Beyond Words

Last night I attended a wonderfully inspiring event at the Writers Guild Theater: Beyond Words - A panel discussion with WGA and Oscar-nominated screenwriters, sponsored by The Writers Guild Foundation, the Writers Guild of America, West, and Variety. I went courtesy of Ithaca College's Pendleton Center (they take good care of me).

I took notes - though I didn't see many students taking notes - this is because I've still got a grad student alive and well somewhere in my head. Here are some of the gold nuggets from the panelists:

Tate Taylor - (The Help) - Write it long and cut it. Be fearless to write everything, then cut and slash later. "Don't be afraid to take a crap on your computer." (That got a lot of laughs.) You'll figure out what you were going for after the first draft is done. Don't over-think it while you're writing it.

Stan Chervin - (Moneyball) - Get your pitch to two sentences so that anyone can see your movie immediately.

Aaron Sorkin - (Moneyball) - Admitted that Moneyball was a bitch to get made, and that "there were some typos" (laughter, especially from students). Do whatever it takes to cross the finish line, don't give up. And at the very end of the night, offered up one last piece of advice: Just get to the end of it, then start again, meaning, get through the first draft no matter what, then you'll know more about the story you want to tell. He also suggested that Taylor write closer to the men's room, since he'll go through computers very quickly (re: taking a crap on your computer). Taylor responded by saying he just uses one of those gel keyboard covers. "It just slicks right off." Good to know professional screenwriters enjoy indulging in scatological humor like the rest of us.

Steven Zaillian (Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) - Hasn't seen the Swedish adaptation of the novel - consciously avoided it so his film wouldn't be a "remake of the Swedish movie." He spoke about despairing of your writing, but to keep going anyway. He really touched a lot of us who write and then think "well this is garbage," because clearly even the pros go through this even after many successes. He also spoke about writing characters: he doesn't judge them and allows them to take up residence as a part of him, so that he just has to follow what they do in the circumstances. This comment sparked my own note: All the prep and character sheets in the world will not produce a fleshed-out, real person on the screen. Only writing the script and putting the character in difficult circumstances reveals character.

Annie Mumolo - (Bridesmaids) - It was heartening to hear her talk about how many drafts she and Kristin Wiig wrote over four years, and that they were still tweaking on set. She told the wonderful story of receiving notes from Judd Apatow after they'd submitted their first solid draft, and how scary it was, but also thrilling to get such great feedback from him. It was interesting to learn that the "restaurant denouement" scene was Apatow's idea, not theirs. I hated that scene (and truthfully, I didn't like a lot of the movie because it was just women being raunchy and that was supposed to be cutting edge or something...whatever...sorry, Annie).

John Logan - (Hugo) - Advocated sparse writing style and expressed his attraction to characters who are thwarted and make their own happy ending. Makes sense if you consider he also wrote Gladiator, The Aviator, Rango, The Last Samauri, and Star Trek: Nemesis. I'm really looking forward to his adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, starring and directed by Ralph Fiennes. Logan talked about the fact that Hugo was not intended as a family movie; it was about hurt and pain and damage, like all his scripts. He also made a statement that resonated with my (former) students and me: What separates real writers from dreamers is the earnestness and seriousness of getting up every morning eager to put words on a page, explore worlds, and make a life of the craft. Yes, that is me. That is why I'm here, after all.

Alexander Payne - (The Descendants) - He came off as a bit of a prick, to be honest, but did have a couple useful things to offer. He explained how he approached the adaptation of the book the film was based on by doing more research about the circumstances and place (Hawai'i) beyond the book itself. This was sound advice, I thought. He also advocated sleek, sparse writing, and seemed to zero in on Tate Taylor for suggesting writing long was a place to start (this is where he came off like a prick). He seemed to miss the point that Taylor had made, but whatevs. He also basically refused to answer one of the moderator's questions about throughlines and themes in his work, being snarky about how the moderator (Ron Bass, who wrote Rain Man) had just commented that his work was diverse, so why is he looking for a throughline, now?

Will Reiser - (50/50) - Wonderful guy, cancer survivor, wrote this film based on his personal experiences being a young person with cancer. He noted that there hadn't been any insightful, funny films made about young people facing death. The script was as much if not more about the effects of such a diagnoses on the friends and family of the patient as it was the patient coming to face to face with his own mortality. He talked about how his best friends, Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, and he came up with the "Fuckit List" while he was undergoing treatment.

From all of this goodness, I take away a few things:

1. It's okay to despair of my writing. The important thing is to just keep going, even if I think the script I'm writing is junk.
   
2. Write the first draft long, get to the end of it, then mine it for the story I really want to tell. Like Michaelangelo freeing the statue that already exists in the block of marble.
3. I need to seriously work on my pitching skills.
4. Never give up, never surrender!

After the panel, there was a luscious reception in the lobby of the theater, where I got to hobnob with my former students. Honestly, I felt like a celebrity. Of course only the serious writers come to the L.A. Pendleton Center for their semester in Hollywood, so it was a joy to hang with them and hear what they're doing. Without exception, they all asked me if I would read what they're working on this semester in Advanced Screenwriting, and we ended up deciding to have a workshop at my apartment next Monday. I'm happy to do this, especially since their prof is overwhelmed with an exceptionally large class this semester, twice the size of the group he normally gets. And one of them, a very gifted filmmaker, was excited to help me move forward on Korea Dreambus!, since I keep going around in circles on what that film is about.

All in all, I can't say I've had such a marvelous evening in...I don't know when. Inspired, connected, grounded, and did I mention inspired? This is why I moved to L.A.