John August

Recycled

Summer Reruns

Africa, International, News, Recycled

Over the next two weeks, you’ll notice a bit of deja vu at this site: old articles suddenly popping up on the front page, with new dates and old comments. It’s not a technical glitch. I’m putting the site into reruns while I’m out of the country and off the grid.

[Malawi Map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi)I’m going to Africa — specifically, [Malawi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi). I’ll be working with an organization called [FOMO](http://www.fomo.co.uk/), which runs programs to help the orphans of Mulanje, a district in the southern portion of the country. [U.S. Doctors for Africa](http://www.usdfa.org/) is one of their partners, and the trip is somewhat under their auspices. While there, I’ll be teaching English and helping repaint a school.

“Why?” is a fair question. A few months ago, I was talking with a student who was just graduating from college. When I asked her about her summer plans, she enthusiastically described an upcoming trip to Uganda. I said something like, “Wow, I wish I could do that.”

Not more than 10 minutes later, I realized there was absolutely nothing stopping me from doing that — other than a bit of fear and inertia.

This isn’t research for any particular project, but it’s homework just the same. Part of a writer’s job is to imagine. I can imagine giant chocolate factories, conjoined chanteuses, and epic sky battles. But I honestly can’t imagine what it’s like to be an orphan in a landlocked country that’s lost a generation to HIV/AIDS. So I’m going to see what that’s like. I’ll end up writing about it here and in other publications, but the main reason I’m getting on the plane is to get some grasp on a situation that is, to me, unfathomable.

While I’m gone, Matt will be minding the store. Please be nice.

What is a script doctor?

Education, Film Industry, QandA, Recycled

questionmarkI’m sure this is an unusual type of email, but I am doing some footwork for a friend of mine who wants to be a script doctor and doesn’t really know where to start. Right now he has a degree in English – Creative Writing and some film classes under his belt, but no experience in the industry. Can you offer some quick advise to someone looking to break into the field?

— Heather

Actually, this basic question comes up a fair amount, so it’s time I explain a term of art:

SCRIPT DOCTOR
An established screenwriter with significant credits who rewrites a script to address specific concerns, often shortly before production begins.

By this definition, I am a script doctor. I get brought in to help out on big expensive movies — two of which you’ll see in Summer 2008. They pay me significant money to do a few weeks’ work, for which I’ll never get credit. I’m hired for my talent, hopefully, but also my track record in getting movies up on their feet. I enjoy the work, partially because it’s a chance to date other movies while being married to the ones I’m “really” writing.

The thing is, no one who actually is a script doctor uses the term. My hunch is that some journalist made it up, likely because the work the screenwriter is doing on a script in this stage is often described as “surgical” — you’re going in to fix a very specific issue, and leaving everything else intact. [Steve Zaillian](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001873/) is often brought up as script doctor, but make no mistake, that’s not a side-job to his writing career. It is part of his writing career.

To summarize, Heather, a script doctor is a screenwriter. So if that’s your friend’s goal, he needs to write a lot of scripts and have them produced. There are also non-writers involved in the process of shaping a story — producers, development executives — but their focus is working with a writer. If that’s his ambition, he’ll start out in the trenches, answering phones and writing script coverage.

UPDATE:
Damn, I knew I’d [answered this before](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/hiring-a-script-doctor). In fact, it’s the [fifth hit on Google](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22script%20doctor%22&sourceid=mozilla2&ie=utf8&oe=utf8) for “script doctor.” Here’s what I said in 2004:

In the industry, a script doctor is an established screenwriter with a bunch of credits who comes in on a project shortly before production and does a rewrite to fix some specific, nagging problems. (Or, depending on your perspective, destroys the things that made the project unique.) Steve Zaillian is a highly-regarded script doctor. Arguably, I could be considered a script doctor, because I’ve done a fair number of these 23rd-hour emergency jobs. But no one’s business card reads “script doctor.” It’s a specific task within screenwriting, but not really a profession in-and-of itself.

A lot of times, the work you do on these projects is described as “surgical,” which fits well with the script doctor moniker. Generally, you’re not rewriting the whole script. You’re fixing a few key sections that aren’t working.

It’s strange to read an answer written nearly three years ago and see the same phrasing, same examples. I guess it’s good that I’m consistent.

By the way, I’ve [added this](http://johnaugust.com/jawiki/script_doctor) to the [wiki](http://johnaugust.com/jawiki/), in anticipation of the next time someone asks the question.

