by Charles Harris
One of the ironies of low and no-budget films is that their most obvious weakness rarely comes from lack of production funds.
More often than not, the weakest part of the film is not the production value, but the script. And the irony here is that the script is generally the least expensive thing to fix. Cheap - but not easy. Every producer and director (and script editor) will swear, hand on heart, that the script is the key, and a great script is essential. But finding - or developing - a great script: that’s a little more difficult.
Process
To find out why this is, we need to look at the whole process of film development: that key time in which the whole package - script, cast, creative elements and of course finance - come together and are refined into a perfect marriage of artistic talent and marketability. Or should be.
Sadly, in the majority of cases, this doesn’t happen. This is the harsh reality.
There are three main reasons why development is usually messed up.
Money
The first is money. Script development takes the longest of any part of the creation of a film.
Speaking recently at Screenwriters Workshop, Tim Bevan, Joint-Executive Director of Working Title, referred to projects at WT which have been three, five and even ten years in the writing. Independent films in general can easily take up to eight years of development before they are financed.
But time is money. Independent producers generally don’t get paid in the UK until film actually starts rolling through the camera. So the pressure grows to push that script through quickly to begin principal photography, even though it might not be quite ready.
We can’t easily remove this pressure. Development money is the riskiest finance. Aside from the Film Council and a very small number of other sources, hardly anyone invests seriously in development in Britain.
Sources of development finance are much stronger in the States, but that doesn’t help us here. We just have to keep pushing on, fighting to improve our scripts and fighting to stay alive and pay the mortgage while we do it.
Attitude
However, the second reason for poor development does lie within our control as film-makers. It’s a question of attitude. The US has a development attitude. Here we are still more easygoing - and it shows.
The typical UK producer says he’s looking for “a great script” and when he finds it, he shoots it. The typical US producer says he’s looking for “a great script” and then - twenty drafts later - he shoots it.
In this lies a fundamental difference of attitude, and one which we must change. Indeed it is already starting to change here, albeit slowly.
Bevan tells how Working Title believe when you greenlight a picture is when you start to rewrite the script, not when you stop. And this rewriting is a process which continues right up to principal photography and even beyond, throughout filming and into post production. But to do this, you need to have skills as a developer.
Skills
Here we come up against the third obstacle. Producers, directors, even script editors - all of those who have to work alongside writers in developing scripts (let’s call them “developers”) - are rarely given proper training in the key skills they need. If they are lucky, developers may have had some experience as writers themselves. More likely not.
Either way, they will probably rely on a few received ideas that they have somehow managed to pick up along the way, a belief that they “know what they like” and a great deal of wishful thinking.
This “flying by the seat of the pants” approach can lead to disaster. Too many British producers and directors have gone into production with flawed scripts containing serious problems that only reveal themselves in the cutting room - by which time it’s usually too late.
Tragically, the flaws are often ones which would have been easy to fix in advance - if the developers had known how. In other equally sad cases, the production team are aware of problems with a script before shooting, but just don’t know how to solve them.
Typically, with low budget films, a beginner writer finds himself sitting across a table from first or second-time producer. Both may well be very talented, but lacking in experience. Both are desperate to communicate ideas about the script, but all too often neither of them have the training or vocabulary to make contact.
What Makes Scripts Work?
So when you are yourself faced with a willing screenwriter, what skills do you need?
Understanding
First you need an understanding of what makes good scripts work.
You need to be able to recognise the elements that underlie strong, dramatically involving and original stories. You also need to have a sharp sense of where a good script fits in the movie marketplace. No use developing an arthouse script in a way that will only sell to multiplexes or a mainstream movie in a style that will put off everyone except the “carrot cake” brigade.
Analysis
Second you need to be able to read a script and analyse its strengths and weaknesses. Easier said than done. Scripts are not as readable as novels or even theatre plays. To analyse one takes a certain level of reading experience and demands at least a basic understanding of key elements. You need to understand the interconnected roles of character, plot, genre and theme, to name but a few.
Solutions
Third, you must have an ability to come up with a range of possible solutions that deal with the weaknesses without damaging its strengths.
Communication
And fourth, and just as crucially, you need to have the knack of communicating those ideas to your writer, in ways that he or she will both understand and be able to use.
Reading a large number of scripts is one crucial step towards getting that first essential: understanding. If you are serious about becoming an industry player, I prescribe three scripts a week, after meals! For at least a year.
They can be good scripts or bad, preferably more good than bad, films you’ve seen and films you haven’t. Buy them, download them off the Internet, steal them from production companies, but read them.
Screenwriting Books
Beg, borrow or steal a selection of screenwriting books too - but take them with a large pinch of salt. They are generally written for writers, not development executives. The perspective is different. Also, many of them have a tendency to come up with a golden formula that seems wonderfully persuasive in theory, but is considerably more difficult to put into actual practice.
Fixing scripts demands a flexibility of mind, and a range of different possible solutions. One formula is rarely enough. And of course, relying on a formula can easily lead to scripts that are - well - formulaic. Which is not to say that you shouldn’t read screenwriting books - you should. And magazines, and websites. And go to seminars, lectures and workshops. You can’t learn too much.
The Writer
Then there’s the whole question of dealing with that strange creative beast: the writer. Whether you have come up with the idea yourself, bought a novel or play for adaptation, or optioned an original script, you’ll find yourself commissioning a number of new drafts. And that means you’re going to have to give notes and suggestions.
In my time as a writer, I have worked with many producers and directors. They have discussed the scripts, spoken fluently and fascinatingly about their feelings, evoked wonderful and exotic flights of verbal fantasy: and in my entire career so far I have only met three who have been able to give me a single suggestion that was any use to me in practice.
To deal with a writer, you need a whole new level of understanding - you have to be part earth-mother, part psychologist, part sociologist, part storyteller, part magician, part con-man or woman, part slave-driver, part doctor and part nurse. I don’t want to make this sound too intimidating. If you aware of the need to deal with these problems, then you can find the solutions.
Help Is At Hand
Both NPA and SW run regular seminars, workshops and masterclasses on development. The Film Council is also aware of the problem of development, and are backing a number of new development training schemes to help. One of these is ScreenLab 2002 run by NPA and SW: a major new series of development training seminars.
Aimed specifically at those who will be working with screenwriters - producers, directors and other production staff - the five seminars will deal with key areas of script development: story, genre, working with writers, developing strong characters and advanced development skills. There’ll also be a sixth seminar for those who want to learn about teaching these skills.
The training will be made up of a mixture of lectures, workshops and panels - with experienced industry figures - and will run on alternate Thursday evenings through the year from 17th January.
Numbers will be restricted, and there’ll be reductions for those who book all the main five seminars at the same time. We intend the sessions to be intensive, stimulating and thought-provoking.
I’m biased of course, but I think this, and the other Film Council-backed initiatives, comprise a very exciting step forward for UK independents. Whether you come and learn with us, or find your own way, please make sure that the cheapest part of your production is also the best. Base your next film on the best possible script
This article first appeared in New Producer, the Newsletter of the NPA
© Charles Harris 2001
Now read: The Film Council - what does it offer developers?
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