Face it: In (today's) Hollywood, there is too much bad writing; not to mention an overabundance of actors. They are not all from America, either. Australia has a very large talent pool with not near enough roles to be filled. Also (as a rule), Australians can naturally do a better impression of a true southern accent than most actors from England.
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Some screenwriting inspirations are apparently serendipitous. When retired, 20-year Green Beret Martin Le Blanc served as a bodyguard for a Hollywood producer at his summer rental in Grosse Pointe, MI in 1994, the producer found his tales fascinating, flew him to Hollywood and had team of screenwriters pick his brains and hear his anecdotes for several days. The movie concept shifted to become the black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) The character's name is Martin Blank. Disclaimer: Our book about Martin's life, Ghost Warrior (including the GPB episode) will be published early in 2020.
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Yes, perpetuating the "Lego" series (complete with an in-residence Lego artist!), an "Aladdin" sequel and a "Lethal Weapon" spin-off are high creative endeavors demanding idyllic conditions.
That, or maybe a board room.
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Based on what's coming out of Hollywood these days this isn't working.
The fact is, the only way you become a writer is by reading, a lot. And then writing, writing, writing...
You can teach someone the mechanics of photography (photography school does not make you a photographer just as film school doesn't make you a director or acting school make you an actor), you can't teach or give someone the "Eye". That's a fact.
Go and have a look at how many of the greatest photographers went to film school. Or if any of the journalism greats went to journalism school.
Have a gander at the writing greats, nary a one studied writing.
The only way to become either of the aforementioned is to do it.
When Stanley Kubrick was asked if someone should go to film school to become a Director, he replied, are you kidding? Being a student of human nature is what is required.
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The real issue isn’t quantity of streaming content, there’s too much already, it’s quality. Fewer stories, better thought out and made, is what’s needed. As competition heats up, those services with better quality will win the day. As for sequels and remakes, there’s only so far you can stretch them and the audience gets bored.
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This story is fascinating to me and something I wish I could be part of. I will say that reading the names of more sequels and remakes is disappointing, but I love to collaboration - hope it helps develop more original stories. Would've loved to see more POC and women in the photos in this story.
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Looks like boy fantasy camp to me.
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Remakes, sequels, and reboots. Just what I'm clamoring to see more of. There needs to be collective group think for that?
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None of the ideas sound particularly new or groundbreaking. Remakes and more remakes. Nice house, though.
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A really sad piece. There's already too much content. The internet used to be more than streaming--it used to promise discovery, connection, creativity. Too many people wasting their lives in front of their screens, binge-watching while the world burns.
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I hope they will come with new ideas. My experience as a writer is that editorials and studios reject innovative projects, they prefer to stick with old, proven formats. When I arrived from Mexico, I heard a lot of companies looking for different approaches to creativity but so far, it's just smoke.
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@Carlos Ponce Well... movies cost millions of dollars. Sometimes many millions of dollars. It's easy to get misty-eyed about innovation when it's not your seven, eight or nine-figure check. I'm a screenwriter who would love to see more original narratives come through, so I feel you, but when producers get nervous about walking a market-unproven line of storytelling, I also get that. Because, once again, upfront is millions of dollars!
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@Lex as a screenwriter, do you have any advice for me, an unpaid screenwriter, to get her work optioned?
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@Tara The Nicholl Fellowships and Austin Film Festival are an excellent way to find a spotlight for your work, as is the Black List website. Each of these opportunities has shortcomings (eg. Nicholls winners tend to be more 'indie' than genre; the Black List costs), but they all have a strong track-record of launching careers. Glazer/Howard also recently launched Imagine Impact, worth checking out.
Could you get down to L.A. for a few days now and then? Visit the WGF Library in the WGA Bldg at Fairfax/3rd. You'll find a trove of scripts (which you can sit and read, but not borrow) from every period of American cinema, and you'll also find writers and directors beavering away on their projects there. Rub shoulders, show an interest in others' work, and inevitably conversations will happen.
Another recommendation: film festivals. It really doesn't matter which ones, although I have found Sundance and the AFI to be particularly good for creative mingling. You'll meet a ton of people, a majority of whom are in the industry, and, again, if you go ready to listen, as well as to talk, you'll walk away buzzing with potential new connections and collaborators.
Finally: if you have the skills and means to make a short or film of your own, do it. Nothing is quite so distinctive as a self-starter.
All that said, I don't know any two screenwriters with the same origin story... so inevitably there will be some improvisation in your journey. All the very best with it.
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Since everything now seems to be turned toward the future of the streaming world, you have to think of the practical realities and limits involved.
South Park did a recent episode addressing one segment: what happens to the cable companies and the people who work for them if more and more people pay for streaming services.
If this helps take the monopoly of cable companies down, I'm all for it. So would laws enabling local areas to set up their own internet access and more regulation on both internet and cable corporations.
As far as more and more content, it seems to me that pretty soon we're going to see an over-saturation point where there are too many shows on too many streaming services and that would mean too many shows that "you have to see."
Streaming can grow exponentially, but not the amount of time we have to consume them.
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@Joe Don't you think "too much content" is the least of our problems?
And those streaming services folks are using to cut the cord of cable? They'll merge, consolidate and it'll be "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
The most alarming issue here is the chock hold on innovative work seeing the light of day. But if we're being honest all mass entertainment is 97% comfortable formula and 3% rattle the walls innovation.
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@Joe Absolutely. There are only so many hours in the day, and only so many people to consume what is being produced. I no longer watch network television and my streaming habits have yet to be established. I'm not alone.
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