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Is it the Reel World or the Real World?

© John Lovett

Currently, I am taking a seminar on screenwriting from an accomplished screenwriter. A producer friend asked me, "As a produced screenwriter, why would you need to take a course on screenwriting?" My reply was that I am also an accomplished trap and skeet shooter but I also take courses on how to improve my skills. Every little bit helps.

One of the major discussions in this screenwriting class has been about the difference between the reel world and the real world. One thing this screenwriter keeps talking about is, "Don't let your moral compass get in the way of the story." As a writer, I can agree with that statement. As a consultant, I try to get the right "feel" to a movie.

For me, the real world versus reel world dichotomy is one that I struggle with every day. For example, a producer came to me and asked me to bid on the use of tanks for the filming of a parade for a movie. What period, I asked? They said, oh, we just want to film a parade scene and need a tank. I persisted, what period I asked; World War II, modern, what? They did not care, just a tank. So, I bid out a working Korean War vintage M46. The discussion about the uniforms and weapons all went about the same direction. Ultimately, I bid out BDUs for the extras, M16s, the M46, and various vehicles including a M3 Half-track. As my teenage daughter would say, "Am I bad?"

Consider, movies are entertainment. While they should be as close to existing historical knowledge as possible, sometimes getting everything perfect is beyond the monetary capabilities of the movie company. So should we, as viewers, just dismiss the movie out of hand because the soldiers carried M1903A1 Springfields instead of M1903A3 Springfields? My feeling is no, story will overcome the difficulties. However, others take the opposite view.

In a discussion with a friend in the aerospace industry, he told me that Mission to Mars was completely spoiled for him because of the little robot explorer shown in the beginning of the film. He is absolutely convinced that NASA would never build something that looked like a tinker toy. I am not so sure about that, but the real point is why did he let that incident ruin the rest of the movie for him?

I have seen internet pages dedicated to the factual and historical mistakes found in Saving Private Ryan. Did these individuals find the movie less enjoyable because of the mistakes? Well, they had to have watched the film a healthy number of times to find all the mistakes. So, I guess they enjoyed something about the movie.

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