Making Movies, Hollywood Style
Step 1
Development
- the first person involved in the making of any particular movie is the screenwriter
- the screenwriter’s job is to come up with a story that will work as a movie that can be shot and made for a reasonable amount of money
- some ideas just can’t work as movies – could be too expensive (Avatar cost about 275 million dollars – these days an average movie will cost upwards of 70 million dollars)
- some ideas are just too much in the head, not enough action – ie a single character whose life is about thinking or takes place in the mind (Castaway, Moon, one person movies are risky)
- some ideas aren’t marketable enough to attract a big enough audience to risk paying for the movie – eg a movie about romance between senior citizens – just aren’t enough seniors going to movies like there are kids
- screenwriters have to think about the audience, the money it would cost, the “things” that attract stars to be in it, and a bunch of other factors that we may not even know
- screenwriting is a lonely job that requires a TON of time and a TON of rewriting – it is very difficult to stick with it – a tiny fraction of writers actually makes money
- do any writers become big stars, really popular and well known? Answer – not many.
- Frank Darabont (The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, The Walking Dead TV series, The Mist)
Scott Frank – (Marley & Me, The Interpreter, Minority Report, Flight of the Phoenix)
Scott Frank – (Marley & Me, The Interpreter, Minority Report, Flight of the Phoenix)
- Stephen DeSouza – Die Hard, Running Man, Street Fighter, Beverly Hills Cop III)
- David Benioff (Wolverine, Kite Runner, Troy)
- The thing is, these guys are big for awhile, but they never get well known unless they direct – writers have NO power in the industry
The Writing Process
- start with a treatment – which is a story version of a movie – often in quick, short lines of description that tell the broad outlines of the actions
- often uses a format called “beat sheets”
- the most commonly used beat sheet pattern was created by a guy named Blake Snyder – we will use his beat sheet for our pattern
- www.blakesnyder.com - the template is under Tools at the top left – download it and that is our template to make our own movie beat sheet to plan our blockbusters
- (see separate note on the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet)
- this pattern is one of many possible patterns writers can use to outline a movie script
Once a movie script is written, the writer usually has to attract another key player in the process of making the picture
This person is called a PRODUCER
The producer is a crucial player in the life of a movie
This is kind of like the boss of all the business elements, and the person who sets the whole thing in motion
Producers deal with the most important aspect of the process at this point – getting a studio or distributor – which means getting MONEY
The producer will try to get money from investors, maybe from studios, maybe from pre-selling the movie in advance to distribution companies around the world, or in Canada, the producer will try to get money from the government (TeleFilm)
This sets up a new process of endless rewrites to the script to get it to some perfect place that everyone can agree on how awesome it is
It is almost impossible to get everyone to agree on anything, and many screenplays never get made even though they cost somebody millions
This problem is why most movies are crappy – they cannot be awesome if they’re written by committee
How many writers worked on the old Flintstones movie that starred Hallie Berry? – 27
This process kills almost all the screenplays that are written by anyone every year
There are writers in LA making big money who have NEVER had a movie made. Their scripts get bought and just sit there.
The third key player comes in early as well, and this person is probably considered the most important player in the movies (even though that isn’t always the case – writers and producers are important too)
A director will come in and make a whole bunch of new changes, and bring their own ideas to the table
Once that player comes in and the money is there, the movie can be GREENLIT
GREENLIT means it’s a go picture
The director takes over.
A director’s job:
- to hire actors, particularly a STAR – we will look at STARS in a minute
- break down the script into a series of shots and sequences that tell the story
- he comes up with a “look” or a visual style that the movie will have – some directors have WAY more visual style than others
- some directors with a really strong visual style are: Tim Burton, Michael Bay, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Zach Snyder, Christopher Nolan, etc
- these directors who have a real stamp on the movie and have similarities in all their movies are called AUTEURS
The most important person to come in on the early stage of development (in Hollywood movies is the STAR)
This is because Hollywood movies cost a FORTUNE and the studios who make them are looking for as sure a thing as possible – in order to guarantee audience, they think they have to get a big star to be the focus of publicity and audience interest
The whole idea of the STAR system comes from the earliest movies that used repeat performers who the audience got to know
Right now two of these giant celebrity actors who can guarantee press and audience interest are Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie – there are lots more, but these are two of the biggest
When they come into a movie, they are the 500 pound gorillas – they are the big deal and everybody else takes a back seat
- the star gets to decide what happens – how she looks, what she does, etc – she will work with the director and the director will have to figure out how to control the star, which can be tough
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