Writing Process

Do you have a method to generate your ideas?

–Anonymous

Not really. I’ve never found it particularly hard to generate ideas. Most of the time, I have far too many different things I want to write, and the challenge is deciding which ones are actually worth the investment of time and thought. So I don’t really have any methods for generating ideas. I don’t brainstorm. I don’t draw mind-maps. I only outline if I’m concerned about fitting the pieces together.

In fact, 90% of the time, I’m trying to find methods for shutting competing ideas out, so that I’ll actually get my work finished. Or get to sleep.

I’m drawing a distinction here between coming up with new ideas (“a biker movie in space”) and figuring out how to solve specific problems with a story or scene (“how should the villain capture the Millenium Harley?”). Obviously, every writer is going to have to find ways to get over these hurdles when they come up. A few techniques that often help include:

• figuring out what the outcome needs to be, then working backwards;
• deciding what caused the problem in the first place, and whether it can be changed or cut;
• looking at the moment from another character’s perspective;
• quickly writing several different solutions, then judging whether one or a combination of several best address the problem.

For all the talk of high-concept comedies or big-idea action tentpole movies, a screenwriter’s daily life is almost entirely about coming up with the “little” ideas that help get the story told.

When you get a great idea for a story, but you don’t know much about the setting
of the story, like the medieval times, how do you go about writing it? How
do you gain enough information about a certain setting or place so that it
sounds genuine (like Fargo) and not fake or phony (the basketball scenes from
Finding Forrester)?

–Henry

You do research. Right now, I’m in the process of writing a show for ABC about
murder in Alaska. Before I started working on it, I knew very little about
State Troopers, the provincial government structure, the Russian Orthodox Church,
tribal corporations and bush planes. I’m certainly not an expert on any of
these subjects now, but I know enough to write the pilot.

In my case, I started by reading books and Googling a lot of different Alaska
websites. The second round of research involved a lot of time on the phone,
calling the various people who actually have the jobs I’m writing about. Finally,
I’ll be making a research trip up to Anchorage to interview these people in
person, and investigate a lot of intangible details. (Such as, do Alaskans
carry over any of the strange Canadian pronunciations, like "SO-ree" rather
than "SAR-ree"? When Alaskans refer to non-Alaskans, is there a term
they usually use?)

If you were researching Medieval times, you would obviously find a lot of
your information in books about the period. But it would also behoove you to
find some experts in the field, and even visit some authentic sites to get
the most possible verisimilitude.

Just remember that no amount of research can substitute for good writing.
Knowing the exact shade of ochre in the king’s bedroom is pointless unless
you have a fascinating scene taking place there.

And keep in mind that audiences carry with them certain misconceptions about
places and times that make certain details less than crucial. For instance,
most audiences think of horses having saddles, and saddles having stirrups.
So when we see Russell Crowe and his men charging in on horseback at the start
of GLADIATOR, sandals in stirrups, we think nothing of it. Yet as many historians
(and Internet nit-pickers have pointed out), stirrups were invented centuries
later. Maximus’s advice to "keep his heels down when riding" is impossible.

Also, in A KNIGHT’S TALE, the people wouldn’t have been singing along with
Queen’s "We Will Rock You."

When you’re hired to rewrite someone else’s existing screenplay, do you have
to type the entire script out yourself or do you get the computer file? How
does that work? I feel stupid, but it’s been bugging me for ages!

–Nathan

My first real rewrite was on BLUE STREAK, and when I got hired, that was my
first question. In that case, the studio didn’t have the script on disk, so
my assistant Emily had to retype the whole thing. (As an alternative, we could
have scanned in the pages and used optical character recognition, but the studio
offered to pay Emily to type it, so she did.)

Now that almost everybody uses Final Draft, it’s pretty common (if awkward),
for the producer’s assistant to call the previous screenwriter and ask for
the script on disk, or via email. If I’m leaving a project, I’ll always volunteer
to give them the file, just because I know how uncomfortable it is to ask.