John August

Film Industry

Disney’s corporate synergy, 1957 and today

Film Industry

I love [this graphic](http://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/disney_chart.jpg) from 1957 showing how the various elements of the Walt Disney company fit together.

corporate chart

You could make the same chart today.

Here is a partial list of the properties Disney owns in 2014:

Features:

* Walt Disney Pictures
* Touchstone Pictures
* Disneynature
* Disney Animation Studios
* Pixar
* Lucasfilm
* Marvel
* The Muppets
* DreamWorks (distribution)

Music:

* Walt Disney Records
* Hollywood Records
* Disney Music Publishing

Destinations:

* Disneyland/Disneyworld worldwide
* Disney Cruise Line
* Disney Vacation Club

Theatrical Group:

* Disney Theatrical Productions
* Disney on Ice
* Disney Live

Consumer Products:

* Disney Store
* Disney Baby
* The Baby Einstein Company

Books:

* Disney-Hyperion
* Marvel Press

Broadcasting:

– ABC Television Network
– ABC Family Worldwide
– Live Well Network
– A+E Networks (50%)
– Disney Channels Worldwide
– Radio Disney
– Disney Television Animation
– ESPN Inc. (80%)
– Hulu (32%)
– A+E Networks (50%), includes Lifetime and History

Online/Interactive:

– Disney Infinity
– Disney.com
– Maker Studio

Comics:

– Marvel
– Disney Comics

Almost every one of these items is a huge business just by itself. Which raises the question: If one were to make a new version of the 1957 chart, would Theatrical Films still deserve the central marquee spot?

Yes.

I’d argue that in 2014, film properties are probably still worth keeping near the middle of any Disney flowchart. The company makes money in many ways, but feature films are still the key drivers. You don’t get Cars merchandise without the movie.

The success of Frozen is an example of how Disney can capitalize on a hit film by using it in other divisions: Disneyland attractions, TV tie-ins (Once Upon a Time), music, books, merchandise, and possibly a Broadway musical.

As screenwriters, there are pros and cons to this kind of corporate synergy.

Giant corporations like Disney will keep making movies because it feeds the engine — and the better the movies, the bigger the multiplier in success. You can criticize individual films, but the juggernaut franchises have sprung from well-executed movies, and all of these movies began with screenwriters.

The challenge for screenwriters is that it’s increasingly difficult to get momentum on any movie that doesn’t seem to have the potential to work across divisions. An R-rated blockbuster like The Matrix can’t become a theme park ride, so why spend $100 million to make it?

Looking at the list of [top-grossing R-rated movies](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic/mpaa.htm), Warners and New Line made seven of the top 10. With talk that [Fox may buy Warners](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-time-warner-white-knight-fox-20140722-story.html#page=1), I wonder if they would still be making those movies post-merger.

Selling without selling out

Episode - 153

Go to Archive

Apps, Film Industry, Highland, Producers, QandA, Screenwriting Software, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Words on the page, Writing Process

In their first-ever live streaming episode, John and Craig open the mailbag to answer a bunch of listener questions.

– What research should a writer do before soliciting an agent or manager?
– What should a writer be willing to give up in order to make her first sale?
– Does a Mormon writer face special challenges in drink-and-drugging Hollywood?
– Why doesn’t Highland exist on Android?
– What determines “Story by” credit on a feature?
– How did we like DungeonWorld? (John asked this question.)

All this, plus the Fermi Paradox in this episode of Scriptnotes.

Links:

* [Scriptnotes, 76](http://johnaugust.com/2013/how-screenwriters-find-their-voice), with Three Pages by James Topham
* Scriptnotes, 115: [Back to Austin with Rian Johnson and Kelly Marcel](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-back-to-austin-with-rian-johnson-and-kelly-marcel)
* David Lynch [on the iPhone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0)
* Björk, [Human Behavior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCGveA39VYA)
* [Dungeon World](http://www.dungeon-world.com/)
* Scriptnotes, 142: [The Angeles Crest Fiasco](http://johnaugust.com/2014/the-angeles-crest-fiasco)
* [Action Jackson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AvMn2Vh0fQ) trailer
* David Kwong at TED2014: [Two nerdy obsessions meet — and it’s magic](http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kwong_two_nerdy_obsessions_meet_and_it_s_magic)
* The Fermi paradox on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox), [Wait But Why](http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html) and [Praxtime](http://praxtime.com/2013/11/25/sagan-syndrome-pay-heed-to-biologists-about-et/)
* Neil deGrasse Tyson [on chimps, humans and aliens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ro9aebFZhM)
* John is [hiring a new UI designer](http://johnaugust.com/2014/hiring-a-ui-designer)
* Our USB drives [now have the first 150 episodes](http://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-100-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* Archives are also [available on scriptnotes.net](http://scriptnotes.net/)
* This episode was broadcast live on [Mixlr](http://mixlr.com/scriptnotes/)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Jeff Harms ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_153.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_153.mp3).

