John August

QandA

Theory #2

QandA, Story and Plot

This week’s column continues a lengthy answer to a question
posed earlier, namely…
Why does it seem that there are maybe 6 templates for Hollywood movies? As
a writer you pick one of those, fill in the check boxes, and poof the next
movie of the week. Is it because of the money to be made, or a lack of talented
writers getting their scripts to the right people, or is it due to producers
and directors not getting the ‘picture’, or is it because those mentioned above
don’t really give a rats butt about the people going out to see a movie?

–Niall

In a previous column, I talked about why so many movies seem to have the same
overall "shape," which
I postulate comes mostly from the limited number of outcomes any storyline
can have. In a romantic comedy, either the couple ends up together or they
don’t. Whatever the details, one of those two results is going to happen.

Of course, it’s the details that make a story unique and interesting. Even
with just two possible outcomes, there are a million different romantic comedies
you could write. So the real question is…
Why does Hollywood keep making the same damn movies?

Theory 2: Audiences Want Hamburger

Right from the start, I’ll have to admit to some strong personal biases in
this theory. I wrote and produced GO, which certainly wasn’t to everyone’s
taste,
but was at least different than every other youth-centered comedy on the market.
There was no high school, no prom, no parents, no awkward girl who’s really
pretty when she takes her glasses off. We got good reviews and great test audience
scores.

But when the dust settled and the box office receipts came in, it turned out
people wanted the prom. GO made money, but not nearly as much as NEVER BEEN
KISSED, VARSITY BLUES, SHE’S ALL THAT, or 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU. The problem
wasn’t the
marketing, the problem was the movie itself.

We were offering taboulleh, but the audience wanted hamburger.
Deep down, I think the movie-going public wanted to see the white, middle-class
suburban fairy tale they’d seen a hundred times before. Our movie was a gritty
$7 million comedy with drugs and guns, and the presence of young attractive
stars wasn’t going to change that.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make difficult, challenging, rewarding movies.
You should. But you shouldn’t delude yourself into thinking they’re crowd-pleasing
populist entertainment when they’re not.

So how do we get Hollywood to make more good, original, groundbreaking films
and fewer by-the-numbers retreads? A few ways:

First and foremost, we need to support the quality movies that are made, which
means buying tickets and dragging your friends to see them. Around December,
there’s always a few "vitamin" movies, films that you’re told to
see because they’re good for you. But it’s just as important to rally behind
the groundbreaking action movies, comedies and genre pieces so Hollywood can
see
that quality counts.

Second, film critics play a crucial role in shaping the overall direction
of movies. By championing new talents like Quentin Tarantino, P.T. Anderson
or Darren Aronofsky, they legitimize these filmmakers in the eyes of the studios,
who become more willing to take a chance on one of their movies.

Finally, the rise of independent film and diminishing barriers to production
(i.e. shooting on videotape, or distributing via the Internet) allow new stories
to be told, and new voices to be heard. Most of these movies end up being horrible,
but that they can exist at all is cause for celebration. By not having to appeal
to all tastes, smaller movies can offer something besides hamburger.

Adapting a videogame into a movie

Adaptation, QandA

This question is going to suck. I have an idea to turn a computer game (I
feel so cheap) into a screenplay. Just as a side-note, it’s more of the atmosphere
of the game that’s appealing, not the quick buck mentality. Obviously I can’t
afford to buy the rights, but where do I lie submitting it to agencies? Would
they even look at it?

–Chris

Your question doesn’t suck. I adapted a computer game into
a movie ("American McGee’s Alice"), and I didn’t feel a wee bit cheap.

But then, it was a damn cool game, and I got paid. So there you have it.

Since you don’t think you can get the rights to the game, ask yourself if
you’re still willing to write a script that can never get made (or even sold).
If the answer is yes, go for it.

