John August

QandA

More research

QandA, Writing Process

How important is the research process, and how long do you usually spend on
it?

–Adam Foster

The obvious (but not very helpful) answer is that it depends on the project,
and one’s definition of "research."

Most of the projects I’ve worked on haven’t involved a lot of research in
the classic sense, such as pouring through books, searching the web or interviewing
experts. For instance, neither CHARLIE’S ANGELS nor SCOOBY-DOO called for tremendous
historical or scientific accuracy. In fact, the best gauge of whether a detail
in your script works is usually the "Yeah, I’d buy that" believability
test — whether the average uninformed person off the street would accept that
item x could do y, or that historical event z coincided with with Korean War.
Even genuine, certified facts are useless if they fail the "Yeah, I’d
buy that" believability test.

Both Charlie’s and Scooby did call for tonal accuracy, by which I mean the
sense of being true to the spirit and rules of the original series. That meant
looking back at old episodes to remember the details that set them apart, be
it the hair-flips or the offsetting forces of Shaggy’s hunger and cowardice.
Technically, that’s research, but it doesn’t quite feel like it.

In the case of JURASSIC PARK 3, the producers wisely referred to an expert
paleontologist named Jack Horner, who was always on-call to answer dinosaur-related
questions. But it’s important to note that even he would fall back on a, "Yeah,
I’d buy that" test, although his opinion was much more informed than the
average person’s.

A few times, I have had to do serious research. A project I’ve been working
on for several years involves everything from evolutionary brain science to
cult formation, so that’s involved a lot of orders from Amazon and several
dinners with various smart people to discuss theories. Ninety-percent of what
I’ve learned won’t make it into the script, but the research process itself
has led to new questions and insights.

One technique I’ve found helpful for all my projects is keep a fat file for
each one, and add to it anything that strikes me as interesting or helpful.
Thus, my Fantasy Island file has articles and pictures of yachts, sea planes,
the Lincoln asssasination, various abstract sculptures and lots of scraps of
paper with ideas and snippets of dialogue. Again, most of it won’t be used,
but it’s the process that often helps ideas take shape.

Moving to Hollywood

Film Industry, QandA

My question involves networking.
I’m at the level where most of my trusted, objective readers agree I have a
legitimate shot, but I live far from Hollywood. Time and again I hear how important
it is to network to get one’s work in the hands of the industry players, but
I don’t have access, being so far away (DC). Do you have any good ideas about
how to make such connections apart from simply relocating to LA?

–Robert Remy

Unfortunately, I don’t have any brilliant suggestions. Outside of a few screenwriter-specific
competitions, such as the Nichols Fellowship or the Austin Film Festival’s
screenwriting awards, the kind of networking you’re talking about relies on
some face-to-face interaction, and that’s pretty much impossible if you’re
in the wrong city.

If you’re trying to make Hollywood movies, this may be the time to move to
LA. If it’s independent films you aspire to, you may find just as many opportunities
in New York, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco or other metropolitan cities. The
Baltimore/D.C. area does have a film community (we used a crew based there
for my television show), so it’s even possible you could make a movie right
where you live.

But I suspect it’s big movies you’re talking about, and big movies require
big money, which pretty much means LA. Some of the bigger screenwriters live
outside of Southern California, but most of them started their careers here
or in New York. If you’ve done everything you can in D.C., consider whether
you feel ready to make the move.

Foreign languages

Formatting, QandA

I’m curious about the use of foreign languages in predominately
English scripts. In CHARLIE’S ANGELS, where the Angels speak a
‘secret language’ in front of Eric Knox and his partner, how did you go about
writing it? Is
it standard to write the scene in English and later translate it? Could you
offer any tips or ‘guidelines’ to be used when placing foreign languages in
a script?

–Jaklene

The "secret language" spoken in CHARLIE’S ANGELS is actually Finnish,
although the pronunciation is probably spotty. The screenplay only printed
what they were saying in English. A translator came in quite a bit later, just
before filming. (Incidentally, the subtitled English is completely different
from what they’re actually saying in Finnish. Because some scenes got flopped
around in post-production, we used the subtitles to switch a major part of
the Dylan/Knox timeline.)

In terms of your own screenplays, obviously, most readers won’t be able to
read dialogue in a foreign language, beyond the occasional "hola" or "s’il
vous plait" which can go untranslated. So you need to make a decision
how you’re going to handle it in your script. There are no hard-and-fast rules,
but here’s how I usually do it.

  1. If it’s just a word here and there, and the meaning is obvious in context,
    don’t bother translating it. An example is when a ubiquitous foreign bad
    guy shouts at his men to do something. Since it doesn’t really matter what
    he’s
    saying, just use the foreign word if you know it. Sometimes, this type
    of dialogue doesn’t even make it on to the dialogue line, and gets summarized
    in the action
    like, "Moldona SHOUTS at his men to stop the angels."

  2. If you think the dialogue would probably be subtitled in the movie, italicize
    it in the script.

  3. If characters are speaking in a foreign language for the duration of a
    scene or scenes, put a parenthical like "(in Russian; subtitled)" for
    the first speaking character, then just use italicized English for the
    rest of the scene or scenes.

  4. This is more of a pet peeve, but a lot of words that are technically foreign
    are pretty common in Engish too, so don’t italicize things like gringo,
    taco, samurai or vis-a-vis. It sticks out and feels pretentious.

Shooting shorts

Film Industry, QandA

Is it worthwhile for an aspiring writer with no experience or job prospects
to write and direct a short film if he thinks he has the right idea for an
entertaining, short, and cheap film, as well as knowing people who can shoot
it?

–A.A.

Absolutely. That’s what my very talented former assistant Rawson Thurber recently
did. He wrote and directed a funny short film called "Terry Tate: Office
Linebacker," which he later sold to Reebok and turned into a series of
commercials that debuted in the Superbowl. He now has a movie to direct at
Fox with Ben Stiller.

That’s a pretty extreme success story, but even if Rawson had followed a more
typical career trajectory, the short film would have served him well. He could
have gotten it into film festivals, hopefully attracting enough attention to
land him an agent, and possibly the opportunity to direct videos, commercials
or other projects. And since Rawson is also a writer, it was a good combination
with the comedy script he’d written.

Making a good short film is an incredible amount of work, but it’s absolutely
worthwhile if you have directing ambitions.