**UPDATE 7-18-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-153-selling-without-selling-out-transcript).

Adapting The Wizard of Oz

Film Industry, Genres

Gregory Maguire, author of the novel Wicked, takes a look at screenwriter Noel Langley’s early draft of the script for [The Wizard of Oz](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/early-script-wizard-oz-offers-rare-glimpse-creation-iconic-film-180951858/):

> The differences between this version and the final shooting script? Hardly a page escapes without crossed-out speeches and handwritten substitutions. Plot points abound that are later abandoned (the Wicked Witch of the West has a son named Bulbo?). Only a couple of scenes refer to singing, and none of the famous lyrics appear. What would become “Over the Rainbow,” which I call America’s unofficial national anthem, is referred to as “the Kansas song.”

> What this draft achieves is the compression of choice elements from a best-selling, although rambling, children’s book. In the original novel, the Wicked Witch of the West dies on Page 155, but Dorothy doesn’t leave Oz until 100 pages on. If Langley stuffs in extraneous characters for ballast (a Kansas farmhand and his sweetheart among them), he also abbreviates the trajectory of the story so that the demise of the Wicked Witch of the West kick-starts Dorothy’s return to Kansas.

Adapting a book to film means figuring out which elements of the source material really belong on the big screen. It many cases, you end up dropping things not because they’re “un-cinematic,” but rather because they don’t help you tell the two-hour version of the story.

Sometimes, the choices you make feel better than the original:

> The American author-illustrator Maurice Sendak believed that The Wizard of Oz film was a rare example of a movie that improves on the original book. I agree with him. Langley consolidates two good witches into one. He eliminates distracting sequences involving populations Dorothy encounters after the Wizard has left in his balloon —the china people (porcelain figures) and the Hammer-Heads (a hard-noggined race).

You’d have a harder time taking these liberties with a popular novel now. The Harry Potter films were faithful and tremendously successful, as was Twilight and The Hunger Games. Studios see this and take note.

Over the last ten years when I’ve been approached to adapt current best-sellers, one of the first concerns has been not angering authors and fans. That may be the smart choice financially, but it doesn’t always result in the best movie.

Had Langely been given this directive when adapting The Wizard of Oz, I doubt we’d remember the movie at all.

From Debussy to VOD

Film Industry, Follow Up, Indie, Psych 101, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig talk about what screenwriters can learn from the structure of classical music, then invite journalist Scott Tobias on to discuss how day-and-date video-on-demand releases make it hard to know how indie films are doing, individually and as a group.

We also talk about the future of the Three Page Challenge, Reboots vs. Remakes, and how everyone in Hollywood is just a little bit off.

Links:

* [Bronson Watermarker PDF](http://quoteunquoteapps.com/bronson) is available now
* [Romantic-era classical music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_music) on Wikipedia
* Tchaikovsky’s [1812 Overture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxgYlcNxE8), and [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture)
* Gershwin’s [Rhapsody in Blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHdRkeEnpM), and [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue)
* Ravel’s [Boléro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4wb11w0ZHQ), and [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro)
* Grieg’s [In the Hall of the Mountain King](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc), and [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King)
* The [new Three Page Challenge submissions page](http://johnaugust.com/threepage) is now taking submissions
* The Dissolve’s [Scott Tobias](http://thedissolve.com/authors/scottt/)
* Scott’s article, [The hidden world of Video On Demand profits](http://thedissolve.com/features/exposition/594-the-hidden-world-of-video-on-demand-profits/) from The Dissolve
* WGA’s [Residuals Survival Guide](http://www.wga.org/subpage_writersresources.aspx?id=133)
* [Blue Ruin](http://blueruinmovie.com/), a film by Jeremy Saulnier
* James Gray’s [The Immigrant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immigrant_(2013_film)) on Wikipedia
* Bong Joon-ho’s [Snowpiercer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer) on Wikipedia
* [Life Is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRb9Elttns) from Zorba
* Introducing [Swift](https://developer.apple.com/swift/)
* John’s [mention at WWDC](https://twitter.com/johnaugust/status/473597039016546305)
* [Highland](http://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland/)
* Apple’s [Craig Federighi](https://www.apple.com/pr/bios/craig-federighi.html)
* Steve Ballmer [on the impending release of the iPhone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Robin Karlsson ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_148.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_148.mp3).

**UPDATE 6-12-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-148-from-debussy-to-vod-transcript).