The Screenwriter's Contract with the Audience

As a screenwriter, you have a contract with your audience. Did you know that? I didn’t until I watched Andy Guerdat's interview on Film Courage on YouTube.

Here is the interview between Andy Guerdat and Film Courage.

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The Contract: The Audience Pays; The Screenwriter Makes Them Feel

Andy Guerdat sums it up perfectly: “The contract we make with the audience is: they pay us money, and in return, we make them feel something.” It's clear and simple: They pay; you evoke emotions.

While this is true, it misses a crucial element: having a point, a reason to tell the story. Let me explain why.

Making the Audience Feel Is Not Enough

Stories are about emotions. However, without a point, the story doesn’t matter. You can watch the worst horror movie and still feel afraid, see a bad comedy and laugh, or watch poor-quality porn and feel aroused. It’s possible, but that’s not why people watch movies.

You can feel emotions from a bad story, but a good story will always make you feel something significant.

Emotions in Greek Theater (1200 - 323 BCE)

"Ancient Greek civilization, the period between the end of the Mycenaean civilization (1200 BCE) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE), significantly influenced later Western culture in politics, philosophy, and art." - Britannica

According to Aristotle, Greek tragedy aimed to create an emotional release, called catharsis, by making the audience feel pity and fear. These tragedies focused on human suffering, showing characters facing hardships, loss, and tough moral decisions, which made the audience deeply empathize with them.

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The Revised Contract: It's Not Only About Emotion, It's Also About Having a Point

In short, storytelling is about emotions. Our job as screenwriters? Make the audience feel. That’s the deal we strike with every script. But we should not forget why people go to see movies: for a story with a meaningful conclusion. Therefore, I would adjust Andy Guerdat's contract.

Revised Contract: The audience pays money; the screenwriter makes them feel by telling a story with a meaningful point.

Note: This article was assisted by ChatGPT for spellchecking, shortening, and rephrasing sentences.

Directing Advice by Steven Spielberg: "You Need To Look At The Old Films"

I've found this video of Steven Spielberg saying: "You need to look at the old films.". It's not long, it's just 2:19 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LYJhvMbwn8

Funny Story: He used to bribe his kids to watch old movies :D

Steven Spielberg's Advice for Young Filmmakers

Steven Spielberg: "It's the stories they're going to get an audience to pay attention to you, not the shots" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dzo-O9cXXg

Rod Serling's Background As WWII Veteran

Rod Serling publicity photo for the premiere of The Twilight Zone, 1959. Courtesy CBS Television.

My friend Jonathan shared a link with me about Rod Serling's background as a WWII veteran and how the war influenced his legendary show, "The Twilight Zone." (1959 - 64) I can also see this influence in his work on "Planet of the Apes" (1968). And early in his career, Serling was inspired by comedian Jack Benny. Did you know that Rod Serling was Jewish?

Rod Serling's background as a WWII: Click

Steven Spielberg on the Importance of Studying Classic Films

Snapshot: Video by American Film Institute published in 2011 on Youtube.com

Hello,

here is a 2-minute video from Steven Spielberg, speaking about the Importance of Studying Classic Films. It's a video on Youtube, published by the American Film Institute in 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdoC-5OI2xY

Key Takeaway

1. Don't Forget the Classics: Spielberg worries that young folks are missing out on old movies, especially from the 1930s and 40s. They might know a lot about modern films and directors like Tarantino, but they're not tuned into the rich history of cinema.
2. Learning from the Masters: He points out how today's filmmakers, even big names like himself, learned from the masters of the past. The directors of the 1970s, like Spielberg, were influenced by those who came before, showing that inspiration travels through generations and time
3. Give Old Movies a Chance: Spielberg urges everyone to give black and white films a shot, even if they seem old-fashioned at first. He's noticed that once people start watching, they get drawn into the story, proving that good stories never go out of style, no matter when they were made.

Spielberg says we should watch old movies because they teach us a lot, but young people often ignore them. He wants everyone to give black and white films a chance because they're still great stories, no matter how old they are.

Best,

André

Note: 

Jerry Seinfeld: "The Movie Business is Over" - Part 1

Part 1/2

     (Netflix, Movie Poster, "Unfrosted")

There is something going on in the movie business. The quality is poor. We are producing and consuming movies with low-quality standards. And most people are not aware.

