| Below are some email afterthoughts from a recent attendee
and friend of the group, Don MacLeod, Paramount Pictures
Story Analyst. Special thanks to Don for sharing this valuable
insight with Deadline Junkies and the greater screenwriting
community. |
I've been asked "what
are the studios looking for?" many times before - and
I now realize I should actually have an answer prepared for
that. But here are a few thoughts:
As I briefly mentioned, the studios are now building their
slates around the big budget "tent pole" projects
- those are the ones, once again, that appeal to all "four
quadrants," have the biggest draw internationally, and
drive DVD sales. I would never presume to tell any writer not
to write a tent pole project, but I would caution that most
of them are also centered around established franchises - be
they well-known superheroes, graphic novels, toys, video games,
etc.. Unless one owns the rights to this kind of material,
there is no point whatsoever in trying to write a spec related
to a property someone else controls. I've seen submissions
like this numerous times through the years - and believe me,
there's nothing quite so sad as someone's spec "Star Trek" script
when they don't have a hope in hell of selling it. If memory
serves correct, there were really only two tent poles last
year that were not based on established franchises - 2012 and
Avatar. And both of those, of course, were set up entirely
on the reputations of the filmmakers involved. So that, in
turn, is how one sells a tent pole spec: once it's blow-you-out-of-the-water
good, the writer has to get a heavyweight director and producer
on board. Selling such a spec without the people on board that
a studio knows can deliver the goods is going to be a serious
longshot - as if selling a script wasn't a longshot enough
already!
So, outside of tent poles, the question then becomes, once
again: what are studios (or independent production companies,
for that matter) looking for? The answer to that, in short,
is that that is so entirely unpredictable, I believe writers
shouldn't even concern themselves with it. Yes, a story department
will occasionally be looking for a specific genre to fill in
holes in their slate, but the truth is, we're ALWAYS looking
for a script that's good. And the good news is, if it's good,
we'll make room for it. (It might not get made, mind you -
but the writer will still get actual cash money for their work!)
Even if a studio has a glut of any one type of genre in the
pipeline, they're not about to pass on something that is gold.
Sorry about the "write with passion" platitude. I
heard myself saying that and I was suddenly thinking inside, "shut
up! shut up! They've heard this a thousand times before!" Still,
I have truly come to believe that that is the key to getting
movies made - regardless of genre. Whether one is writing a
gut-wrenching drama or a wacky, lightweight comedy, it only
works if the writer cares deeply about their characters (both
heros and villains) and believes in their story.
As someone who has literally read thousands of scripts, I can
always tell when a writer is genuinely passionate about their
work, and when they're simply churning out gimmicks and cliches
that are designed to sell. Reading a script, it soon becomes
obvious which scenes the writer really cared about, and which
ones were simply marking time as the script moves from a to
b. While reading a script, I want EVERY scene to be a scene
the writer cares about. There should be no throw-away scenes.
Period. If the writer isn't interested, after all, there's
no way in hell the reader will be.
There are so many screenplays out there that are polished,
professional, and hit all the right marks - but are also boring
and pedestrian as hell, because the writer isn't bringing anything
with real heart and soul to the work. So the good news is,
write with passion and heart, and your material will stand
heads and shoulders above the crowd. Those are the scripts
that get noticed - those are the writers studios want to work
with.
I think I may have shared this with you before, but an experience
that really hammered that home to me occurred while writing
development notes for "Legally Blonde." Now there's
a fluffy, featherweight project of no consequence whatsoever,
right? Well, you would never know that listening to the writers.
They loved "Elle," they were passionate about their
screenplay, and they politely protected the integrity of their
work with a zeal that, in fact, was nothing less than ferocious.
They infused Elle with a great deal of heart - and as a result,
a character who could easily have devolved into a tedious,
Barbie doll cartoon nevertheless had substance and depth. And
what happened? Audiences really cared about her, and truly
cared about her story. And the thing is, the runaway success
of that movie wasn't just Reese Witherspoon's performance.
Yes, she nailed the character and her performance was outstanding
- but she had a great script to work with, and there was nothing
in the finished film that wasn't "on the page."
Bottom line: books like "Save The Cat," which was
referenced last night, are chock full of invaluable information
pertaining to sharpening your concept, coming up with a killer
title and logline, etc.. That's enormously helpful advice,
and Blake Snyder did us all a great service writing that book.
What I would add to that is a writer needs to write the script
only they can write. If a writer truly brings their passion
to their work - if they write from the heart, and thus bring
their own unique voice to the material - there's a very good
chance their work will sell, or at least be noticed enough
to get the ball rolling and start opening doors to the people
who can help them take it to the next level.
| Don MacLeod,
Paramount Pictures Story Analyst |
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