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The Screenwriter's Craft

© Ken Nared

The screenwriter may be the most disadvantaged and important person in the whole creative process of making a film. The fruit of her labor, hidden from the public unlike the actors, is the all important skeleton on which the flesh of acting, directing, camera work, costume, and production design are hung. The screenwriter, most times the progenitor of any idea for a movie, is dependant on others to make her vision come to life on the screen. However before the collaboration with the others in the film making process comes months, sometimes years, of hard toil at a computer, typewriter, or notepad to bring what starts as an amorphous thought to a complete screenplay.

It is not always clear to the movie goer that an idea is not a story, and a story is not a screenplay. To use an analogy, a idea is a seed, a story a seedling, and a screenplay a full mature plant. The source of ideas are as varied as life but the key factor in picking one is the natural dramatic push involved. Westerns were at one time very popular and cop shows remain popular because the fight between good against evil are naturally dramatic to the human heart. Stories about self realization and feeling aren't as popular because they aren't as clear cut. With a final outcome that no one has to explain sharply defined stories, either the good guy or bad guy wins, produces satisfaction that is palpable to the audience.

The screenwriter takes an idea into the story stage by putting direction to the idea. Good guy versus bad guy can go in any direction but Star Wars, The Hunt for Red October, The Matrix, High Noon, are all hung on the basic idea of two people, or groups, struggling for a certain goal. The way a story turns into a screenplay is through taking whatever direction the screenwriter has given the idea and developing characters to carry out the emotional weight of the story. Often as the characters take shape they will change the direction of the story but that helps give a movie depth and realism.

The screenwriters dependance and collaboration with the rest of the film making team is often not an easy one. Newer screenwriters are often cut out of the process after their work is purchased. More experienced screenwriters with a script that is wanted can work a deal that keeps them on the project during rewrites of the script. The fact that a screenplay may undergo up to a dozen rewrites before filming begins means a screenwriter who isn't on the project often see his vision and characters become warped or disappear altogether. Sometimes this is good, sometimes bad. The screenwriter's work will go on producing scripts that will fuel the movie industry and cause our imaginations to soar.

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