Pixar is good, Marvel is bad.

Jerry Seinfeld: “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.” (IndieWire.com; 23.Apr.2024)

Why is that? I can't say for sure. But Jerry Seinfeld reminds me of a time when I was a young man, 12 to 16 years old: I was wondering why my family and friends would go into the movie theater and, after watching, didn't want to talk about it. I was eager to talk, but somehow the people didn't care. Why was that? I don't know.

What can we do to make film become the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy?

Watch good movies. Don't accept bad ones. When you are in the cinema, walk out of bad ones, and stay in for good ones. Don't accept bad movies.

Do you want to know what is good and bad?

In part 2 of this blog post, I'm going to share with you how you can spot good or bad movies.

And in order to conclude this blog post: Pixar is good, Marvel is bad. 

Blog post part 2 coming soon....

Learn From Master Screenwriter - Billy Wilder

When there is one writer you should learn about screenwriting, then take Billy Wilder. In collaboration with I.A.L. Diamond, he has written and directed one classic after another. To name a view of them:

• Sunset Blvd (1950)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• The Apartment (1960)

"In "The Writer Speaks" filmed by the Writers Guild Foundation in 1995, Billy Wilder gives a glimpse into his mind. You can watch it right here.": The Writer Speaks: Billy Wilder (64m)

Below are my personal notes from watching it:

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Notes, 13.4.2024, Filmed in 1995 by Writers Guild Foundation

Billy Wilder 

• studied screenwriting for over 60 years
• story structure is for Billy Wilder like building a house
• 25 years of work in cooperation with I.A.L. Diamond

Writing Process

• Mr. Billy Wilder does not write a scene and fix it later.
• He does not write first, second, and third drafts.
• He writes the first scene as good as it gets and then continues with the next scene.

Casting

• get yourself the most expensive cast, because then they are good
• the audience must want to see the cast again
• "If you write a good part, help yourself by getting the best actor to do it."
• The picture will be much more expensive when taking a low class actor, because compared to a high class, you will need to take several shots

Character Development

• the process of searching in your own memory for a person you know and try to get the sound, the walk and the looking

Camera Angles

• fotograph as simple and elegant as possible - No Surprise Shots!! 
• "You should not see where the cut was. It should all flow."
• Billy Wilder can mention 50 Director that he admires
• As a Director "Don't do any trick shot that takes two days to light and you don't want it anyway you cut it out."

What changed in the pictures and writing as of 1995?

• the industry loves sequels: Nr. 2, Nr. 3, Nr. 4
• The industry relies on movies which are already succesful and fear original stories, but Billy Wilder thinks: "It's just a picture"

Advice to the Young

• know how restless the audience is
• you have to find a thing to grab the audience by the throat and don't leave them off
• "the subtler you are and the more elegant you are and yet hold them, the better writer you are."
• "but you must learn what is drama, and what engages you, and that keeps your interest more and more."

How do you turn a 5 page outline into a screenplay?

• Billy Wilder had written a 5 page outline for "The Apartment" (1960)
• (1) "well, the most important thing to find is if you have a seccond act curtain. It's the curtain that is so important, because it launches the end of the picture, but it should be tragic, it should be funny, but you have the material that you can go etherway, preferibly as a surprise to the audience."
• (2) get into detail (3) know where to go (4) find the mechanics (5) then hide the mechanics (6) write 2 or 3 scenes where people talk (7) some days you just find names for the character

Color VS. Black & White

• "There were no reason to make it in color. Color makes it a little bit more difficult."

Irma la Douce (1963)

• He didn't like the music

Writing Some Like It Hot (1959) while shooting it

• The end of the picture they wrote the weekend before shooting
• In most pictures he is already shooting while there is only an outline done for the 3rd act

How to write for the front office?

• The executives like to have a theme
• the actors like to have a good story

Adapting a Novel - Problems when adapting a book to a screen?

• The reader is the problem, they have read the novel
• You hope that you bought a very popular novel
• you can't mess with basic trends in it
• you can't mess with basic characters
• you have to have the major scenes in it
• there is much more joy and freedom in a original story than an adaption
• Sometimes it happens, that the audience says, that the movie it is better than the book

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