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by William Speruzzi
| After reading about all the studio development news (or shall I say anti-development news) it’s easy to get depressed. Remakes, preexisting material (adaptations, sitcoms, board games?) and franchises are and will remain king. It seems that original specs are having a hard time seeing the light of day. The numbers would have you believe that in these hard economic times everyone is still going to the movies. Maybe they are but what is getting them there is a prior relationship with the material before seeing the film. Or maybe it’s just a new spin on an old show with current talent that makes it all seem so fresh. Whatever it is, Hollywood is betting on it.
I haven’t written a book or a franchise or a screenplay based on a soft drink. Now what?
Where does that leave me and everyone else like me? Back to the beginning. I think a big part of being in the film industry is being flexible. Adaptability is everything. This actually couldn’t come at a better time. I needed to change my game up. I was feeling a staleness coming to my writing. I felt myself reaching a point in my writing and never going beyond that point. Having a son forced me to step back a little and assess why after all this time I still want to put myself through this agony. I find myself caring less about the industry and the numbers and more about writing a better screenplay than my last one. I was in dire need of a new approach.
Part of this new approach is having a plan. Like writing a screenplay you need to figure out some of the moving parts before you get there. I’m still writing specs with no intention at this point to develop preexisting theme park material. Here is my plan, as in, this is directed towards me (your approach might be different):
- Make a list of my top ten writing projects with a little one-liner. Written, partial-written and unwritten projects. From that list deduct what to work on next. What will I have the endurance for? What is going to benefit me creatively? Will this help or hurt me in the long run?
- Get a HUGE cork board that can hold an entire screenplay of scenes. Approximately 40-60 index cards. Map it out all over again. Take a step back.
- Make a list the tools and techniques that work for me. I tend to lean on techniques used in literature – theme, allegory, blah, blah, blah. With all the moving parts it’s good to have some things laid out in front of you.
- Relax. Don’t write for the industry, it only leads to alcoholism. We all saw Barton Fink and what the industry does to writers. Seriously. Writing can be such a mind fuck that unless you are really in love with your ideas it can be a long, long painful haul.
That’s the plan for now. I’m sure I’ll add along the way.
So as I try to revitalize myself as a filmmaker by going to the IFP Script To Screen Conference this weekend maybe I can come up with some hard hitting questions for the panelists like, oh I don’t know, now what do we do? I’m sure I won’t be the only one asking.
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