Bringing Something New

[1mper1um]

Ok,

This has been on my mind for a while and having my pages critiqued by Derek has made this the ideal time to raise it. The main gist of my feedback was that it all seemed familiar and done before and that if I am to stick with this idea to bring something new to the genre. And this has been the feedback for others too.

Now, for my script, I hold my hands up and cannot argue too much. Even allowing for the twist I think I've brought, it's still a genre movie. I knew as much when I started writing it. But in general I don't see too many scripts bringing something new to the party and that many are just retreads of what's gone before.

Perhaps I am being too basic but I see three options to bring something new:
1) Concept - Inception, Matrix, What Women Want
2) Memorable, witty dialogue
3) Unique narrative style.

Now, I am not one for sci fi or fantasy so 1) is largely out. As for dialogue, go down this route and you’re at risk of being labelled a Quentin/Cody clone. And going for a unique narrative style (to me, anyway) brings comparisons to the other most imitated writer, Shane Black. Just the other week, I read Balls Out and the way the narrator talks to the reader was very reminsicent of the demi god, Black.

Now Hollywood’s infatuation with sequels and built in franchises aside, think of all the other genres: rom coms, rowdy comedies, horror, slasher, action, buddy buddy cop - how many new and interesting takes are there? For example, look at The Proposal - its a spin on Two Weeks Notice, and Due Date is but another name for Planes, Trains & Automobiles etc.

Derek was correct that my script was “been there before “and I am not griping but by the same token, isn’t the cop-action genre the same? The works-alone maverick/straight laced cop who is reluctantly teamed up with someone he resents (rookie/old fart/woman/psycho/gung ho/dog/competing cop/psychic/ex con/Internal Affairs/imprisoned serial killer)? You may say that these were new spins at the time but is there any difference between Clint having to tolerate Tyne Daly’s green female officer in the 70s and Charlie Sheen’s green rookie in the 90s? I think not. Is there any difference between Turner & Hooch and K-9 (both 1989) and Top Dog (1995)? Or Friday the 13th (1980) and Hatchet (2007)? How is the cop-goes-undercover-and-questions-whose-side-he-is-on Point Break (1991) radically different to the decade later Fast and the Furious (2001)?

If anyone writes a cop based action-thriller then everything will be familiar, no? From the aforementioned chalk & cheese team ups to busting the bad guys. Same goes for horror. You wanna cover exorcisms/slashers/zombies/ghosts and you’re going down a well trodden path already. 28 days Later introduced running zombies (okay, they weren’t technically zombies but you know what I mean) but what else has been done to invigorate the zombie genre over the past 40 years? Not much apart from Zombieland - and think of all those generic zombie films that have been made over the years.

And I’m not even talking about the DTV cash ins and knock offs that wanna strike whilst the iron is hot. Most of the movies I’ve named are big budget and decades apart.

How did last year’s The Wolfman bring anything new to the werewolf table? Yet it got made all the same. And vampires - old vamps, young vamps, kiddie vamps, reluctant vamps, vamps that are dead and loving it, vamp killers -(and their motivation is always because their loved ones were killed by vamps) - there is always going to be something very familiar. I’ve just seen a new movie in the shops that is essentially Evil Dead - which is 30 years old! And the critically acclaimed low budget The Reef didn’t do anything different from Open Water - it was people stranbded at sea trying to stay alive and avoid sharp teeth.

I don’t doubt there are new and original films but I believe the majority aren’t. A rom com has to have certain dynamics - usually two parties hating each other. And Jason Statham is just doing what Stallone and Arnie did in the 80s. Even his projects are near identical (The Transporter & The Mechanic).

So here is me, liking my horror, action, thrillers and comedy (I won’t go near slapstick spoof because everything gets compared to the majestic Airplane!) - what more can one do without retreading to a large degree? I mean, containment thriller-horrors are still about people trapped in one location trying to escape. I’ll be honest, I can’t think of a single idea (mine or in production) that doesn’t have a large element of “seen it before” and yet these movies are still getting made. I can’t think of anything new (okay, so shame on me), we’re told to bring something new to make us stand out (and I understand why) yet familiar stuff is repeatedly given the green light.

