This weekâs rebroadcast from 2011 considers when is the right time to talk to people about your ideas.
I recently moderated a panel with eleven of the writers nominated for WGA screenwriting awards. By any normal standard, it was way too many people to have on a stage, but we managed to make it work. My thanks to the panelists, the WGA and the Writers Guild Foundation for putting it all together.
The organizers had already decided there wouldnât be a Q&A afterwards, but I wanted to give the audience a chance to participate a little. So I told them to tweet their best question to @johnaugust. I would pick one to ask before the end of the session.
I chose this one:
Aaron Sorkin cautioned that talking about what youâre planning to write can easily sap your enthusiasm for it. Stuart Blumberg agreed, noting that even one âmehâ response might scare you off your dream project.
Lisa Cholodenko said that while working on The Kids Are All Right, she hadnât talked to many folks about the plot. Only after the movie was finished did an executive mention that sheâd read a couple of scripts with similar storylines over the years. Had Cholodenko known there were competing projects, she might have had second thoughts, worried that someone would beat her to the screen.
I largely agree with these opinions, but I also agree with Turman. I think the difference is that Larry Turman is a producer, not a writer.
Producers serve several functions, but one of the most important is pitchman. They need to convince directors, actors, studios â and ultimately audiences â to invest their time and money in a movie. So theyâre constantly testing and refining their message. Producer donât have to write âWuthering Heights with mummiesâ â they just has to gauge if thereâs interest. If no one sparks to it, thereâs very little at stake.
The writer, on the other hand, has spent days, weeks or months thinking and writing. Itâs so easy to get derailed and never finish. So my advice depends on your job title:
Producer â pitch constantly.
Screenwriter â zip it and write.
The 20-page threshold
Several panelists mentioned how valuable they found it to get feedback from trusted colleagues at around the 20-page mark. By that point, youâre far enough into the script to feel you have a handle on it. You hopefully like what youâve written. But youâre wondering if itâs actually any good.
Thatâs a good time to get feedback.
It doesnât have to be 20 pages. For Monsterpocalypse, I shared the first act. For Preacher, it was 45 pages. In both cases, enthusiastic feedback gave me a nice bounce of energy to help me finish.
Yes, youâre taking a risk that youâll get a bad reaction. But if itâs not working at this stage, itâs unlikely the problems would magically resolve themselves by page 120. Very few good movies have bad first acts. Itâs worth stopping forward progress to get the beginning right.
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đŁ Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Twitter @ccsont, or Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art