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connielane at 08:17pm on 09/08/2010 under writing
connielane at 08:17pm on 09/08/2010 under writingInspired by responses to my previous post about Steve Kloves, I thought I'd share some true stories in screenwriting that might explain part of where I'm coming from with regard to Kloves. Most of you know that screenwriting is what I long to do for a living, and I have read a lot from people in that field about their experiences. It is, however, one of the more thankless jobs in the filmmaking process, even before the film reaches an audience. Here are some low-man-on-the-totem-pole stories just off the top of my head.
* William Goldman was a fairly well-known novelist and playwright before starting his screenwriting career. He is widely considered one of the greatest film writers of all time. After winning an Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he became a hot commodity, and he was hired to write an adaptation of Woodward and Bernstein's book All the President's Men. He turned in a draft and waited. And waited. Several months passed and he heard nothing back - positive, negative, nothing. Finally, he was invited to a meeting with Carl Bernstein, Robert Redford, and (I think) the producer. It soon transpired that Bernstein had written his OWN script, with the help of his then girlfriend Nora Ephron - a version which was very complimentary to Bernstein. Goldman retained his screen, but his script was heavily edited by both Redford and the director. After the humiliation of that meeting, Goldman has said if he had it to do over again, he would not have taken that job (which ended up winning him his second Oscar).
* After winning that second Oscar, and after writing both the novel and the script for Marathon Man (among other things), Goldman was hired to write The Right Stuff. He and the director had different ideas about the focus of the film. Goldman stood his ground, but it was the directors' call. And since the director (Philip Kaufman) was also a writer himself, he rewrote the script the way he wanted.
* Sorry for all the Goldman stories, but he's written two books on his various screenwriting experiences, and there are several horror stories. This is a pleasant one, though. There were definitely some presonality ... issues on Marathon Man. Goldman got into an impassioned discussion with Dustin Hoffman about whether or not his character would have a flashlight in a drawer by his bed (Goldman shrewdly concluded that Hoffman thought the flashlight would make him look like a chicken). Anyway, they're filming a scene with Laurence Olivier (*pause for dramatic effect*). He was getting on in years at the time and was having trouble with one of his lines because he didn't have quite enough air to finish it and there wasn't an appropriate place to break. Olivier, of course, earned his stripes in the theaters of England and, in the theater at least, the writer was held in the highest respect. Olivier turned to Goldman and asked if it would be okay if he changed the line just a bit, so that it was easier to say and still fit the scene and the characters. This is possibly Goldman's favorite career story - that Laurence Olivier asked him if he could do something a bit different with what he'd written.
* A screenwriter, I can't remember who and I can't even remember the movie now, had written a script for a movie featuring Harrison Ford. On the day when they were to shoot a scene where Ford was supposed to deliver a big speech, Ford went up to the writer and said (paraphrasing) "This is a great speech you've written, really wonderful. I'm not going to say it, but it's really good."
* The original screenwriter of Bloodrayne claims that only about 20% of what she wrote ended up in the film. But that's an Uwe Boll film, so other directors' mileage may vary.
* Stirling Siliphant used to tell a story about writing In the Heat of the Night that when he turned in the first draft, he was told it was the best script they'd ever read and that they were going to shoot it exactly as it was. Punch line: That was just the beginning of a series of rewrites.
* During the press junket for Goblet of Fire, the news came out that Steve Kloves would be returning to write the script for Half-Blood Prince. A reporter brought this up in the press room, and Mike Newell, to whom this was news, expressed his satisfaction, saying that Kloves was a writer "without ego." If you hear that phrase (or "easy to work with") said about anyone in the film industry (writer, actor, director of photography, whatever) what that means is that the person is willing to do what someone with more pull on the set wants them to do. They may put up a fight and express their opinions, but they know where their bread is buttered, and if they want to work again - not just on this film or for this particular director or producer, but for anyone - they will be the one to make the peace. Because as a writer, if you're not a "mensch," nobody wants to work with you. Your opinions are among the least of importance, and there are too many other people with their own opinions about the film in question that have to be dealt with too, and it's usually way easier to replace you than to replace them.
* William Goldman was a fairly well-known novelist and playwright before starting his screenwriting career. He is widely considered one of the greatest film writers of all time. After winning an Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, he became a hot commodity, and he was hired to write an adaptation of Woodward and Bernstein's book All the President's Men. He turned in a draft and waited. And waited. Several months passed and he heard nothing back - positive, negative, nothing. Finally, he was invited to a meeting with Carl Bernstein, Robert Redford, and (I think) the producer. It soon transpired that Bernstein had written his OWN script, with the help of his then girlfriend Nora Ephron - a version which was very complimentary to Bernstein. Goldman retained his screen, but his script was heavily edited by both Redford and the director. After the humiliation of that meeting, Goldman has said if he had it to do over again, he would not have taken that job (which ended up winning him his second Oscar).
* After winning that second Oscar, and after writing both the novel and the script for Marathon Man (among other things), Goldman was hired to write The Right Stuff. He and the director had different ideas about the focus of the film. Goldman stood his ground, but it was the directors' call. And since the director (Philip Kaufman) was also a writer himself, he rewrote the script the way he wanted.
* Sorry for all the Goldman stories, but he's written two books on his various screenwriting experiences, and there are several horror stories. This is a pleasant one, though. There were definitely some presonality ... issues on Marathon Man. Goldman got into an impassioned discussion with Dustin Hoffman about whether or not his character would have a flashlight in a drawer by his bed (Goldman shrewdly concluded that Hoffman thought the flashlight would make him look like a chicken). Anyway, they're filming a scene with Laurence Olivier (*pause for dramatic effect*). He was getting on in years at the time and was having trouble with one of his lines because he didn't have quite enough air to finish it and there wasn't an appropriate place to break. Olivier, of course, earned his stripes in the theaters of England and, in the theater at least, the writer was held in the highest respect. Olivier turned to Goldman and asked if it would be okay if he changed the line just a bit, so that it was easier to say and still fit the scene and the characters. This is possibly Goldman's favorite career story - that Laurence Olivier asked him if he could do something a bit different with what he'd written.
* A screenwriter, I can't remember who and I can't even remember the movie now, had written a script for a movie featuring Harrison Ford. On the day when they were to shoot a scene where Ford was supposed to deliver a big speech, Ford went up to the writer and said (paraphrasing) "This is a great speech you've written, really wonderful. I'm not going to say it, but it's really good."
* The original screenwriter of Bloodrayne claims that only about 20% of what she wrote ended up in the film. But that's an Uwe Boll film, so other directors' mileage may vary.
* Stirling Siliphant used to tell a story about writing In the Heat of the Night that when he turned in the first draft, he was told it was the best script they'd ever read and that they were going to shoot it exactly as it was. Punch line: That was just the beginning of a series of rewrites.
* During the press junket for Goblet of Fire, the news came out that Steve Kloves would be returning to write the script for Half-Blood Prince. A reporter brought this up in the press room, and Mike Newell, to whom this was news, expressed his satisfaction, saying that Kloves was a writer "without ego." If you hear that phrase (or "easy to work with") said about anyone in the film industry (writer, actor, director of photography, whatever) what that means is that the person is willing to do what someone with more pull on the set wants them to do. They may put up a fight and express their opinions, but they know where their bread is buttered, and if they want to work again - not just on this film or for this particular director or producer, but for anyone - they will be the one to make the peace. Because as a writer, if you're not a "mensch," nobody wants to work with you. Your opinions are among the least of importance, and there are too many other people with their own opinions about the film in question that have to be dealt with too, and it's usually way easier to replace you than to replace them.
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