Film censorship
In your opinion, can film censorship be used as a form of publicity to increase market interest?
–Alex Rimmer
I can only answer in terms of the U.S., where "film censorship" usually equates with getting an "NC-17" rating, which makes it difficult to book theaters and advertise.
While there’s some tradition of a distributor milking a ratings fight for publicity (SHOWGIRLS, DOGMA, CRASH), I’m not convinced the drama puts any more butts in seats opening weekend. Rather, I suspect that the number of patrons attracted by the controversy is largely offset by the number turned off. And it’s important to remember that most of the movies branded NC-17 receive the rating for sexual content, which is difficult to market beyond a certain level anyway. The attendant controversy only highlights the sexual aspect of the picture.
For truly tiny movies that might otherwise get no publicity at all, talk of censorship might be an effective strategy. But for most movies, trying to generate controversy this way seems ill-advised in my opinion.
Spoofs in your script
I have a question about copyright. I just finished writing a comedy script which I would like to get made, but in the script I have involved some slight spoofs of other films and a few references. What I would like to know is does this infringe on the copyright? The references and spoofs are indirect and only take up parts of the film, but I don’t want to make a film then find out I’m being sued by everyone. Please help.
–Bunmi
Usually, I’d write up a lengthy explanation of copyright law as I understand it, which although hopefully entertaining would probably be grossly inaccurate.
So I’ll just give my opinion instead. You can’t go through life afraid of being sued. If your script is funny, and part of the reason is because of references and spoofs of other movies, then you obviously don’t want to remove them. So don’t. I guarantee, no one is going to sue you just for typing them in your script.
If someone buys your script and makes it, maybe the copyright owners of the original movies will sue, but I seriously doubt it. There’s a long tradition of movies parodying each other, and it would be hard to prove any actual damage or wrongdoing.
Besides, at that point, it’s not your problem. Any lawsuit is going to be directed at the big rich studio, not the measly underpaid writer. There would probably even be language in your contract with the studio protecting you just in case.
So while I can’t say that you’re absolutely, 100 percent safe, I can assure you that your time is better spent writing funny scenes than worrying about lawsuits.
Themes
After viewing many films and reading many books on the craft of screenwriting one of the most important aspects of film seems to be theme. I’m sorry, I’m starting to ramble. My question is this: is it bad to formulate an entire screenplay on the basis of a theme, or does that get in the way of creativity? Should an idea stem from a theme, or should the idea produce the theme, or can it work both ways? I thank you in advance for reading this, I know that you have a tumultuous schedule.
–Brian Formo
"Theme" is one of those words that’s thrown around a lot without any consensus about what it’s supposed to mean. Here’s my definition to add the to mix:
Theme is the emotional, intellectual or spiritual issue at the core of the story. It is the "dark matter" that gives a movie weight – you don’t notice it directly, but when its missing, the movie seems frivolous and disconnected.
Sometimes, it can be summarized in a word. In X-MEN, the theme is mutation, and all aspects of the story radiate around this word. The heroes and villains are all "mutants," different than normal people. The villain wants to change – mutate – all the world’s leaders. Rogue and the others suffer prejudice and persecution because of their "otherness." In crafting the story, the writers focussed on parallels in the real world: particularly Martin Luther King versus Malcolm X, and the controversy over gay rights.
In ALIENS (the sequel), the theme is motherhood. Almost asexual at the start of the movie, Ripley adopts a surrogate child in Newt. When Newt is kidnapped, Ripley must face off against the alien mother, resulting in one of the best lines of dialogue ever shouted: "Get away from her, you BITCH!" (Interestingly, in Cameron’s original script we learn that Ripley did have a child of her own once, but after all these years asleep in space, Ripley has outlived her.)
In GO, the theme is shouted by several characters in crucial moments: "GO!" Which means, "I don’t care which way you go, you have to go now!" In each of the three stories, characters get in way over their heads, but there’s never time to stop and think through to the best answer. You’ve made a mistake, but you have to keep going.
Which comes first, idea or theme? Ultimately, I think they’re too inter-related to divide. When I was brought in to work on TITAN A.E., I explained to the studio executives that I loved how the Earth was blown up in the first three minutes, but that the only way to thematically balance the Earth’s destruction was to create a new world at the end. The story, which had previously been "Treasure Island in Space," with the Titan holding the Earth’s fortune, became a Genesis allegory, albeit with a lot of laser blasting and cartoon cleavage. Thematically, it was now a movie about Home, and every beat of the story focussed on some aspect of it, from the initial destruction, to the derelict station, the drifter colony, and finally the Titan itself.
