(TL;DR ... I know, I know)
As I continue to pursue my own development as a screenwriter, I am fascinated by what I can only call the “how-to-be-a-screenwriter cottage industry.” I, like many of you, have read my fair share of screenwriting books, watched helpful videos, and looked for functional solutions to my screenwriting problems.There’s a lot of good and well-known instruction out there, from a plethora of online gurus to screenwriting classes to some famous books on the subject. As for books...
There are many more, but here are some key screenwriting books (and the year of publication) that are popular, in part, because of their apparently strong paradigm solutions to some apparently basic screenplay problems:
• 1949: "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell (not actually a screenwriting book but very influential). The “Hero's Journey” paradigm.
• 1979: "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting: A Step-by-Step Guide from Concept to Finished Script" by Syd Field. Famous for the three-act-screenplay paradigm with plot-points, etc.
• 1998: "Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting" by Robert McKee. Essentially repackaging Aristotle's Poetics and the three-act paradigm for screenwriting.
• 2005: "Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyder. Essentially the three-act-screenplay model repackaged as the “Blake Snyder Beat Sheet” paradigm.
I think they’re all decent books and I believe each has a lot to offer any screenwriter. Each has also played a huge part in the creation of the how-to-be-a-screenwriter cottage industry.
But I came across this video (below) which includes the following interesting dialog (edited for clarity):
“A lot of the scripts that are being bought… they're not the paradigm driven, rule driven, script anymore. They used to be like if you go back 15 years ago you're an unknown writer that's what you'd want to write if you wanted to sell something. Nowadays [...] if you're doing a three camera standard paradigm driven comedy or paradigm driven procedural, unless you've been an executive producer or above in a hit show in that space in the last three years, [...] no one's gonna read [your script].
“What you need to be doing is writing a script that no one has seen before, writing something that
only you could have written and making an elevated story. So instead of preordained plot points the story unfolds organically and it's not predictable and it feels that characters are doing what they would really be doing and saying what they'd really be saying and it's captivating. These are the hardest scripts to write. These are the [...] scripts that are selling now.”
This shifting away, at least in more mainstream writing, from the paradigm-driven screenplay to something more organic makes a lot of sense to me for a number of reasons. Of course, one could probably argue the paradigm approach has not gone away and the more intuitive, character-driven plot has always been popular too. I don’t know enough to say one way or the other.
What are your thoughts?
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I think it's great that there's a shift, Tucker Teague! "What you need to be doing is writing a script that no one has seen before, writing something that only you could have written and making an elevated story." I agree. That's so many scripts out there/being written that are cookie-cutter. Execs, producers, directors, etc. and audiences want fresh. Just look at Parasite, The Substance, and so on. And thanks for making this post. I'm working on a wild script that's a mash-up of two popular movies, and I thought of a scene while reading your post. The scene is gonna make the script even better.
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Maurice Vaughan I'm glad you found it inspirational. And I hope your script ends up beings awesome.
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Thanks, Tucker Teague. Excited to write the script and get it out there! It's the most high-concept idea I've ever had. What script(s) are you working on?
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All, and I do mean all, "how-to-write-a-screenplay" books, courses, webinars, seminars, retreats presume a standard exists. This presumption provides something to push against and strive for in progressing one's writing. It is the hypothesis that we all must 'suspend disbelief' and accept to then toll over the keyboard and make the first ten pages the key to a successful career.
As one course instructor intoned, "McKee only sold one screenplay!". I don't even know if that is accurate, but the point is well taken. It is easier to advise on writing than to sell what you have written.
Full disclosure: I have benefitted from a couple of the 'how-to' programs. Well, ok, just one (yes, on Stage32). The rest were a waste of my time, and money. Yet folks seem to find solace in repeating the courses/webinars over and over. In the end, as the author of this post alludes, the best path to selling writing is knowing someone in the industry who can buy it. And there are courses on 'how-to' create those 'friendships'.
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Maurice Vaughan I recently finished a spec feature first draft that I've set now aside for a bit until I reread it with fresh eyes. I viewed writing it as a kind of exercise for exploring the Jungian concept of the shadow. Not sure if I succeeded or if it makes sense but I found the process enjoyable and I like what I wrote. I also just finished a short screenplay about four siblings dealing with past family issues that I submitted for potential inclusion to a feature film shorts compilation movie. Crossing my fingers on that one. And last night I resurrected a screenplay I started maybe 20 years ago. I only wrote about 25 pages then and got stuck, but I've never gotten the idea out of my head. So I'm giving it another try.
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Robert Franklin Godwin III I do think a lot of why folks find solace in repeatedly taking the how-to programs has less to do with specific technical skills or special knowledge than with seeking some kind of connection with others and getting excited about writing.
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Congratulations on finishing the first draft, finishing your short script, and starting back on your old script, Tucker Teague! I have old scripts I'd like to rewrite. Old like some of the first scripts I ever wrote. I know it's gonna be A LOT of work rewriting them. Haha Hope you sell your feature script and short!