I’m Just Saying
Almost finished with the first draft of below mentioned script. Now, lest you assume that I simply had an idea pop into my head and then pounded it out in three weeks, you couldn’t be more wrong.
I’ve been thinking about this story longer than I at first thought. I came across notes from five years ago. I was shocked, really.
One thing I realized is that many of the problems that needled me for some time didn’t get resolved until after I just sat my ass down and started tapping away. What this means is that you don’t necessarily have to have everything all figured out before you sit down and get to work. Actually working on it will provide a variety of ideas from which to choose to solve a particular problem. In fact many of the ideas will not even be apparent until you start working on it.
On a somewhat related note, I read a couple of screenplay newsgroups on a regular basis. In response to one poster I mentioned what I believe to be Hollywood’s creatively incestuous nature. What I’m talking about is the fact that, for the most part, Hollywood is not exactly a bastion of creativity. Oh, sure, some great, creative stories do come out of Hollywood, no doubt about it. But the ratio of crap to gems is pretty high. I believe much of the reason is because Hollywood is mostly interested in creative talent that resides in Hollywood. Writers living in Hollywood mingle with other writers in Hollywood. They talk, they network. By its very nature, it can’t help but be incestuous to a degree. The incestuous part can be best exemplified by the fact that you can count on that right now, at this very moment, there are probably hundreds of people sitting at their desks frantically working on the next 300 or variation thereof.
I was called to task by a real screenwriter. When I say real I’m talking about a guy who has written a ton of scripts and actually had them made in to real, honest to God movies. He’s quite well known and successful. He stated that Hollywood does not make movies for Hollywood, but rather the whole world. True, but I believe that Hollywood’s version of the whole world consists mainly of those between the ages of about 15 and 25, and whatever hit the mark in that age group last week, will almost guarantee similar coming down the pike next week.
My main point is that I believe that there is a huge market of more mature movie-goers who are interested in a great story more than a high concept, heavy on the FX, BOOM, BOOM, rollercoaster ride.
Not to say that high concept, heavy on the FX, BOOM, BOOM, rollercoaster rides don’t have a place.
I’m just saying.