Screenwriting : What gives!? by Ross Somerville

More like 'I can write better' but yeah, I do know what you mean. Stuff like that really shows how much of the biz is really about who you know.

Or to add to that, how hard you work to get your material noticed and read. Perhaps the writer of the movie you're referring to just never ever took no for an answer?

Networking is one factor. You can have the greatest teeth in the world but nobody will know unless you show the world your smile. weird analogy but I think it works lol

You need to read Terry Rossio's CRAP PLUS ONE article.

There's a great line from the movie TRUE BELIEVER where an insane person says that what you say into a phone is never what comes out on the other end... the phone company changes it along the way. Same with movies. The words you see on your computer screen are never what pops up on the cinema screen. I was accidentally invited to the premiere of one of my movies on the 20th lot and laughed when a line of dialogue came up the way I wrote it. One single line. Much of the story was unrecognizable. I didn't write that. Not my story. Not my characters. Not my scenes. Not my dialogue... except for that one line. Here's how that happens: http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip215.htm

Funding and quality are streets apart, actually suburbs apart. I saw an interview with the guy that wrote "The Postman" (sorry for forgetting his name) and he said it was well into preproduction when Kevin Costner came to him and said "I think my character needs to be nicer". The writer replied "He becomes nice, that is the point, his grows". "No" say Kevin "He should start nicer". Hence the movie we ended up with. I am going to try and finance everything I can so I have the final say in how it looks and feels. If it sucks I have no one to blame. However, if it works...

Who gets credit after X changes have been made? Having not sold a script, the credit is more important to me than the money.

Ross, I so agree with you. It's really hard to get your head around that. A director who read my script actually said that, "This could and should be a movie. It's way better than a lot of the stuff that gets made." Unfortunately, he is now one of Canada's biggest directors of commercials, having found it's too hard to get funding for movies.

It seems to be a very close knit family. Hard to break into the circle, perhaps.

Hi Everyone, I read the Martell article. Thanks, Stacy. It sounds like the original writer, especially a new writer, has little or no creative control over the script after it is sold. I would imagine a big name established writer has more creative control. I understand that we can negotiate to write some revisions. Has anybody any experience with this?

I feel like that about some of these reality shows out there. I that is so funny that you mention that, Ross. To think I thought I was the only one.

Sir, that is like asking me if I breathe. Hell yeah! I see shitty films all the time and ask myself how in God’s name did this flaming turd get greenlighted? But this begs a more deep rooted question about society’s taste for depth versus mindless, formula driven drivel. And don’t get me wrong, if I can sell some of the latter, just let me know who’s buying.

No. Big name established writers also have zero creative control. Though we can debate his talents, at one point in time Joe Eszterhas was the #1 writer in Hollywood, the highest paid, the most sought after, and wrote the (original) screenplay directed by Costa Gavras MUSIC BOX which got an Oscar nomination for Jessica Lange and won a bunch of awards... so he had power. This lead to a huge bidding war for BASIC INSTINCT, every studio wanted it, and the script sold for the unheard of price of $3 million. The day after it sold, Eszterhas was replaced by another writer. He had just written a movie that got the star an Oscar nomination! So, you never have any creative control. Once they buy your screenplay, they own it and will throw a dozen writers at the project... and you may still be the only credited writer when the credits are arbitrated. Get used to it.

And it's possible that you repaint your house and fix all of those problems you just lived with for a decade, and the people who buy your house bulldoze it because they like the land but not the building. They use your old foundation to build a completely different house.

Hi Manda, How did you manage to get first chance of revision for your script? Did you negotiate it yourself or did you have an agent?

Hi William, Where do I find Terry Rossio's Crap Plus ONe article?

hahaha yes, all the time! I'm like "How did this get funding?!"

Crap Plus One (and the other articles) can be found here: http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/welcome.html On the same site there are a bunch of articles by professionals in the biz with great info: http://www.wordplayer.com/pros/welcome.html

The obvious exception to all this would be the writer/director scenario. Tarantino comes to mind. I'd be willing to bet that what makes it to the screen of a Tarantino film is pretty darn close to what he wanted it to be. As a writer I don't think I'd even want to watch a film I wrote that someone else got a hold of.

Yes, writer/directors don't sell their screenplays, they find the funding to make their movies (early on, usually from their own pockets). It's the golden rule: he who has the gold, rules. So if you find the $ and make the film yourself, you are the boss. If you want to sell your script, the person who buys it is the boss.

I've got a few directors interested in my screenplay and am drumming my fingers waiting for a reply. Here's the thing: the agent of a relatively big-name actor asked for my script about two weeks ago. I haven't sent it because I am hoping for a call from one of those directors, one or more of them saying they would like to attach themselves to my script. should I send my screenplay to the actor, anyway?

The script might have been better before the film was made.

Give us a look at your script Ross , only then will you have an answer.

Well, what about, we write it, they actually READ it, suggest changes, we re-write it, they pay for it and do whatever they want with it. Wait, wait! The PAY part doesn't quite fit into all this.