Script Development – Rewrites R Us:
(a) “There’s no way to protect yourself from a studio if they decide that they want to completely rework your material. They’re the ones writing you the checks… But what if you argued, like a writer can, or if you spoke out compellingly – and forcefully, and persuasively – for your point of view in a way that influenced the studio? They can do anything they want. Doesn’t mean you can’t still talk ‘em out of it.”
(b) “You can fine-tune a script down to the nth degree, and it’s uninspiring. It doesn’t move. It’s too constructed. Sometimes you just need to break all that, and try to reinfuse some of that chaotic energy into it… If your script has become too solidified in terms of structure and form, then you’ll have fewer surprises, just because your average movie-going audience is pretty film-savvy at this point. So you need to find a way to break it up, and to create things that will surprise you as the artist, and thereby surprise the audience…”
(c) “Being too passive is something that can really bite you… You can get away with it for a certain amount of time, just letting people tell you what to do… it can be a career killer. They’re not hiring you because they want to tell you what to do as a screenwriter. They’re usually hiring you because they need advice. So even if someone is sitting there saying, ‘I don’t want to hear your opinion,’ they do want to hear your opinion. You have to fight through that natural inclination that some people have, to just go with the flow.”
Excerpted with quotes from (a) Shane Black & (b) David Hayter & (c) Zak Penn
Tales from the Script (2010)
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Memorable Quotes: Tales of Screenwriters – Part Thirteen
Script Development – Rewrites R Us:
(a) “There’s no way to protect yourself from a studio if they decide that they want to completely rework your material. They’re the ones writing you the checks… But what if you argued, like a writer can, or if you spoke out compellingly – and forcefully, and persuasively – for your point of view in a way that influenced the studio? They can do anything they want. Doesn’t mean you can’t still talk ‘em out of it.”
(b) “You can fine-tune a script down to the nth degree, and it’s uninspiring. It doesn’t move. It’s too constructed. Sometimes you just need to break all that, and try to reinfuse some of that chaotic energy into it… If your script has become too solidified in terms of structure and form, then you’ll have fewer surprises, just because your average movie-going audience is pretty film-savvy at this point. So you need to find a way to break it up, and to create things that will surprise you as the artist, and thereby surprise the audience…”
(c) “Being too passive is something that can really bite you… You can get away with it for a certain amount of time, just letting people tell you what to do… it can be a career killer. They’re not hiring you because they want to tell you what to do as a screenwriter. They’re usually hiring you because they need advice. So even if someone is sitting there saying, ‘I don’t want to hear your opinion,’ they do want to hear your opinion. You have to fight through that natural inclination that some people have, to just go with the flow.”
Excerpted with quotes from (a) Shane Black & (b) David Hayter & (c) Zak Penn
Tales from the Script (2010)
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