[Derek Haas]

That familiar stuff getting the green light? Most often, it is studio-generated. And when you see the final product, it is after moving through a process that moves things to the center. Every now and then, a novel spec script bursts through the clutter. SE7EN or THE USUAL SUSPECTS or RESERVOIR DOGS. You have to be that good to get noticed.

[1mper1um]

Originally Posted by Derek Haas

Every now and then, a novel spec script bursts through the clutter. SE7EN or THE USUAL SUSPECTS or RESERVOIR DOGS. You have to be that good to get noticed.

Now that's setting the bar! Okay, back in the day, True Romance and Reservoir Dogs were creating a big buzz. Both were Quentin scripts and both had his banter and pop culture references. TR was the more straight forward of the two. Now, assuming TR was writte now, am I right in saying it wouldn't generate the buzz? After all, that stylistic dialogue is trademark Quentin and not fresh and yet that was what elevated the familar plot of kids nab mob money and scoot with the mob in hot pursuit?

[JeffLowell]

Yeah, you'd have to beat those scripts to get noticed now. A) they already exist. B) they're 20 years old.

There used to be a guy here, I forget his name, who'd say scripts only had to be as good as Little Monsters to launch a career, because it launched Ted and Terry 25 years ago. That's like saying if Apple introduced the Lisa today, it would be a best seller.

[sc111]

^ Boski.


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1mper1um:

I understand what you're saying. But I think as newbies we have to really stand out. The way QT stood out when he came on the scene. We can't think we can now, years later, homage QT and get rewarded for it. I'm probably saying this in a convoluted way. I'll defer to a paraphrase of Mazin's comment which snapped it into focus for me:

Hollywood is choked with competent scripts ... that are forgeries.

Putting it this way - as forgery - it really crystalizes the issue and what we're up against.

[1mper1um]

Hey SC,

I wasn't implyng forging or homaging anything - hope you didn't get that impression. As for being THAT good to stand out, I gotta concede, I'm light years from that. I can work on dialogue and character, action and subtext but something THAT new and original? Not unless I consume a heroic dose of mushrooms.

[roscoegino]

Originally Posted by Derek Haas

That familiar stuff getting the green light? Most often, it is studio-generated. And when you see the final product, it is after moving through a process that moves things to the center. Every now and then, a novel spec script bursts through the clutter. SE7EN or THE USUAL SUSPECTS or RESERVOIR DOGS. You have to be that good to get noticed.

This is something that flies over the heads of many trying to break in.
All specs have a special burden.

[Joaneasley]

Movies get made for different reasons including who someone knows. To break in, you have to do something to increase your chances. An option would be to make your world unique, or there could be something unique about your character that makes the struggle different and more challenging. When you write your logline, there should be something unique and appealing about it to make people request your script.

[dirtbottle]

Originally Posted by 1mper1um

Ok,


Perhaps I am being too basic but I see three options to bring something new:
1) Concept - Inception, Matrix, What Women Want
2) Memorable, witty dialogue
3) Unique narrative style.

Nothing new about Inception. It's such a rip off of "Dreamscape" it's almost illegal for god's sake. (I liked Inception though for the visuals very much even if the story was old news)

What Women Want has been done 1000 times.

Matrix was truly new and groundbreaking I thought. Maybe I'm wrong but it definitely seemed mind blowing to me because of the convergence of where technology was at that moment in history?

The spec market is hard. A new idea is tough. Such is life. You still have to write something exceedingly fresh and good to get it sold no matter what. The window is SO small for spec writers to get through.

Either let the quality of your writing do the talking and go the indie route or find an idea that will make a studio exec shoot in their pants.

[Juno Styles]

Matrix is similar to Total Recall IMO just with a slightly different spin. Arnold discovers a memory chip in his brain during a virtual-reality trip. He also finds that his past has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination.He gets jacked into a machine to be in that virtual reality world in the film too....and that movie was based on a book. There are a few other sci fi movies like it too but without the action.

I thought Sixth Sense was new after seeing it until M. Night mentioned he got the idea from some episode of some show that comes on Nickelodeon when he was watching it with his kids.

If you look close enough you'll see tons of movies you thought were "original" have been done somewhere either in film or books. the creator may not have taken from that source when making the film, but nobody's reinventing the wheel at this point. Just putting new spins on it. And when it's done right it ends up being a sh&^load of money and being something you can watch over and over.