The Writer:
Akiva Goldsman is one of the more prolific writers working in Hollywood today. He’s been writing hit films since the early 90s, and now also produces many of his own films. On occasion, he even takes a bit role in his films (how fun would that be??) An expert at adapting novels, Goldsman is perhaps best known for writing A Beautiful Mind, Batman Forever, Practical Magic, and The Da Vinci Code.
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Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
Carson Reeves of ScriptShadow recently answered the question that aggravates every amateur screenwriter: Why do terrible scripts get bought and turned into terrible movies, but no one’s interested in my script?
Carson responds,
The answer to this question is extremely complicated, but I’m going to try and simplify it for you.
Say a producer knows that Seth Rogen just went on a canoeing trip and had the time of his life. And the next day, he hears about a canoeing script from an agent friend. He reads it. It’s not very good. But he knows how much Seth loves canoeing, so he sends it to him. Seth’s a good writer and knows the script’s lame, but the bones of the structure are there and there’s a few funny scenes. He can easily buy the script then hire some guys to rewrite it and a year or two later, have a project ready to go.
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I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
The English Patient script was written by Anthony Minghella based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje.
It wasn’t until about the fifth draft of ‘Sixth Sense’ that I really began to figure it out. It was then that I realized he’s dead. It took me five more drafts to execute it right.
A new report out of the Writers Guild of America shows that the number of female screenwriters is dwindling, and they are making 77 cents on the dollar compared to male writers.
Now, I don’t know the breakdown of men versus women who are trying to become screenwriters, but based on what I’ve seen at writing conferences, classes, writers groups, and among the followers of this very site, it seems that women make up at least a third and perhaps even half of all the people trying to become professional screenwriters.
But women aren’t getting as far as men in this field, and it’s worth asking why.
Todd Cunningham of The Wrap reports:
There are fewer women writing for feature films and they make less than their male counterparts, according to new figures released Monday by the Writers Guild of America West. Women accounted for just 15 percent of sector employment — down from 17 percent in 2009 — and are outnumbered by more than three-to-one among screenwriters, according to an early summary of the 2014 Hollywood Writers Report, the WGAW’s analysis of the state of diversity in writing for television and film. Women film writers earned just 77 cents for every dollar earned by white male film writers in 2012, down from 82 cents in 2009, the survey said.
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The most difficult and complicated part of the writing process is the beginning.
Character descriptions are hard. I’ve read all sorts of articles on character descriptions, and I’ve yet to find anyone who’s got a finger on what should be included in a solid character description. Ultimately your description should be compelling and memorable, and there’s no simple trick for achieving that.
As you struggle over the problem of summarizing your main characters in a sentence each, read over Lucy V. Hay’s advice for what NOT to do:
How are you using your scene description to introduce your characters? Because too frequently, I read intros like this:
i) Any – introduced in scene description by the clothes they wear, or as Julie Gray calls it, a “laundry list”. This tells us virtually NOTHING about their personalities or who they are, guys. Yes, yes, arguably colours or style can give us *some* impression … Or it may not. How many people do YOU know in real life who can be defined by their clothes alone?? (NONE for me). MORE: Character Introductions & Voice
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The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning.
