Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

    Originally posted by Klazart View Post
    Personally, I find all this "talent" stuff to be a bit simplistic and immature. How do you define talent anyway? Different people seem to describe it in different ways.
    A lot of what you say rings true. Especially about fast writing because surely (as a fast writer myself) I know I work the idea out several ways in my head for as long as necessary before I sit down and dash one out in a few days. Just my process. But there are definitely people who are more talented in terms of being able to write anything and have it just be magical. I would say that Bill Goldman springs to mind. I don't think he was "hot" and that's why he sold so many and had so many made. I think he was just plain good. But this thread is about why people fail at screenwriting and it has nothing to do with talent. Certainly you have to have a modicum of ability but the rest hinges on so many other things.

    Comment


    • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

      Originally posted by dirtbottle View Post
      A lot of what you say rings true. Especially about fast writing because surely (as a fast writer myself) I know I work the idea out several ways in my head for as long as necessary before I sit down and dash one out in a few days. Just my process. But there are definitely people who are more talented in terms of being able to write anything and have it just be magical. I would say that Bill Goldman springs to mind. I don't think he was "hot" and that's why he sold so many and had so many made. I think he was just plain good. But this thread is about why people fail at screenwriting and it has nothing to do with talent. Certainly you have to have a modicum of ability but the rest hinges on so many other things.
      Right, but what did it take for Bill Goldman to get the the point where "everything," he wrote was magical? How many unused drafts and treatments and whatnot does he have gathering dust on some old hard drive or floppy disk?

      Comment


      • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

        Originally posted by Klazart View Post
        Right, but what did it take for Bill Goldman to get the the point where "everything," he wrote was magical? How many unused drafts and treatments and whatnot does he have gathering dust on some old hard drive or floppy disk?
        Hard drive? Floppy disc? In Goldman's early days it would be carbon copies, and rewrites were a b!tch...Still, I bet he has a few.

        Midnite

        Comment


        • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

          And even Goldman had a looooooong period where his phone didn't ring. But, first and foremost, he's a writer so even when he wasn't writing screenplays he was writing something.

          (I haven't read this whole thread 'cause I find the topic sorta silly, but I saw Goldman's name. Big, big fan and I've always been tempted to just go to NY, find him, and buy him a cup of coffee. But that would be kinda creepy.)

          HH

          Comment


          • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

            Originally posted by haroldhecuba View Post
            And even Goldman had a looooooong period where his phone didn't ring. But, first and foremost, he's a writer so even when he wasn't writing screenplays he was writing something.

            (I haven't read this whole thread 'cause I find the topic sorta silly, but I saw Goldman's name. Big, big fan and I've always been tempted to just go to NY, find him, and buy him a cup of coffee. But that would be kinda creepy.)

            HH
            I've called him. His home number is easily available online. He in fact tells a story in one of his books about meeting one of his writing heroes for lunch so you never know. Maybe you should.

            As for how long it took him to be magical? Apparently not all that long. I believe the first thing he wrote as a screenwriter got produced even though he didn't really have a clue what he was doing. He was a prose guy prior to that so that obviously helps. But yes, he works extremely hard or so he claims. But that's more about his process than not having the ability. My point still stands however, that he has a shitload of talent at just telling a story. In whatever the format. That isn't why or why not most fail at screenwriting however.

            Comment


            • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

              Yeah, I've looked him up so I have his address. Actually the last time I was in NY, I thought about just "accidentally" bumping into him. I had my kids with me so I thought that would've lessened the weirdo factor a little. Probably very little.

              Originally posted by dirtbottle View Post
              As for how long it took him to be magical? Apparently not all that long. I believe the first thing he wrote as a screenwriter got produced even though he didn't really have a clue what he was doing.
              He got into it by accident. Cliff Robertson stumbled on his novel, "No Way to Treat a Lady", and thought it was actually a treatment. So Robertson offered him a chance to write a movie (think it turned out to be Charly), but didn't like Goldman's script. But he was out there, and someone asked him to adapt a Ross MacDonald novel, and when Paul Newman expressed interest in it and it was made...Goldman had a career.

              As far as why people fail at screenwriting? People fail at it the same way people fail at any other thing: Because sometimes failure happens no matter what you do.

              HH

              Comment


              • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

                Goldman tells a neat story about Paul Newman. He goes to meet Newman at his home in Connecticut, I think, to talk about a project. Butch Cassidy, or maybe something else. Anyway, they are walking along this road talking the thing over, and Newman's very down to earth, very normal. Except Goldman notices that Newman has picked up a handful of pebbles, and every time a car comes down the road, Newman casually pitches one into the woods, timed so that his face is turned away just as the car passes.
                Patrick Sweeney

                Comment


                • Re: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting

                  Originally posted by Jeff_Shurtleff View Post
                  But some people can write "well fast"

                  Well, some people can write mediocre fast. Like if Steven Spielberg calls you and says Tom Cruise's and his schedules are free for 60 days four months from now and can you bang out a draft of War Of The Worlds in 12 weeks? (because everyone knows that if you want to work in Hollywood you have to meet deadlines).

                  And you get what you get. Which is, as in the case of Spielberg's WOTW, mediocre sh1t.

                  But then, whenever I research how long it took a writer to finish a great film, like say Groundhog Day or When Harry Met Sally or most Pixar films, I usually find out there were written and rewritten over the course of years.

                  So I would say the ability to bang out fast drafts is not only the most overrated qualification for being a professional writer, it's also the reason we're stuck with so many crap films.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X