What happened to the quality of movies these days?
Usually I don't take sides on the quality of work that crosses our computers and desks, but lately the quality of work that I have been seeing is just deplorable.
You turn on the TV, or worse yet, cough up your hard earned money hoping to see a good movie, and you are sadly disappointed. You ask yourself, who is responsible for making bad movies?
I have asked our clients about this as well, and here is the basic gist of what they told me ...
I will start with the story line. Most writers out there don't realize that the script is more than just a story ... it's also an important timing mechanism that sets the pace of the movie from start to finish, and is supposed to transport the viewer smoothly through the story, but most writers seem to ignore this, and instead load their scripts down with too much senseless detail that makes the directors job more difficult. Most scripts written this way rarely (if ever) sell, and when they do, they usually undergo further development and suffer serious alterations by companies like ours, which is good for business I have to say. Since the director is the one responsible for interpreting the script, and getting the action captured on film, writers should make the directors job more easier by not loading scripts down with too much information, but most writers fail to understand this, and instead load their script with all kinds of 'director only' elements like mentioning camera angles, and even the type of lenses that should be used in a scene. Oh well ... you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!
Actors. Most writers think they don't have any say in the type of actor who would be cast in the roles they have written, so they continue to crank out boring and lifeless material that only makes the script worse, and even harder to sell. This is why most actors these days read their lines like they are reading a story in a newspaper. Most writers avoid writing their stories for a particular person, because they (along with the producer), worry that that particular actor will not be available to play the part if the script were to sell, but this does not mean writers should not write their parts for a TYPE of person expected to play a scene. A really simple example is a robber sticking up a bank. We would not expect them to say: "Excuse me, but this is a robbery. Would everyone be so kind and please lie down on the floor ..." but they would be expected to yell: "This is a hold-up! Everyone get on the @*#* floor now!" As you can see, the type or words used tells us a lot about the person using them, and the energy and emotions of the person saying those words, but most writers fail to use the correct vocabulary for actors playing different parts.
Mood. Most writers find defining the mood of their script difficult, and correcting this is one of the biggest things that keeps us in business. Why is this? I think it is because most writers focus most of their energies on individual scenes of their script that they end up losing touch with the main fabric that is supposed to hold the whole story together, and that main fabric of the story is the mood, or overall setting of the story in the script. Scripts afflicted with this malady usually try to have a separate mood or setting for each part of the story, thinking that it will help separate each act of the story. The end result is a bunch of scenes competing against each other for the attention of the audience, which causes confusion and lack of interest in the whole story, and that means a flop at the box office. From our experience, the main cause is writer laziness. Since most scripts are made in small parts at a time, the writer usually changes the way they write from one writing session to another, and fail to smooth out the variances during the editing and re-writing stages
That is why our review services are so important to aspiring writers. By having an experienced 'outsider' read and analyze your script before it is formally submitted, you stand a better chance of a sale or interest in your other works if your material is properly and professionally presented. Most writers fail to realize the importance of an another, unrelated human mind reading their work that they over look this important step in the process.
Limited choices. Making a quality product takes time, and since time is one thing studios don't have much of, they have little choice but to buy the best material they can, even if that material is not the best quality available. Quality scripts have a better chance to sell, because they need little if any additional work before they can be produced. Badly written scripts, but those with a really good story idea also sell, but are usually changed so much in the development process that the original writer may not recognize their work ... As you can see, it all comes back to the quality of the writing. Actors can't play their roles very well if the script is bad, and directors have little to work with if the writing is bad ... So if you see a bad movie, don't be too quick to blame the director or the actors. They can only work with the material they have.
-- John Bradley
Visual Writing
One of our clients wanted a script worked on, and the subject line of their email was:
Can you tell me the difference between writing a [movie] script and a book?
I knew right away that the attached script would need lots of work ... which makes me wonder why script writers always have to describe action in writing that is for a visual medium. Since the idea of the story was a really good one, the client decided to buy it anyway. Our job was to turn a script that read like a novel back into a movie script that would be suitable for production.
Let me take this time to remind you that since this was a really good story, the production company decided to buy the script, but at a really low price. Had the script been in better form, it would have received a much higher price, which is why our script review services are so important for new writers trying to submit their scripts. If the story in this case was bad, the script would have been immediately rejected, but the writer had to settle for a lower price than they should have received (At least we got some of that difference!).
Now, where was I? Writing a movie script calls for writing action, and book writing is describing the action. Move scripts are made to describe events that are to be captured on film (usually). background details, like furniture in a room, or people staggering around in the street are described in general terms, and when the action begins, the these details are automatically captured on film, so they do not have to be described verbatim in the script, because the audience can already see them. Also, it is the director's responsibility for making sure these 'details' are captured on film. See the part about trying to lead a horse to water above.
So writers, when you are writing scripts, leave out obvious details like the type of cars in a scene, or merchandise on display in store windows, unless there is a real need for it to be described, as in those cases where an actor will walk up to the store window and call attention to the items on display.
A car following someone could be (content changed) described as:
Joe Blow gets in his car and leaves. Jane Doe, waiting in her car follows Joe after he leaves.
Well folks, this does not have to be that hard. We already see that Joe gets in his car and leaves. It's not like he got in his car, then back out of the car and left on foot. The same with Jane. We see she was waiting in her car, so common sense would say that she started the motor of her car, and followed Joe in her car.
I would like to show how the writer of the original script described this action, which may leave you in tears or stitches, but I can't, so you will have to try thinking about that on you own.
-- Scott H.