example, on Hancock, Tracey Nyberg from Will Smith’s company took notes on a laptop. After the meeting, she would email the notes to everyone who attended. It wasn’t raw transcript; she was combining and processing what was discussed. (And she was contributing in the meeting as well.)
I didn’t rely on Tracey’s notes, but I would check back through them to make sure I wasn’t missing some moment before turning in a draft.
On some TV shows, the writers’ assistant does Tracey’s job, keeping notes on what’s discussed in the writers’ room, particularly when breaking story.
March 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Right at the beginning Lucas talks about how it has to have a realistic tone. He cites the Man with No Name movies and James Bond, commenting on how even bond gets a little to fantastic. This is sort of one the biggest problems with Crystal Skull… they completely neglected this part of the formula.
This thing is absolutely amazing to read… it’s like getting to be a fly on the wall the day Indiana Jones was created.
March 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
too fantastic… typo… i swear.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
John, Sendspace is hardly a sketchy hosting site. Quite the opposite. It’s one of the most useful websites I know of if you want to email a large file that your provider just can’t handle (i.e. anything larger than 10 MB).
If it is on Sendspace it was uploaded by a user…the company itself knows little of its content, and cannot muss around with it. Though if they question the legality of it, it is within their rights to remove it.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
John,
Great grabs from the transcript, and a thank you for the advice. I’ve been wondering myself how much of myself I should put into this meeting; I usually try to focus everyone when things meander, and to open up options when they taper off while always offering insight into what may be the best route to take.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Wow, happy you could use it John! :)
I found other stuff on the site that’s quite interesting but like you, I’m hesitant to rely too much on these scripts and transcripts found on various sharing sites. This seems pretty legit though.
Thanks for a great blog, interesting even for me not being in the business.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:50 am
The story conference pdf is a bit of a pain to read.
Someone called moedred has put the Spielber/Lucas/Kasdan transcript here: http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/
and a Fine/Kasdan/Kaufmann transcript here: http://moedred.livejournal.com/9627.html