A Script Is Like A Pizza

[Moviequill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Moviequill]

Just watched an older documentary on the newbie screenwriting world called DREAMS ON SPEC and a comment Nora Ephron tossed out has stayed with me.

A screenplay is basically your pizza dough with just tomato sauce on it. Then the director puts on pepperoni, actors put on peppers, cinematographer puts on mushrooms, the music is the onions etc... building a whole pizza.

In the end out of the oven, some times it tastes good, some times you may have put too much olives on or needed more pepperoni...

You can watch the whole 85 min doc for free here

http://snagfilms.com/films/watch/dreams_on_spec/

[Signal30 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Signal30]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

And if you leave it under a warmer too long, it becomes stale and tasteless. Tough to chew and hard to swallow.

[ScriptShadow Member Find all posts View Profile Close ScriptShadow]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Ogres are like onions?

definitely will check the doc out.

[TheKeenGuy Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheKeenGuy]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Nora's got it wrong.

The screenplay is the recipe, and the screenwriter decides whether the director, actors, DP, etc. should make a pizza, or a chocolate cake, or a sh*t salad.

There are plenty of ways to get a good recipe wrong, and sometimes a really brilliant chef has the ingenuity to improve upon the recipe as written. But without a recipe, whatever you're making is probably going to be a mess.

[roscoegino Member Find all posts View Profile Close roscoegino]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

If I don't improve on the second act of my fantasy comedy script it'll be more like a burrito.

Thx for the link.

[cupertinoCA Regular Find all posts View Profile Close cupertinoCA]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Great documentary. Thanks for sharing it!!!

[Popcorntreect Member Find all posts View Profile Close Popcorntreect]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Nora's got it wrong.

The screenplay is the recipe, and the screenwriter decides whether the director, actors, DP, etc. should make a pizza, or a chocolate cake, or a sh*t salad.

There are plenty of ways to get a good recipe wrong, and sometimes a really brilliant chef has the ingenuity to improve upon the recipe as written. But without a recipe, whatever you're making is probably going to be a mess.

Yeah. It sounds like a movie is like a pizza, not a screenplay.

[wcmartell Member Find all posts View Profile Close wcmartell]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

A screenplay is like a box of sweating TNT you're transporting over a bad road in South America....

Or maybe a box of chocolates.

- Bill

[J off course Member Find all posts View Profile Close J off course]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Ever gone to bed with a pizza cook?

Their skin smells of yeast.

Ok, that doesn't have anything to do with screenwriting
but neither does pizza.

[Moviequill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Moviequill]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

A screenplay is like a box of sweating TNT you're transporting over a bad road in South America....

SORCERER -- now that's a movie they need to show on TV again instead of the 616th consecutive showing of Chain Reaction, Predator, Die Hard 3...

AMC, Bravo, A&E, Spike, TV Land, Turner (not Turner Classics) must die...

[wcmartell Member Find all posts View Profile Close wcmartell]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

See also: WAGES OF FEAR and VIOLENT ROAD.

- Bill

[twk69045 Member Find all posts View Profile Close twk69045]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

My screenplay is like a white castle slider.

[cvolante Member Find all posts View Profile Close cvolante]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

So does the fact that I like double anchovy pizzas explain my marketability problem?

I also go for spinach/feta/olive or BBQ chicken... alas.

[Popcorntreect Member Find all posts View Profile Close Popcorntreect]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

See also: WAGES OF FEAR and VIOLENT ROAD.

- Bill

Wages of Fear is great. Except for that one chick with hairy arm pits.

[TheKeenGuy Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheKeenGuy]

Re: A Script Is Like A Pizza

Ever gone to bed with a pizza cook?

Their skin smells of yeast.

Ok, that doesn't have anything to do with screenwriting
but neither does pizza.

You know, there's easier ways to get free toppings.