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film Scriptwriting Hell by Bob Hunter In my spare time, Tam a student of film. I hadn't wanted it to be that way. I had wanted to be able to write one searing, epoch-shapjng script every year or so. make millions, and spend the rest of my time doing wonderfully idle things like sailing and writing, maybe tippling a pin't here and there as I visited old buddies in various places around the world. A few years back, I put in my dues at the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies, where I spent nine months learning the mechanics of movie-writing. Prior to that. I wrote a dozen Beachcomber scripts. Don't knock it. That stuff qualified as legitimatnational televised drama, and helped me get into film school. More usefully, off and on, I've spent at least six months of my life locked up alone in motels or cabins in places ranging from Auckland to South Pender. hammering away atmovie or television scripts. That's the good time. The actual writing. Just you and the action in your head. The pictures and conversations that race by. The wit. The rage. The pain. The ecstasy. You capture as much as you can of it, and try to tack it down on the keyboard, bind it for all eternity in hard copy. It looks easy. It ain't. I abide by the oft-expressed movie comm unity adage that scriptwriting is the most difficult literary art form. Like poetry, it demands many levels of meanings; like novels, it calls for dozens of simultaneous story lines. But mainly it is a medium that plays upon emotions. The great script is a mechanism for emotional manipulation. If you hear a memorable line in it, it is probably because somebody screwed up and let something slip through that wasn't supposed to be there. If viewers started thinking in the middle of a movie,what a disaster! That would shatter the hypnotic spell that is supposedly being cast. Everything in the movie should be herding the viewer down the chute to a precisely planned emotional moment at the end. That's what the art is all about. At least, that's the theory. Knowing this, of course, isn't enough in itself. Still, it helped. Even if I never quite hit the million-dollar pot of gold-- the big Hollywood blockbuster script-- I did make more money out of scriptwriting, easily. than from all 10 of my books put together. And, put it this way: except for a 12-minute film school flick and the Beachcomber stuff, not a scene from any of those scripts that made me so much money saw the light of the big screen. In other words, I got paid to write stuff that never gdt produced. - odd pages of modern theatrical instructions, It is highly technical design system, the working script. It was described to me best as being like the blueprint for a 747. There are fundamental, immutable dynamics that cannot be ignored. In the interests of maximum profit. everything must follow the proven formula. Unless you do, nobody puts up the money. A movie is too expensive an undertaking for the artists to begin to finance by themselves. Thus, the big players are the investors, who ultimately control the choice of product. That's why we see so many stupid movies. That's why the messages are so gutless. That's why the clichés. That's why the stereotypes. That's why the shallowness. That's .vhy the predictability. Everybody knows, in their bones, that somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes into every flick, the first Plot Point will occur, launching us into The Journey, which will carry us off to the end of Act Two, and depending on whether it ends on an up or a down note, Act Three will end on the opposite note because that's the way the formula goes. Why? Nobody knows, but it works best that way in terms of box office. And that's that. Don't mess with it. In the real world of scriptwriting, even though everybody says "it all starts with the script," you quickly learn that the writer is the low soul on the totem. In television, you have a story editor poking about with your creation, with a producer looming in the background, ready for fresh meddling once the editor has exhausted his or her talent for irksome interference. They pay you in instalments so that if they want a rewrite you have to deliver, or no cheque. In movies, impossible as it may seem, it is even worse. You may be spared the ignominiousness ofbeingtamperedwith by a story editor, but you have to deal with a producer, director and executive producer. and all their assistants, as well, sometimes, as an entire "creative department." plus. let's face the truth, the opinions of every girlfriend, wife and drinking buddy of the producer, director. executive producer, their assistants. etc. And that's long before you get to the stage of the actors and their agents sticking their two-bits worth in. A "consensual art form," they call it. Yikes! They can call it what they'want, one thing I know: it sure as development hell is no place for a writer. Whatever scriptwriting maybe, it aiat writing. Not by the time they're all through with it. Bob Hunter worksfor CITY-TI/in Toronto. This article originally appeared in the North Shore News, and has been reprinted with theirpermission. New Film I TV Program at Cap Intrigued by opportunities in film and television? A new program starting this fall at Capilano College is bringing practical studies in the entertainment industry to the North Shore. Offered through the College's Extension Department,courses will be held in the evening and on weekends and are designed for people considering a career in film and TV, as well as those who are currently working in the field but requin skills upgrading. "This non-credit program complements Capilano College's existing credit programs in the areas of media resources and theatre," said Greg Lee. VicePresident of CareerPrograms. "The new two-year Commercial Film Animation Program, scheduled to begin in September1995, will further strengthen the college's media offerings." The film and television studies program was developed in close consultation with industry unions and professional organizations, with a view to nieeting th industry's immediate training needs. Courses emphasize a hands-on approach to the skills needed to succeed in the technical and creative areas of film. TV, video and commercial production. and only industry professionals will teach the courses. "We've already had a great response." said Program CoordinatorBob Morris. "The industry has grown so quickly here that there's a real needforpractical training." The program offers three types of training: l)introductory seminars that offer a source of accessible and reliable information for those considering a careerin the film/TVindustry;2) a program that provides the necessary skills and knowledge for entry-level employment in film/TV, combining a broad-based overview of the industry with studies in production. directing, acting, cinematography. screenwriting and other areas of interest; and 3) a serie of development workshops for industry professionals. An ideal introduction to the industry-- and to the new program--is Turning Professional: Pursuing Careers in Film and Television, a one-day workshop taking place on Septemher24th. A panel of working professionals will give an insider's perspective on the diverse range of careers available in film and television, taking a realistic look atjobs in technical, production, performing and directing areas as well as the organizations, associations and unions which serve the industry. For those looking for more in-depth training or skills upgrading. 10-week courses are offered this term in acting. directing. pre-production and production for film/TV, cinematography, music video production, screenwriting broadcasting and the business of motion pictures and television. A detailed program brochure is available by calling Capilano College Extension Programs at 984-4901. "The great script is a mechanism for emotional manipulation. If you hear a memorable line in it, it is probably because somebody screwed up and let something slip through that' wasn't supposed to be there." And this is the living, burning development hell, as it is known, of movie-writing. Ninety-nine percent of the stuff never gets distribution. And yet a writer has died a thousand deaths each time to come up with 120- 12 ArisAccess Sep/Oct 1994