Making the geek movie

Geek Alert, Genres, QandA, Recycled

When you know computers pretty well, you start seeing certain things in certain movies as being rather idiotic. A huge amount of pictures scrolling by during a search, 3D graphics exploding out of an old laptop during hacking in [HACKERS](http://imdb.com/title/tt0113243/combined), people using Microsoft Word as a magical web search engine, etc. That stuff never happens in real life!

To a techie, it’s as realistic as trouts flying by in the background during a romantic love scene in a desert.

The good thing is, things are looking up. Real hacking is being shown in mainstream movies, a good example being the usage of NMap and an old SSH exploit in [MATRIX: RELOADED](http://imdb.com/title/tt0234215/combined). Sure, the movie wasn’t centered around it, but it was kind of neat. (There’s more such goodness in the original version of the [MATRIX](http://imdb.com/title/tt0133093/combined) script.)

[CONTACT](http://imdb.com/title/tt0118884/combined) was a movie built entirely around physics and technology that wasn’t afraid to use them and it was successful as well.

Do you think there’s room in the amateur movie scene for a movie that not only portrays the hacker subculture, (and by ‘hackers’ we mean ‘really experienced computer users’ not just the ‘evil’ ones) but literally swims in it, twisting and turning around it, weaving in and out of it, wrapping itself around it and being wrapped inside it, like a [Klein bottle](http://www.kleinbottle.com/)?

I mean, there’s a market for it, yes, but the market consists of, well, people like us. Could a technical movie be a success on film festivals? And what advice would you give us? (Other than “get a life and do something useful.”)


— Elver
Estonia

Great question, and great home country. I only spent about twelve hours in lovely Tallinn, Estonia, but it completely lived up to its over-hype about being the next Prague (but quainter). Doubters, may I direct you to [this photo](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/tallinn.jpg).

Now, on to the matter of your proposed geek opus.

Yes, Elver, yes. There is definitely room in the film universe for a uber-geek movie, be it a thriller, a drama, a comedy or whatever. Film festivals would love it, and even if your film didn’t cross over to become a giant mainstream movie, who cares?

Let me offer proof by way of comparison. Take Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne’s excellent [SIDEWAYS](http://imdb.com/title/tt0375063/combined), which is overwhelmingly obsessed with wine in ways that no normal audience member could hope to fathom. Even though we don’t really understand the intricacies of what they’re discussing — I dare you to find a topic less cinematic than pinot noir grapes — we believe the characters know what they’re talking about, and that helps make it fascinating. Sideways is a wine-geek movie, and if it hadn’t been brilliant on all its other levels, it still would have had a following among oenophiles.

An even closer comparison is Shane Carruth’s [PRIMER](http://imdb.com/title/tt0390384). Although it only progressed slightly beyond the festival circuit, it’s certain to do great on DVD. Like [Pi](http://imdb.com/title/tt0138704/combined) before it, Primer consists of geeky people saying a lot of ponderous gibberish without any nod to audience understanding. I loved it.

So by all means, make your geek movie. Hell, shoot it in Tallinn. Just make sure that while you’re being accurate and honest with all the techie details, you’re also being accurate and honest with the human emotions in the story. Do it right, do it well, and I’ll be the first in line.

(Originally posted January 21, 2005.)

Rejection

Psych 101, QandA, Recycled

When you were starting out, how did you deal with rejection?
Also, what advice can you give on the proper way to send out your work?

–Alan Wojcik

I dealt with rejection the same way I deal with it now: vodka.

No, but seriously. The truth is, a screenwriter is going to face rejection
over and over again, and not just at the beginning of his career. There will
always be a job you wanted and didn’t get, or a snub you didn’t see coming.
Eventually, you learn that you can’t depend on strangers for validation.

At least, one day I hope to learn that.

If it’s any consolation, there are people who have it even worse than writers:
actors. Whereas a writer might be rejected for his work, an actor can be rejected
simply for their face. Or butt. Or voice.

Which ties into the second part of your question: how to send out your work.
Think of your script as an actor going out on an audition. You want it to look
its best: properly formatted, no typos, and two good brass brads that won’t
unbend halfway through the script. Don’t give the reader any chance to ding
your work simply for its appearance.

Oh, and your script should be really, really well-written. That’s the most
important thing.

(Originally posted September 10, 2003)