Getting Educated In Creativity

A teacher asked a little girl what she was drawing and the little girl said: "I'm drawing a picture of God." And the teacher said: "But no one knows what God looks like." And the little girl replied: "They will in a minute."


TED talks are great. Some mind-blowing. Others thought-provoking. But always inspiring.

This one from Sir Ken Robinson has been around for a while but I just watched it recently and really liked it. Please, enjoy.




One part I found interesting was when Robinson says, and I'm paraphrasing... "The extraordinary evidence and variety and range of creativity here has put us in the place where we have no idea what is going to happen, in terms of future, no idea."

And then today over at Alex Epstein's blog I watched this lecture by Jesse Schell about creativity and future possibilities in the gaming world and thought: Wow...could that be the future? And if so, where does conventional and traditional TV/movie storytelling fit into it all? What the hell should I be doing?

PC Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

We may not quite know right now, but I betcha we will in a minute.

However, I Will Let You Buy Me A Drink...

I teach a couple of screenwriting courses, including a night class at the local university. This means I'll see twenty or thirty or so pitches and synopsis' and treatments and scripts cross my desk over the course of a semester. Yes they're from students, kids just starting out...but just because they have me at their disposal shouldn't make it any simpler or easier. Do the work, newbies...put the effort in...make whatever it is you're writing the best you can. Don't take advantage of the situation just because, unlike pro scribe Josh Olsen, who wrote this wicked piece for the Village Voice, I have to read your script.

Now, I normally have a standard response to people who ask me to read their scripts, and it's the simple truth: I have two piles next to my bed. One is scripts from good friends, and the other is manuscripts and books and scripts my agents have sent to me that I have to read for work. Every time I pick up a friend's script, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring work. Every time I pick something up from the other pile, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring my friends. If I read yours before any of that, I'd be an awful person.

Most people get that. But sometimes you find yourself in a situation where the guilt factor is really high, or someone plays on a relationship or a perceived obligation, and it's hard to escape without seeming rude. Then, I tell them I'll read it, but if I can put it down after ten pages, I will. They always go for that, because nobody ever believes you can put their script down once you start.

But hell, this was a two page synopsis, and there was no time to go into either song or dance, and it was just easier to take it. How long can two pages take?

Weeks, is the answer.

And this is why I will not read your fucking script.

It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you're in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you're dealing with someone who can't.

(By the way, here's a simple way to find out if you're a writer. If you disagree with that statement, you're not a writer. Because, you see, writers are also readers.)

You may want to allow for the fact that this fellow had never written a synopsis before, but that doesn't excuse the inability to form a decent sentence, or an utter lack of facility with language and structure. The story described was clearly of great importance to him, but he had done nothing to convey its specifics to an impartial reader. What I was handed was, essentially, a barely coherent list of events, some connected, some not so much. Characters wander around aimlessly, do things for no reason, vanish, reappear, get arrested for unnamed crimes, and make wild, life-altering decisions for no reason. Half a paragraph is devoted to describing the smell and texture of a piece of food, but the climactic central event of the film is glossed over in a sentence. The death of the hero is not even mentioned. One sentence describes a scene he's in, the next describes people showing up at his funeral. I could go on, but I won't. This is the sort of thing that would earn you a D minus in any Freshman Comp class.

Which brings us to an ugly truth about many aspiring screenwriters: They think that screenwriting doesn't actually require the ability to write, just the ability to come up with a cool story that would make a cool movie. Screenwriting is widely regarded as the easiest way to break into the movie business, because it doesn't require any kind of training, skill or equipment. Everybody can write, right? And because they believe that, they don't regard working screenwriters with any kind of real respect. They will hand you a piece of inept writing without a second thought, because you do not have to be a writer to be a screenwriter.

The article is titled: 'I Will Not Read Your F***ing Script". Enjoy the rest of Olsen's words HERE...and newbies, take notes!

Show, Don't Tell...Then Teach

It's that time of the year again...teaching time.

Today I begin another run at educating (or corrupting) young university minds about the craft of screenwriting. Sigh. This class is a toughie, in that even though I've been advised in the past to just cover the basics and keep it simple (like having a 10 minute script the goal of the course), I've always said damn the torpedoes and gunned for a TV half hour screenplay as the end result.

Why?

Well, the ten minute screenplay made sense to me if the plan was for the students to shoot said script say, the following semester. But when the department didn't want to sync up their class schedules and curriculum to accommodate this notion, I started thinking...what could the students leave with that would be of some value to them? Something tangible...for their portfolio, as it were.

(For the producing class, for example, I had them leave with a professional looking one sheet and polished pitch package and development plan/budget.)

For a screenwriting class, a half hour TV screenplay seemed like a good start. It's a piece of work that fits industry standard templates, can be shown to a producer or agent as a work sample, plus could even be produced and eligible for broadcast if good enough. And it's created following the stages the pros usually do...you know, pitch/premise... beatsheet...treatment...first draft...second draft.