Some agents will avoid reading your script, simply because they know they
can never sell it. But some agents will read it as a writing sample, and if
the atmosphere of the game world is as cool as you say, maybe they’ll like
it and see you have potential.
Make sure you identify your source material on the cover page, which would
read:

TITLE

written by Chris Somebody

 

based on the videogame "Underpants Wars"

published by Powerful Software Company

Considering you’re probably broke, and the fact you won’t be able to sell this anyway, there’s
very little danger
Powerful Software Company would bother coming after you. But you’re
morally and karmically better off giving credit where it’s due.

Genres and structures

Genres, QandA

Do you have a clear idea of the genre of the film before
you start to write? Do you write to a model, like the three-act structure?

–Lydia

Usually you have a pretty good idea what genre the movie is before you start
writing, at least in the broadest sense – a comedy, a thriller, an action movie.
And of course, within any category there are sub-genres. "Comedies" can
be romantic comedies, black comedies, action comedies, family comedies, spoofs
and so forth. You could spend a weekend listing all the different sub-genres
and still find movies that don’t fit into any.

More important than knowing where to put the video at Blockbuster is figuring
what approach you’ll be taking, and that’s where the real work comes in. For
instance, CHARLIE’S ANGELS is an action comedy, so logically it should do some
of the same things as LETHAL WEAPON or RUSH HOUR. But from its inception,
there were always going to be things about CHARLIE’S ANGELS that would be unique
and difficult.

First, the characters. The movie has three heroines who need roughly equal
screen time, each with their own subplots and love interests. Bosley needs
enough to do so that an actor will want to play it, but not so much that it
takes away from the Angels. And then there’s Charlie himself. He’s the disembodied
voice on a speakerphone box, yet we need to believe he’s a real person.

Second, the tone. Trying to escape the cheesiness of the TV show, early drafts
of the script played the world very cold and high-tech, almost like a MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE
movie. While we wanted the Angels to be super-competent when they were in danger
mode,
we needed them to be huggable when they were off-duty.
They needed to be like your best friends: rowdy, caring, impetuous and fun.
Also, we wanted the movie to be a love letter to Los Angeles: the sun is always
shining, colors are hot, and everyone looks great.

Finally, the action. Early on, we agreed the Angels wouldn’t carry guns. The
decision was less because of the social message than the action possibilities.
Gun fights are about people hiding behind things; we wanted the Angels punching
and kicking. We ended up hiring the fight team behind THE MATRIX to train the
actors in martial arts, and I can’t imagine the movie any other way.

Notice that all of these decisions were made BEFORE we started talking about
plot or structure. That was the right choice, because it meant we could develop
a storyline that would fit the movie we wanted to make, rather than dress-up
a pre-existing plot with details from our movie.

The actual outline we used for the movie was simply a list of 20 sequences.
It was less than half a page. But it took months to get there. During production,
some of the sequences changed for budget, schedule or location reasons, but
the underlying spine remained exactly the same.

Television scripts vs. Screenplays

QandA, Television

At the end
of your excellent discussion on the usage of script versus screenplay, you
make a comparison between one page of a screenplay and one page from a TV drama.
Format-wise, they may be similar, but as the mediums are different (television
for all its visual acumen is very much a dialogue based medium compared to
film) would this not be apparent in the writing on these same pages under comparison?

–Bob Cousins

In certain cases, yes. A script for "Law and Order" is almost entirely
dialogue in the second half, when the court case kicks in. "The West Wing" is
all talking, all the time. If you looked at any one page from these scripts,
you might be able to guess that it’s a TV show.

But a page from "Alias" or "Angel" or "Smallville" looks
and feels exactly like a feature. With the exception of act
breaks, the flow
of words on the page is no different than a 120 page screenplay.

That’s one reason why I would highly recommend any budding screenwriter try
writing an episode of their favorite one-hour drama. It’s a great exercise
in getting comfortable with the challenges of the format. In fact, the very
first script I ever "wrote" was an episode of "Star Trek: The
Next Generation," which I literally transcribed from tape. (I was 19 at
the time. The episode was "Galaxy’s Child," teleplay by Marice Hurley,
story by Thomas Kortozian.) For the cost of a few hours, I learned a lot about
scene length and story pacing, and it got me over my fear of screenplays.