John August

Genres

Worst-case thinking for the screenwriter

Genres, Psych 101

Bruce Schneier on the [danger of worst-case thinking](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/05/worst-case_thin.html):

> You can’t be too careful!

> Actually, you can. You can refuse to fly because of the possibility of plane crashes. You can lock your children in the house because of the possibility of child predators. You can eschew all contact with people because of the possibility of hurt.

He argues that we’re making bad decisions on the basis of what is possible rather than what is probable. Does anticipating disaster really make us safer? Are the costs worth it?

Schneier and I agree that one group certainly benefits from this kind of Black Swan doom-and-glooming: screenwriters.

> Basically, any fear that would make a good movie plot is amenable to worst-case thinking.

When I’m waiting for a meeting, I’ll often wonder, “If Godzilla fell back into this building, knocking it over, would I climb ‘up’ or ‘down’ to get out?” That’s somewhat productive thinking for a screenwriter.

For a policy-maker, less so.

Get out of there

Genres

I’m in Manhattan, about a block away from today’s actually-not-a-bomb scare. So I can verify that in real life, people do say this phrase.

But in movies, maybe they shouldn’t anymore.

/via Scott Murphy

Don’t make the feature version of your short

Genres, Go, Sundance

I had coffee today with a writer-director whose acclaimed short film got him many awards and meetings all over town. And deservedly: it’s terrific, a labor of love that took several years to make.

He said he was finishing up the screenplay for the feature version. I told him to focus on something else instead. You shouldn’t make the feature version of your short.

This seems like terrible advice. After all, it’s easy to think of several acclaimed filmmakers who expanded upon their short films, including Neill Blomkamp and George Lucas.

But having worked with many emerging filmmakers through the Sundance Institute and other programs, I’ve encountered a lot of [silent evidence](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/silent-evidence) that suggests it’s a pretty bad idea. ((Silent evidence: You’re only seeing the movies that got made and released, not the ones that didn’t.))

1. **Great shorts are great and short.** The perfect haiku isn’t improved by rewriting it as a sonnet.

2. **You will burn out on the idea.** Having already made the short, do you want to spend several more years making it again?

3. **Show what else you can do.** A career isn’t one movie, or one idea. Even if you make the movie and it turns out great, you’ve still only told one story so far in your career.

4. **Safety is paralysis.** It’s less intimidating to expand on something familiar. But you need to push against your boundaries.

Your first feature project should ideally be in the same class or genre as your acclaimed short, but not a retread. If you made a charming short about blind leprechauns, write a feature about kleptomaniac crows. Let the connection between projects be your ambition and sensibility, not a single storyline.

Go was originally written to be a short film — but we never shot it. Had the short version been made, I can’t imagine going back to write the full thing. I would have been too hamstrung by my original choices, and the scenes that had already been shot.

Worse, I wouldn’t have felt the same things the second time through. You don’t get your first kiss twice.

Academy’s Film Noir series

Genres, Los Angeles, News

noirThe Academy is hosting a [Monday night screening series](http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2010/noir.html) focusing on film noir:

> Fifteen film noir classics from the 1940s, all of which were nominated in the writing categories, will be celebrated in a summer-long screening series, introduced by contemporary screenwriters whose own work reflects the film noir style.

I’ll be handling “The Dark Mirror” on July 12. (Olivia de Havilland! Twins! Murder!)

It’s a unique chance to see these films on the big screen, with terrific prints.

Date Film
May 10 “The Maltese Falcon,” introduced by Lawrence Kasdan
May 17 “Shadow of a Doubt”
May 24 “Laura,” introduced by Scott Frank
June 7 “Double Indemnity,” introduced by Nicholas Meyer
June 14 “Mildred Pierce,” introduced by Callie Khouri
June 21 “The Killers,” introduced by Billy Ray
June 28 “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” introduced by Robin Swicord
July 12 “The Dark Mirror,” introduced by John August
July 19 “The Blue Dahlia,” introduced by Wesley Strick
July 26 “The Stranger”
August 2 “Body and Soul”
August 9 “Crossfire,” introduced by Brian Helgeland
August 16 “A Double Life”
August 23 “Kiss of Death”
August 30 “White Heat”

Tickets are $5, or $30 for the entire series. It may sell out, so if you’re interested, [reserve now](http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2010/noir.html).