I remember that when I was younger I wanted to be a screenwriter, well first I wanted to be a writer, then a novelist, then a screenwriter and now I just write and I still write scripts. But I don't longer want to become a screenwriter, well at least, not only that. Obviously, I'm interested in the cinema industry, I'm interested in Hollywood but to a certain degree, I guess nowadays I'm more interested in the TV industry, because as I already said in a previous post, I'm pretty sure that nowadays you can find better film quality in modern TV series.
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Really good documentary about this profession[/caption]But anyway, when I was younger, I started to investigate a lot about screenwriting and screenwriters and that was the same year when the Writers Strike took place, so just by that, I learned a lot about screenwriting, a lot about screenwriters and a lot about the situation that they were and that they are in. Let's face it, being a screenwriter has to be one of the most painful, unrewarding and underestimated creative jobs out there, and just for that, they're the most interesting characters in the cinema industry for me and they're the ones that I have analyzed the most, but I still have a ton of questions and a lot of things to say about them.
Okay, we are going to start analyzing this in the most simplistic way possible. And now, please answer the question in the most simplistic way possible, What is a film?, a film is nothing more that a story and that's it. You could have a brilliant director, you could have a powerful producer, you could have the greatest ensemble cast ever, but if you don't have a writer; you don't have a story and you don't have a film. For many years I looked at screenwriters as the martyrs of the film industry, mainly because they don't get at all the recognition that I thought they deserved. Just tell me, right from the top of your head, the name of five famous screenwriters...
I think the only screenwriters that I would consider "famous" or at least recognizable are Alan Ball, Robert Towne, Guillerrmo Arriaga, Paul Schrader and maybe David Chase (and all of them are also directors, producers and two of them successful TV creators executives).
But it's really strange to encounter a screenwriter whose talent is really recognizable and whose career it's really transcendental just by the fact of being a screenwriter and nothing more.
Most of screenwriters are left in the shadows if they don't get involve in the project as something else, and at the end of the day, they receive really poor recognition and poor compensation.
But why is it?, why screenwriter don't get as much recognition as directors? Well I think that there are certain factors to take into consideration,
- First, the whole: "Film is a visual media" yeah right I know that, but even if it's a "visual media" it's still trying to tell a story and stories are written in paper first.
- Most of really succesful movies are based in novels or in real life events, so that's not really good for the screenwriter if he wants to get recognition for his creative work, because he is not creating anything really, and even if he is, the public will think that everything is adapted.
- And the third, which is the most important: ... (I'm going to save it, until the final part of the post)
That's the truth and still you have this:
The overall message that he is giving it's true. Screenwriting or better yet fictional writing it's a discipline and you don't need an absolute inherit talent, you can become a great writer if you do certain things or as he put it "skill sets", but which are those skill sets? God only knows.
I believe that you need to learn or experience certain key aspects to become a good screenwriter, and notice this word GOOD screenwriter. To become a screenwriter, there's only one thing you really need: connections. Talent or no talent, skill or no skills, if you have connections non of that matter.
But you don't want to be that writer right?, the one who writes bad comedy films and pathetic action flicks? No, I'm guessing that you're aiming for something with more substance.
Well, after all of this, it seems that being a screenwriter is one of the worst thing in the creative world. You struggle a lot and you finally manage to create your story, to define your characters, to connect everything together, and after months or maybe years of hard work, writers block, research, depression and everything; your script is finished. And you did all that so that you could sell it to a film studio, so that studio could give your story (that's right YOUR story) to a director guy, who will make a movie about it and if it's successful, the producer will make millions out of your idea, the director will take almost the entire credit of your story (even if he wants it or not) and you will end up just as a lonely and forgetful name in the credits, without making a big amount money.
"Why would anyone want to be that?"
That's really not my question, to all of you young screenwriters or young aspiring screenwriters, my true question is: Why would anyone want to be ONLY that?.
In this world there are two types of artist: The Creative Artist and The Interpretative Artist.
Film Directors (who make movies based on somebody else's original work), Actors, Singer who don't compose their music. All of them are Interpretative Artist, they interpret what somebody else wrote, they interpret what somebody else compose or lived. Of course some of them are able to take their own creative perspective and transform it into something else. But without that main original idea, there's nowhere to go to.
Creative Artist, on the other hand, they start from zero. Writers and musicians are creative artist, they have no place to go, no path to take but their own, they create that main idea themselves and then they develop it. So by this enormous characteristic, Creative Artist can generate their own material without relying in anyone else.
The third aspect that I wanted to save until this moment, is: Almost the absolute majority of successful screenwriters are film directors themselves and a lot of successful film directors are screenwriters themselves.
If you are already a creative artist, aren't you able to interpret your own work, your own story?
I understand why this happened before, but nowadays, there's no excuse, specially if you're young, if you're already a screenwriter why aren't you a film director? Nowadays there are only two things that you need to become a director, a story (which you already have) and a passion for films (which you already have). Why don't you take charge of your own story? Why don't you direct your own story?, even if it's an indie low-budget production it's Ok, the point is to get your story out there, show the world your story, receive feedback, and all of that is going to give you incredible experience in your writing and in your directing and guess what? since you're already a Creative Artist, you can write another story and make it a film using all the experience that you gain from your previous one. In this time, is not that hard to produce an indie short film or something like that, there are a lot of good editing softwares out there, a lot of books info and tutorials about filmmaking, great cameras that are not really that expensive, and a lot of people interested in these kinds of projects.
Is that or, wait for some successful hollywood producer to take a look at your work and if you're really lucky he will buy it, and you won't see your story ever again, until he produces it and that could take years or simply could never happen.
Screw that man, don't wait, don't waste your time with this industry-business bullshit, life is too short, do it yourself!
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Nowadays, we have great examples of this kind of philosophy[/caption]Cinema is composed by two powerful disciplines: Writing and Directing. If you're a film-maker it's better to be these two things.
I already said that if you are a Writer you should become a Director, but that's also the other way around, if you're a Director become a Writer, generate your own material.
If you don't believe me, maybe you'll listen to Spike Lee:
So from now on, new and aspiring Film Directors; let's become writers and new and aspiring Screenwriters; let's become Film Directors, for the sake of both arts.
Interested about the cheap cameras stuff I said earlier?
Interested about the editing softwares stuff I said earlier?, of course you could buy them but... there are other ways.
Interested about the film tutorials stuff I said earlier?
Thanks for reading :)
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