John August

QandA

Finding a writer

QandA, Rights and Copyright

   I have this vision of a modern version of famed movie CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. My vision has a multicultural cast with actor/comedian Wayne Brady playing the starring role (Dick Van Dyke’s character). I need a writer. How can I find one? And at what price?

–Les Williams

On the scale of marketable ideas, that’s not bad, although I suspect in this remake-crazy culture, someone’s already working on it. Regardless, I’m sure Wayne Brady and his representatives are happy that you’re out there, working to find him roles.

Ignoring for the moment that someone actually owns the underlying rights (probably MGM, but maybe Ian Fleming’s estate), I see two main paths which you could take in pursuit of a screenwriter to implement your vision.

First, you could find a screenwriter who is already somewhat successful. I’m not talking Robert Towne or Callie Khouri, but rather a writer who got credit on Eddie Griffin’s latest movie, or a Mandy Moore vehicle. Since you’re not bringing a lot to the project other than your enthusiasm, you may have a hard time convincing this writer’s agent to take you seriously. But I’d bet out of a list of 10 candidates, you’d find at least two writers willing to hear you describe your vision for the movie. And if it’s as good as you think it is, maybe one writer will say yes. Working together, the two of you either write the script as a spec, or approach the rights holder and convince them to commission a script.

The other option would be to find a screenwriter without any produced credits, and convince her to write the script for you. Maybe you pay her a few thousand dollars, maybe you don’t. Either way, you work together to create the best possible script you can, with some sort of written contract between you clarifying that you’re attached as a producer. When it’s finished, you approach the rights holder and convince them that your script will make the definitive multi-ethnic CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG for the new millennium.

How do you find this newbie writer in the first place? You might have luck with online screenwriting forums and workshops. As long as you can read the writer’s work, it doesn’t matter where they live. Another good option would be to find writers who’ve won (or made the final rounds) in one of the many screenwriting competitions, such as the ones sponsored by Final Draft or the Austin Film Festival.

Which way is better? Honestly, they’re both difficult. But a producer’s job is always difficult, and many of today’s top producers started their careers exactly this way, with nothing more to offer than their imagination and tenacity.

Elephant and Columbine’s actual events

QandA, Story and Plot

I just saw Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT and at the end there was a disclaimer saying that any similarity to actual events or persons is completely coincidental.  How can he say this?  I know it’s not a retelling of the Columbine story, but it sure shares a resemblance.
 

–Brad Sorensen
Ottawa, ON

I’m curious how Van Sant would answer, and whether there was any discussion about exactly what the end crawl should say. The phrasing of “any similarity to actual events or persons is completely coincidental,” is pretty much boilerplate these days, designed to protect against libel and defamation in case Hannibal J. Lector of Boise, Idaho gets annoyed that people mistake him for a devious cannibal. Most movies say something like this, sandwiched between the American Humane Association disclaimer and the IATSE logo.

Was it fair to use the phrase in this case? In my opinion, sure.

Although the Columbine shootings were certainly the inspiration for ELEPHANT, the story itself — that is, the characters, the scenes, the dialogue — was fictional. The movie didn’t purport to be about that particular Colorado high school, but rather the culture of high school violence. The Columbine killings were “the elephant in the room,” but were never directly addressed in the sense of Michael Moore’s BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. While another filmmaker might choose to phrase it differently, one can understand Van Sant’s desire to draw a distinction between his movie and the real events that happened at Columbine.

Getting a pitch meeting

Dead Projects, Pitches, QandA

You mentioned that you went in to pitch for How To Eat Fried Worms and that it was the first script you were paid to write. Well, say a screenwriter has written a number of scripts and they want to pitch their ideas to a studio. How does one go about that? You can’t just waltz into Dreamworks and start spouting off lines right? So, what does one do? Set up a meeting? Could it be THAT simple? Calling and setting up a meeting?

–Josh Caldwell
New York

It always starts with a meeting, and generally these are set up by an agent or manager. In the case of FRIED WORMS, it was set up by my friend Jim Whitaker, who was working as a junior executive at Imagine, the company run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. He had read my very first script, and thought I might be the right person to adapt this little kid’s book the company had just optioned. So it was my friendship with him that got me in the room. But it was my take on the story that got me the job.

I’ve written in other places about the mechanics of a pitch, but generally it works like this. Pretend you just saw a great movie, and you wanted to convince your skeptical best friend why he should see it. What would you say? That’s a pitch.

Now usually, before you even go into a pitch meeting, some of the groundwork has been laid. For instance, before I pitched BIG FISH, the executives at Sony read the book, so they had some idea what the project was about. Even in the case of a completely original idea, it’s good if the recipient has been told what kind of movie you’re pitching — a thriller, a comedy, a futuristic prison romance, whatever. For something like TARZAN, which I’m writing now, we had a few phone calls to discuss the overall tone and approach before we even set the meeting.

And almost always, the people hearing the pitch want to read your writing ahead of time, so they know you really can write. In the case of FRIED WORMS, I was at a real disadvantage in this regard. The only writing samples I could show were my first script (a tragic-comic romance) and the novelization of NATURAL BORN KILLERS. The other writers pitching for the job were true comedy writers, many of them working on THE SIMPSONS. Ultimately, I got the job. Even though the movie still hasn’t been made, I’m tremendously grateful for the opportunity.

Will digital ever replace film?

Film Industry, QandA

Will the digital mediums replace emulsion photography, even if only partially?

–N

If you’re going to allow me the “if only partially” escape clause, then certainly. Well-regarded films such as TADPOLE and PIECES OF APRIL are already being shot on digital video, as are the SPY KIDS movies and the STAR WARS prequels. On the distribution side, most new theaters are being built to allow for digital projectors (which will be installed whenever someone figures out who should pay for them).

Speaking in vast generalizations, digital is usually cheaper and faster than film. Videotape costs less than film stock, particularly when factoring in development and printing costs. Editing is already an almost-entirely digital process, so shooting digitally saves you a step. And studios dream of being able to digitally transmit their movies directly to the multiplex, saving the cost of striking and shipping 2,500+ film prints.

What’s more, the recent generations of digital projectors are quite good. You could switch over every movie theater in America and most people wouldn’t notice any change.

For all the progress that’s been made in digital cinematography — and it’s considerable — film still has some significant advantages that will keep it viable for decades to come. First, there’s a lot of entrenched experience. Cinematographers know film and love it. Second, film technology itself has improved dramatically. Today’s film stocks allow you to shoot in lighting conditions that would have been impossible a decade ago, and techniques like silver retention and skip-bleach processing allow for a lot of creative freedom. Third, the resolution of digital cameras still can’t match film — and when they do, there will be other creative reasons (such as film grain, focus and contrast) why you might still not be satisfied. Finally, on an $80 million movie, the film costs aren’t prohibitive, so there’s no reason for many movies to switch to digital video. (There is, however, a lot of pressure for one-hour TV shows to switch to digital cameras. Many are making the change.)

On the other end of the spectrum, digital video is a godsend for the $80,000 movie, where film and processing could eat the entire budget. Since it is these smaller movies where tomorrow’s filmmakers get their start, I can envision this new wave rising up through ranks with digital cameras in hand, and never trading them in for the “old” film cameras.