This week, I want to write about what I believe are the main causes of bad screenplays. The things I see as lacking, but that don't get talked about in the screenwriting and filmmaking communities.
In my opinion they fall into three categories:
Poor research,
Poor preparation,
Inability to tell a story cinematically.
Poor Research
Most screenwriters are avid consumers of films and television. We often start off as fans and then progress to the idea of creating. The danger in being a fan of the medium, is that we may be drawn into mistaking consuming other people's work, for research. So, for instance, my guess is that most of the car chases and gun fights seen in modern movies are based solely on scenes the writers saw in other movies. I think that is a good guess. Those kinds of sequences have developed conventions. Conventions that have no basis in reality... and maybe in the case of gun fights that isn't a problem.
What very few writers do, is to read historical accounts, or to interview people who have actually experienced those situations in the real world. Hardly anyone does this, because as an industry we have grown accustomed to the idea that screenwriting is only about story arcs and about characters who learn something. What we've lost is the idea that the writing process is about undertaking anything that may look or feel anything like work. For most writers, the extent of their research will be watching other people's movies and TV shows. This is a bad thing.
Not only is the idea of research lacking in many writers, when their scripts suck they are encouraged to believe it is because of lack of technique, rather than anything else. So, instead of immersing themselves in the world, they read more screenwriting books. Which is a pity, because all the great ideas are elsewhere.
The bottom line, is that there are more great ideas for screenplays in this month's Scientific American, than there are in all of the screenwriting books ever written.
Poor Preparation
Because there is now a huge industry that sells tools and training to screenwriters, many writers have fallen into the trap of believing that preparation for writing a script is the process of hammering out a beat sheet.
The truth of the matter is, I don't have a problem with people writing beat sheets or even people planning their plot to hit the main plot points. I really don't. However, where I believe there is a problem, is in the mind-set of a community that believes this is valid preparation.
What I very rarely see in a script, is a story told where the writer obviously understands every aspect of their characters and the world in which they exist. Many film characters seem both sketchy and incoherent on the page. They are parodies of people, rather than explorations. They could not exist as people in the real world, without seeming freakish and deranged.
This is a lot of work. I admit it. But, writing is hard work. It isn't just pulling stuff out of our asses, simply because we are "creative." It is about the graft and hard work that backs and makes that creative process possible.
The Inability to Write Cinematically
Again, as the industry stands at the moment, all of the focus on training and instructing of writers, is poured into getting them to focus on story. Yes, story is important... but, story alone will not make a script stand up. What makes a script stand up is the ability to write cinematically.
Writing cinematically is about giving the actors, the director, the DOP, the art director and the composer a clear visualisation of the movie, when they read the script. It is about how every single detail given, enhances that visualisation... and, it is about controlling the pace and tension in the read. What it isn't about is delegating any part of that process to other people... "Oh, I don't need to describe locations because the location manager can find the perfect place" ... "Oh, I don't need to dictate the pace of the scene, because the director and the editor will take care of that" ... "Oh, I don't have to build subtext into the actions of my actors, because they can work those out with the director." If you delegate enough of the process... eventually, you are left with nothing. Which is exactly what many writers present in their scripts.
Basically, the writer must have a clear visualisation of the movie... and be able to sell that visualisation to everyone who reads the script.
Conclusions
I've spent a lot of time over the years wondering why most screenplays are so bad. The conclusions I've come to are that: writers don't read enough books and rely too heavily on the work of other movies; that most writers don't know their characters or the world they inhabit well enough to start writing, and rely too much on their innate ability to pull stuff out of their ass; and, that writers focus too much on filling pages with dialogue and don't have the slightest idea about the cinematic language of story-telling.
Now, the sad part of this, is that the industry which is designed to guide writers out of this abyss of poor performance, only has one tune... story, story, story. Yes, for sure, scripts fail on story... but, that isn't the whole problem. The real problems are really much deeper than that. Deeper because they extend into the actual industry itself. The industry is stuck in cycle of consuming its own output and copying it again and again, until it is divorced from reality and devoid of all content.
Of course, the good news is that any writer capable of reading a history book, of taking the time to develop an understanding of their characters and who is willing to take on the challenge of teaching them self the language of cinema... well, for them, anything is possible.
Posted via email from Filmutopia's Sunday Morning Movie Blog
