Post by kurtismae on Feb 27, 2010 23:13:18 GMT -5
The entire interview here:
johnrobertmarlow.com/lonelykeyboard/sa__terryrossio.html
JRM: What goes through your head when you sit down to write—what are you thinking?
Terry Rossio: Well, okay. Starting from the beginning ... the first issue to me, and most important, is whether the concept of the movie is intrinsically compelling. I like to feel with absolute certainty that the fundamental idea for the film is, without a doubt, an exceptional premise, one that implies that a film must be made from it, without question. You want to cross the finish line at the beginning of the race.
Next, I would ponder exactly why the concept is compelling. This is kind of like examining a diamond from every angle under different lighting, against different backdrops. Yes, you know it's pretty, but what makes it so? And how does it achieve its beauty, and could it be enhanced even more?
Once you know, perhaps, the several different ways a premise is compelling, you can attempt to know how best to present it ... would the 'interesting stuff' in it be better explored as comedy, or a drama ... a police procedural, a western? Even if you have a genre in mind that seems obvious, it's worth thinking about how the idea plays in other genres.
Right away Ted and I start to see key images. There is nearly always a series of filmic images naturally associated with every good film idea. As those images come—trailer moments—we try to think of ways to link them or group them, to write toward them and away from them ... a plot starts to form. (It's sad when—much later—one of the early, key images drops out, or falls away from the spine of the eventual storyline.)
Next I would spend some time thinking about the all-important second idea. Since I fear working on something that isn't great or compelling from the start, I want to stack the deck in our favor by taking the first inspiration and going past it, add to it with a second inspiration. This is hard to describe because it could be 'adding' or 'merging' the first concept with another concept from another movie idea, or it could be coming up with some twist that derives from the original idea and pushes it further. I guess at all times we keep thinking, 'how can we push this' more than what we have already. Can we do the entire concept in the first thirty pages, and then go from there, and really blow the audience away? Again, this is all fear-based ... is it good enough? No, not yet, it can get better, we can do more ...
I shouldn't go too far without starting to think about the main character relationship or relationships in the film. (Note, not the main character, or characters, their histories and such. That's not so important. To me, the relationship between characters is what needs to be defined, those are the moments audiences want to watch, and the actual characters can be adjusted to make the main relationship or relationships the most interesting). That leads to thinking about what kind of character, and character situation, is best to mine the concept, or take best advantage of the concept or story arena.
As always, I would try to think of ways to push the characters into extremes, because this is my personal weak point, and I would worry that my characters are too timid, or bland; too much a reflection of myself, meaning my actual self or the self I wish to present to the world, and not enough a reflection of my hidden self, my fears, experiences, dreams, wishful thinking, intuition, hang-ups and psychosis; or at the least, not compelling or unique enough in an external-to-myself sense, as in, the world's greatest detective (Sherlock Holmes) or a man ages backward from birth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) or a man who lives 2000 years (Lazarus Long); etc.
I try to think of situations, or evolving situations. I would start to explore what I would visualize as possible 'umbrella' situations (overall issues that are simple, and so allow for complex exploration) as well as interesting sub-situations. My goal is from page one to present whatever the story is in only a series of 'characters in situations' where the information and issues appear as a side effect of people dealing with immediate problems, with no relief.
I ask myself: have you made the mistake of making the secondary characters more interesting than the leads?
Early in the process I want to focus on the ending. Nothing else matters, nothing will happen, no project will be begun or get anywhere or make any progress at all until the ending is known. If there is no satisfying ending, or at least the glimmer of one, then the idea will sit on the shelf. Good endings are hard. But once you have it, then everything else derives from the ending, because it's all, in a sense, setting up that final twist, or emotion, or feeling, or thematic statement, or rush of excitement, or chill, or brilliant payoff, or sublime wisdom, or whatever.
You always ask—what is the tone? Again, as part of that, back to genre ... are there genre conventions that can be mixed, or used to advantage? Is this really a Romeo and Juliet story, hiding, in disguise? Is it really the Count of Monte Cristo? Is it Guns of Navarone? Once Upon a Time in the West? Is it an innocent on the run like North By Northwest? Is it a combination of story patterns, or, is it something that's not been done before, or at least, I don't know that it's been done? If so, how do I see the pattern in my head?
What's the title? If the project doesn't call to mind a cool title, then I start to suspect that it's not a good project, or I'm not ready to write it yet.
Has a theme emerged yet? It's almost impossible to have the makings of a story without a theme implied, but then you ask, is the theme trite, or is the opposite of the obvious theme more interesting, or is there an entirely different theme that is actually better, more sublime, more compelling? I would also explore whether all aspects of the theme, or central question of the screenplay, can find form in the story—perhaps characters or character relationships can be invented by assigning them different aspects of the thematic argument.
What is a compelling opening image?