Problem is, this makes for a boatload of reading/note-giving on my part. Especially this semester, given that the department overloaded the class by 4 students (16 in total now) and I've got more kids begging to get allowed in.

Sigh.

Anyway, this fall I'm trying out this nifty little text entitled How To Write: A Screenplay by Mark Evan Schwartz.


The hook of the book is that it illustrates the basics of screen storytelling in the form of a ninety page screenplay. It's a riff on Dante's Inferno where struggling screenwriter Danny, who wants to win the heart of starlet Bebe, has an encounter with the mysterious Virgil who guides Danny through the netherworld in an attempt to produce a winning script. So the ins and outs of formatting are nicely integrated with examples of character, plot, theme, conflict, complications, etc..

It shows, not tells. Plus it's a quick read, like a hundred pages, which leaves a lot more time for the doing instead of the telling or reading.

I've drafted a mini-bible to steer the students in a specific direction, like writing for an anthology series. And I've set up the class like a writers room...with students pitching each other for approval and then reading scenes and treatments aloud for ideas and feedback, all the while I play exec producer to oversee and guide them to a final draft.

But I don't play nice.

I tell them first day this will be one of the hardest classes they ever take, but can be the most beneficial to them in the long run. They'll leave with a much better idea of how the 'real world' industry works, and be well on their way to getting to where they might want to be. Because we all know the fastest way to succeed after film school (write/direct/produce) is to have a script/story that others like and want to see get made. It can be your ticket, baby...don't drop it.

Should be fun, no? More like fun and a lot of work...which I guess it is and should always be.

Credit due?

I received a nice email today from a former film student I taught last year - he was on a semester exchange from Australia to Canada so it was a fluke that he ended up in my class - but nevertheless I thought I'd share:


Hi Will, how's it going? I hope you are well. I still think of your classes from time to time. Thanks for what you taught us. I have a portfolio DVD that I am interested in sending you. I did go on to produce 'Sacred Space' with the script virtually as it was in your class. It's 10 minutes and was actually selected for a film festival that screened in the heart of Sydney. I also produced a documentary while I was traveling through Africa which will go to air in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in July. And I am a finalist in Australian Story - probably our most respected documentary series featuring the tales Australian people, lifestyles and values. I'm working for Channel 7 in Sydney at the moment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you have been up to and the productions you have been working on.

Best wishes,

David **** - Producer/Director
Australia


Now let's first off acknowledge this 'kid' (I think he was 22, so a baby in my world) was good...blew away most of the local students in terms of his maturity, biz awareness, and story sense. And he welcomed criticism and took notes and applied solutions. But it got me thinking about the notion of 'credit due'. One teaches/advises a student on his or her film..and they follow your suggestions and your notes, and guess what...it turns out to be an award winner, or better yet, helps get them work or another film. And after much contemplation, I've concluded that there is no 'real' credit due...if the gig is teaching, then that's your job...and if students you've taught have some success, then that's the reward.

And furthermore, we all get breaks throughout our careers, but you still have to deliver once given that opportunity from the break. Stand on your own two feet as it were...without your teacher/professor/mentor holding your hand. And I'm sure the 'kid' delivered on that front as well.

Same goes to an even greater extent when working in the story department on a tv series. A screenplay isn't writing...its rewriting - and nowhere is that more true than in the writers room. And those of us who've been there know that feeling of taking a freelance story/script that has some good things but just isn't quite working, doing the all night rewrite to fix it and make it jive with the voice/style/tone of the series, hand delievering it down the hall the next morning to the AD's because it begins prep that week...and then seeing it win a script award a year later at the Gemini's or WGC Awards...believe me, it happens...

And don't get me wrong - I am not slagging or pointing fingers or condemning...just talking reality.

So...is credit due? Again - if your title is Story Editor or Executive Story Editor or any one of the Producer titles they designate to story department types in the US, then it's the gig...those in the story department are paid to write some scripts and paid more to rewrite all the others, because the showrunner rules, and the series is king, not the individuals...and the worst WORST thing you can do is take over full credit from the freelancer because you had to do a major rewrite (99% of the time has little to do with story writer pitched and wrote and more to do with production changes, cast requests, network demands - all of which the freelancer has little or no awareness of) and thereby screw him/her out of the production fee. But believe me, it happens...

....so don't sweat about 'getting enough credit' - eventually good work and good people will be recognized...just cash the check and be happy to be working, and hopefully that freelance writer you rewrote at least says thanks and buys you a drink...or better yet, hires you onto their show the next year...or even best, invites you to come work with them in Australia.

Uhhhh...David?

ARTIST & SONG? - "There's more to the picture,

than meets the eye.

Hey hey, my my"