tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1651632392363823211.post4959980640927581646..comments2024-02-28T17:43:25.075-06:00Comments on WAGSTAFF: SCREENWRITER MYTH BUSTINGStephen Hooverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15688339986984357682noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1651632392363823211.post-86919629040930243822010-01-02T23:47:56.390-06:002010-01-02T23:47:56.390-06:00As someone who has to read most of the crap that t...As someone who has to read most of the crap that this post would adequately describe, all I have to say to this post is "word" - especially Myth #4. I have yet to read a contest finalist that truly impressed me (and this includes a script from a writer who stuffily informed me that he was a Nichols semi-finalist, as if that badge alone merited my kissing his feet and offering him a choice between STRONG CONSIDER and RECOMMEND.The Bitter Script Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16575166527272639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1651632392363823211.post-82990218779775010462009-11-13T15:39:32.653-06:002009-11-13T15:39:32.653-06:00Boll didn't write the majority of the scripts ...Boll didn't write the majority of the scripts he's directed the production of for which he's been roundly drubbbed. There's a very big difference. He's not trying to write something that he has calculated in advance is the greatest most fertile ground for creativity for the director, he's interpreting someone else's scripts.<br /><br />Visuals, sounds, setting, acting, they all bring a whole lot more to it and can make the worst script seem like a blockbuster and we all know they have (if a film got five of the top actresses to go full frontal while firing guns and crying their mascara off, it would get praise for the rest of time by people who are incapable of admitting where their priorities are).<br /><br />We also know that very good scripts that were the script equivalent of a masterwork novel have been turned into film garbage for a variety of reasons, even by directors whose oeuvre would suggest no such result. Actors go one way, directors go another, they don't reach an accommodation but instead just let each other pass, the score is just plain wrong for the material...<br /><br />I think the biggest myth is 'Write it and they will come'. The social and political aspects of the film world make that completely wrong. It doesn't work in engineering either where very elegant and technically bulletproof ideas often do not get made because something else had more crotch appeal as it were or the one pushing it was glib. Do your best, try, learn, try again, that is all you can do.<br /><br />And get an agent if you can. Right now, I'm thinking of writing something aimed at maximum cheapness for production that still packs enough in for indie interest.Wojciehowiczhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06962614928769270439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1651632392363823211.post-88517117476137382092009-11-12T15:31:26.326-06:002009-11-12T15:31:26.326-06:00I have to disagree with #1 and #3.
"Every de...I have to disagree with #1 and #3.<br /><br />"Every deserving screenplay eventually finds a buyer to option or purchase the material. There are no exceptions." I think this is a gross overstatement. There are plenty great screenplays out there that never get sold because people don't have access to the players. And most people in town would say that selling a screenplay has less to do with talent than it does access. Plus, selling a spec is actually very rare. Most work in town comes from assignments. Specs are great tools for getting hired. No one should expect to sell their specs. I think you're giving people too much hope with that statement. <br /><br />"Screenplays have a shelf life somewhere between yogurt and milk." While I agree that if you're still pitching the same idea and there are no takers that it could be the idea, but again, if you have no access and then you finally do, why not pitch or dust off an old idea?<br /><br />Other than that I enjoyed your post and agree with pretty much the rest as a co-industry insider.Ricknoreply@blogger.com