The movie tanked, but how ’bout those themes? In your own work, it’s definitely worth sitting down and looking at whether you’ve really explored the idea-within-the-idea. The world doesn’t need another hollow action movie, but it could use another SPEED (you can’t slow down), MATRIX (reality is an illusion), or RUN LOLA RUN (what if you could do it again). It’s no coincidence that the best movies of a category generally have the best-explored themes.
First impressions
What’s the first movie where the writing really made an impression on you?
–Kate
I remember watching WAR OF THE ROSES on videotape with my brother, and liking it so much that I immediately rewound it and started watching it again. I wrote down the dialogue for the first few scenes, and suddenly realized that somebody really had to write this all first — the actors weren’t just making their lines up. There was an invisible plan behind the movie I was watching.
That seems strange to me now, because at the time I’d read plays and even acted in a few. But plays are basically just dialogue, while a movie script had to show what was happening even when no characters were talking. I wouldn’t read an actual movie script until a few years later, but it didn’t stop me from transcribing an entire episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." (Incidentally, transcribing a show is a great exercise to get comfortable with standard formatting and writing scene description, since the big work — structure, character, dialogue and plot — are already handled for you.)
When someone says about a movie that "the writing was really impressive," I always wonder if that means that some other aspect of the movie wasn’t very good, such as the acting or the directing, which let you notice the words. In my experience, if everything in is working at top form, you’re not even aware the movie is written. It seems to simply exist.
It’s only as you stop to think back about what you saw that you recognize how good the writing must have been. Experience has shown that you can make a bad movie from a great script, but you can’t make a great movie from a bad script.
Television ideas
I want to know how hard it is for an unknown writer to get a television show idea produced.
–Matthew Pizana
Almost impossible.
"Almost" is the key word here, because it could potentially happen if you were to partner up with a more experienced producer who would have the connections and clout to get the financing (i.e studio) and the distribution (i.e. network) to get the show made and aired.
Or, you could do it all by yourself.
Friends of mine who were not directly in the film/TV business had a very good idea for an unusual spin on the sitcom format. Knowing that words alone wouldn’t be able to convince someone to make the show, they went out and assembled a cast, a crew, and shot a sample episode of the show by themselves. It turned out fantastic. I took the finished tape around to a lot of different TV people, and my friends got many meetings from interested buyers.
But in the end, no one bought it, and my friends were out a lot of money.
I tell you this cautionary tale not to discourage you — hard work is often rewarded, and handsomely. But even the best ideas are very difficult to pull off.
Television specs
I would like to write for a certain television show. I have studied all the episodes throughout the years, watched the characters evolve, and I have written my own episodes in my spare time for practice. How would I get ahold of the production company to find out about working for them? My school doesn’t have the resources to help so I need to do it on my own. What is the best way to approach the producers?
–Nils Taylor
Although it does happen occasionally, usually a writer is not hired for a show based on a script he wrote for that specific series. That is, someone is not hired for THE PRACTICE based on an spec script for THE PRACTICE. Instead, he might get hired based on a sample episode of THE WEST WING, SIX FEET UNDER, or another one-hour drama.
Which is weird on the face of it. Why wouldn’t David E. Kelley want to read a writer exploring the characters and plotlines he created? There are a few reasons.
First is the possibility of lawsuits. If the spec episode you wrote ends up resembling a later episode of the series, the producers don’t want to be liable. Even with signed releases, a lot of producers use this as a reason not to read submissions of their own show. My assistant, Dana, used to work on SMALLVILLE, which categorically refused to read any sample SMALLVILLE’s for just this reason.
Second, a producer for THE BERNIE MAC SHOW is going to be comparing your sample episode to the dozens he’s read or written himself. He may have all sorts of criteria for quality that aren’t readily apparent to someone outside the show: how the kids are used, how often Bernie should talk to camera, et cetera. You would be going in at a disadvantage relative to another writer with a sample episode of a similar-but-different show, like GREG THE BUNNY or MY WIFE AND KIDS.
So what are your sample scripts good for? Well, they could help you get a job on another show you like. They could help you get a television agent or manager, who will happily read scripts from any show. They could also give you lots of good experience, since people write what they like better than what they hate.
Most television shows choose their staffs during the aptly-named "staffing season," generally late April through the end of May. If you’re good on the phone, it’s worth calling the production company during that time and finding out what scripts the producers are reading for staffing, so you’ll know if you’re in the right ballpark. But almost no network show will take submissions from an unrepresented writer, so finding an agent and/or manager will need to be your first step. In previous columns, you can read a lot of discussion on that.
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