At some point, after having a few scenes and images in mind, some characters, I would start to wonder—what is the point of view? It usually starts off flying all over the place to explore the story, but is there some way to limit the point of view that would actually enhance the telling of the story. (What if we revealed stuff from this character instead, how does that change the emphasis, how does that change the unfolding narrative from the audience's point of view?)
At some point I would double check—is the setting right? What if I changed the gender of my lead, would it matter? What if I opened at the end instead of the beginning? Would the whole thing be better if the leads were ten years old? These are just routine questions used to double check the whole creative process, shake things up, and make sure I'm fully exploring all options.
I might ask—is this all really best suited as a screenplay ... is it really a novel, a short story, or a play, or a comic book or a television series just masquerading as a feature screenplay?
I would double check—is this castable, is the budget under control, is it something that a director might like to make ... are actors going to want to be in these roles ... I want the thing to get made!
I would also double check—have I fulfilled, and also exceeded the genre? If it's a horror film is it actually scary, if it's a romance is it actually romantic? What are the reference films the audience will bring to this?
I would wonder—does it require a character as villain or is it not that type of film, is the conflict not imbedded in one person? What if there were two villains? What if the villain turned out to be the hero? What if we told the story from the point of view of the villain? Again, these are just questions I would ask to assure myself I'm not missing some obvious opportunity.
I guess at this point the process of generalizing breaks down ... hopefully I'd have enough answers to start getting into specific problem issues and story problem solving. I would start to generate ongoing patterns—character relationships, setting up reversals. I would want to build in surprises. I'd play around a lot with the 'lines of force' which is just tracking each character through the story, understanding that each would continue toward the path of what they want, unless their wants change; but all actions are a result of intent and intent comes from desire. So if I want the plot to work the character's desires have to be designed such that as a by-product the plot works.
Over and again, I would ask: what's cool? What's a cool sequence? Character? A cool line of dialogue? A cool set, a cool exchange, a cool sequence? A cool relationship? What's a cool demise? What's a cool fight sequence, a cool visual? A cool opening image? (And by cool I mean actually cool, as in Superman becoming Clark Kent in one shot, or Jack Sparrow stepping off a sinking ship, or Howard Beale yelling "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more," or Elliott and E.T. riding across the face of the moon, not the Hollywood version of cool as mentioned before, all wet streets, neon lights, long black coats and grim-faced killers shooting each other.)
Repeat this whole process several times, as needed, until in an excruciatingly slow process, each solution asserts itself and declares itself, 'good' and finally, when everything is good or you run out of time, it's done.
THEN you can start writing the screenplay ...
Thanks to Scott Myers for the initial link to the interview.
Kurt
johnrobertmarlow.com/lonelykeyboard/sa__terryrossio.html
JRM: What goes through your head when you sit down to write—what are you thinking?
Terry Rossio: Well, okay. Starting from the beginning ... the first issue to me, and most important, is whether the concept of the movie is intrinsically compelling. I like to feel with absolute certainty that the fundamental idea for the film is, without a doubt, an exceptional premise, one that implies that a film must be made from it, without question. You want to cross the finish line at the beginning of the race.
Next, I would ponder exactly why the concept is compelling. This is kind of like examining a diamond from every angle under different lighting, against different backdrops. Yes, you know it's pretty, but what makes it so? And how does it achieve its beauty, and could it be enhanced even more?
Once you know, perhaps, the several different ways a premise is compelling, you can attempt to know how best to present it ... would the 'interesting stuff' in it be better explored as comedy, or a drama ... a police procedural, a western? Even if you have a genre in mind that seems obvious, it's worth thinking about how the idea plays in other genres.
Right away Ted and I start to see key images. There is nearly always a series of filmic images naturally associated with every good film idea. As those images come—trailer moments—we try to think of ways to link them or group them, to write toward them and away from them ... a plot starts to form. (It's sad when—much later—one of the early, key images drops out, or falls away from the spine of the eventual storyline.)
Next I would spend some time thinking about the all-important second idea. Since I fear working on something that isn't great or compelling from the start, I want to stack the deck in our favor by taking the first inspiration and going past it, add to it with a second inspiration. This is hard to describe because it could be 'adding' or 'merging' the first concept with another concept from another movie idea, or it could be coming up with some twist that derives from the original idea and pushes it further. I guess at all times we keep thinking, 'how can we push this' more than what we have already. Can we do the entire concept in the first thirty pages, and then go from there, and really blow the audience away? Again, this is all fear-based ... is it good enough? No, not yet, it can get better, we can do more ...
I shouldn't go too far without starting to think about the main character relationship or relationships in the film. (Note, not the main character, or characters, their histories and such. That's not so important. To me, the relationship between characters is what needs to be defined, those are the moments audiences want to watch, and the actual characters can be adjusted to make the main relationship or relationships the most interesting). That leads to thinking about what kind of character, and character situation, is best to mine the concept, or take best advantage of the concept or story arena.
