Producers

I just signed my first option agreement for one of my spec
scripts and am starting work developing and rewriting the screenplay with the
producer’s development personnel,
which is all very exciting, but also a bit scary, as I’m wary of them damaging
the script. Any tips on how to survive the process or any good
stories from development hell?

–Jay

The best advice I can give you is to keep an open mind as you’re talking with
them, and not to commit to any changes during a meeting. Remember that they
can only offer suggestions about what they’d like to see changed, not how to
actually do it. That’s your job. Any damage done to the script will be your
doing, not theirs.

A lot of times, I’ll encounter a note that seems idiotic or unworkable. But
the more I talk with the note-givers, I begin to understand what they’re really
getting at. Maybe something that I think is obvious simply isn’t clear, or
the problem isn’t with the scene itself, but how much it’s ultimately going
to cost to film.

Try to make every meeting a real conversation, rather than a session of attack-and-defend.
The ability to look at your work objectively and impassively takes a lot of
time to develop, but it’s a skill that will ultimately make your scripts stronger.

I have a situation
that is very complex. I’m in the process right now of producing a movie with
the mother of a famous rapper who was killed. This will be a feature film about
his life as a youngster up until his death. The problem is, she wants us to
also use the screenwriter who wrote the first draft of the script, who she
has a personal relationship with. How do we deal with this situation once the
director gets involved?

–D

Carefully. And prepare for it to get rough.

I’m including your question not because I can offer you any real help, but
to remind readers that producers don’t have an easy life. Aspiring screenwriters
tend to think of producers as sharks or gurus, but often they’re people like
D struggling to make a movie under difficult circumstances.

Just a guess, but I suspect the screenwriter who wrote the first draft is
inexperienced, and may not be up for the task. If D or the director decides
to replace him, who’s the bad guy? If the mother freaks out, who’s going to
deal with her?

The real world, outside of the safety of 12-point Courier, is chock full of
these uncomfortable situations, and producers aren’t always the bad guys.

When working on a big budget remake, does the writer have complete control
over how the characters behave and talk? It must be difficult to shape the
main characters when people all around you have their own personal ideas about
them.

–RBC

Once the script has left the writer’s hands, he never has complete control
over anything. That’s the first and possibly the most frustrating truth about
screenwriting.

In order to be filmed, your perfect vision has to be mucked up by directors,
actors, editors and cinematographers, each of whom will change it to greater
and lesser degrees. The hope is that each step of the way, they’ll make it
better. Surprisingly, sometimes they do.

Your question is about remakes, where there’s a general familiarity with the
characters and the concept, and your instincts are right. Since everyone involved
on the project knows the underlying material, they all have strong opinions
about how to proceed.

The writer’s job, in this case, is to try to capture as much as possible of
what’s beloved about the original, and yet still make a movie that can stand
on its own.

In the case of CHARLIE’S ANGELS, the producers and I had long talks about
the tone and characters, independent of the plot. Rather than mocking the original
series, we wanted the movie to be a giant hug around it. We wanted the angels
to be super-competent on the job, and approachably dorky in their off-time.
Despite all the action, this would be fundamentally a comedy, and cool people
just aren’t funny.

All of this seems pretty obvious watching the final movie, but getting everyone
to agree to this approach was easily half of my job. It would have been easier
to make a straight-out spoof (like SCARY MOVIE), or a full-on action movie
(like James Bond), but I don’t think either would have been as successful.