As always, I would try to think of ways to push the characters into extremes, because this is my personal weak point, and I would worry that my characters are too timid, or bland; too much a reflection of myself, meaning my actual self or the self I wish to present to the world, and not enough a reflection of my hidden self, my fears, experiences, dreams, wishful thinking, intuition, hang-ups and psychosis; or at the least, not compelling or unique enough in an external-to-myself sense, as in, the world's greatest detective (Sherlock Holmes) or a man ages backward from birth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) or a man who lives 2000 years (Lazarus Long); etc.
I try to think of situations, or evolving situations. I would start to explore what I would visualize as possible 'umbrella' situations (overall issues that are simple, and so allow for complex exploration) as well as interesting sub-situations. My goal is from page one to present whatever the story is in only a series of 'characters in situations' where the information and issues appear as a side effect of people dealing with immediate problems, with no relief.
I ask myself: have you made the mistake of making the secondary characters more interesting than the leads?
Early in the process I want to focus on the ending. Nothing else matters, nothing will happen, no project will be begun or get anywhere or make any progress at all until the ending is known. If there is no satisfying ending, or at least the glimmer of one, then the idea will sit on the shelf. Good endings are hard. But once you have it, then everything else derives from the ending, because it's all, in a sense, setting up that final twist, or emotion, or feeling, or thematic statement, or rush of excitement, or chill, or brilliant payoff, or sublime wisdom, or whatever.
You always ask—what is the tone? Again, as part of that, back to genre ... are there genre conventions that can be mixed, or used to advantage? Is this really a Romeo and Juliet story, hiding, in disguise? Is it really the Count of Monte Cristo? Is it Guns of Navarone? Once Upon a Time in the West? Is it an innocent on the run like North By Northwest? Is it a combination of story patterns, or, is it something that's not been done before, or at least, I don't know that it's been done? If so, how do I see the pattern in my head?
What's the title? If the project doesn't call to mind a cool title, then I start to suspect that it's not a good project, or I'm not ready to write it yet.
Has a theme emerged yet? It's almost impossible to have the makings of a story without a theme implied, but then you ask, is the theme trite, or is the opposite of the obvious theme more interesting, or is there an entirely different theme that is actually better, more sublime, more compelling? I would also explore whether all aspects of the theme, or central question of the screenplay, can find form in the story—perhaps characters or character relationships can be invented by assigning them different aspects of the thematic argument.
What is a compelling opening image?
At some point, after having a few scenes and images in mind, some characters, I would start to wonder—what is the point of view? It usually starts off flying all over the place to explore the story, but is there some way to limit the point of view that would actually enhance the telling of the story. (What if we revealed stuff from this character instead, how does that change the emphasis, how does that change the unfolding narrative from the audience's point of view?)
At some point I would double check—is the setting right? What if I changed the gender of my lead, would it matter? What if I opened at the end instead of the beginning? Would the whole thing be better if the leads were ten years old? These are just routine questions used to double check the whole creative process, shake things up, and make sure I'm fully exploring all options.
I might ask—is this all really best suited as a screenplay ... is it really a novel, a short story, or a play, or a comic book or a television series just masquerading as a feature screenplay?
I would double check—is this castable, is the budget under control, is it something that a director might like to make ... are actors going to want to be in these roles ... I want the thing to get made!
I would also double check—have I fulfilled, and also exceeded the genre? If it's a horror film is it actually scary, if it's a romance is it actually romantic? What are the reference films the audience will bring to this?
I would wonder—does it require a character as villain or is it not that type of film, is the conflict not imbedded in one person? What if there were two villains? What if the villain turned out to be the hero? What if we told the story from the point of view of the villain? Again, these are just questions I would ask to assure myself I'm not missing some obvious opportunity.
I guess at this point the process of generalizing breaks down ... hopefully I'd have enough answers to start getting into specific problem issues and story problem solving. I would start to generate ongoing patterns—character relationships, setting up reversals. I would want to build in surprises. I'd play around a lot with the 'lines of force' which is just tracking each character through the story, understanding that each would continue toward the path of what they want, unless their wants change; but all actions are a result of intent and intent comes from desire. So if I want the plot to work the character's desires have to be designed such that as a by-product the plot works.
Over and again, I would ask: what's cool? What's a cool sequence? Character? A cool line of dialogue? A cool set, a cool exchange, a cool sequence? A cool relationship? What's a cool demise? What's a cool fight sequence, a cool visual? A cool opening image? (And by cool I mean actually cool, as in Superman becoming Clark Kent in one shot, or Jack Sparrow stepping off a sinking ship, or Howard Beale yelling "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more," or Elliott and E.T. riding across the face of the moon, not the Hollywood version of cool as mentioned before, all wet streets, neon lights, long black coats and grim-faced killers shooting each other.)
Repeat this whole process several times, as needed, until in an excruciatingly slow process, each solution asserts itself and declares itself, 'good' and finally, when everything is good or you run out of time, it's done.
THEN you can start writing the screenplay ...
Thanks to Scott Myers for the initial link to the interview.
Kurt
