Hollywood or NYC?
by Jaden
I want to be a screenwriter; should I move to LA or NYC?
This is a great question that was privately submitted to me on which I will expand for you.
If you have zero experience working in the entertainment industry, it might be good to move to LA or NYC, whichever is easier for you, so that you can learn and understand how things work.
Starter jobs that are plentiful and somewhat easy to acquire are background acting, production assisting, and office assisting; with these, you can get your foot in the door and observe how it all works, while getting paid.
NYC specializes in live theatrical performances and fashion. LA specializes in television and film. You can find all sorts of entertainment opportunities in both cities, of course. You can also find those opportunities in most other major cities as well.
Get involved where you currently live!
There is no reason you should not get involved in entertainment immediately wherever you currently live. There are always local commercials being made, which means writing, producing, and acting opportunities in your town.
Before I moved to Hollywood, I had already done a lot of work in several smaller cities: modeling, acting, wardrobe, filming, script supervising, and so on.
Entertainment is being made everywhere!
If you are not in the USA, you probably have a major city entertainment hub in your country that is creating your visual entertainment; you can move to that city and get involved.
From any place in the world, you can make your own movies or write stories and upload them to the Internet. You don’t have to work with anyone in particular or move to any particular city or write in any specific language. You can do it right where you are in whatever way you are most comfortable.
It is better for non-native-English speakers to go to their local sources for their careers in entertainment because there is too much competition in the U.S. amongst good qualified native English writers.
If you are not a United States citizen and English is not your first language, but you have a unique and compelling foreign story that you want to sell to Hollywood, here are two options:
1) You could hire a native English-speaking writer to ghost write your script for you.
2) If you excel in English, you can write the script yourself and then seek a native English speaker to proof read it and edit for you.
Do not submit a poorly written incomprehensible script to Hollywood; it is a waste of your time and the script will not be read.
More important than where you live is your talent as a writer and your state of mind.
For screenwriters, the most important thing is that you write a great script, right?
You should be a good story-teller, have a strong command of the English language, and understand screenwriting format.
Writing an excellent script requires a lot of time, therefore, you will need some kind of financial income, food, shelter, a social network for sanity and stability (i.e.. being near your friends and family), and most importantly, inspiration!
Join the rat race or create your own magical world right where you are?
Considering that you may find no support, comfort, or inspiration in LA or NYC, to write great scripts, you do not have to move to those cities.
Sometimes, moving to LA or NYC will actually stymie your ability to write well because you are starving and miserable. The majority of people you meet will consider themselves screenwriters or actors, whether they are actually doing it or not, and they may secretly despise you for calling yourself a screenwriter or an actor.
LA can be a soul crusher and siphon your inspiration, so once you have your connections made and understand the business, it might be good for you, as a screenwriter, to get out! Go to a happy, secure, and beautiful place where stories flow out of you like rivers to the ocean.
If you are shooting for millionaire commando status, then yes, it may be good to live in or near NYC or LA.
If getting filthy rich and making blockbuster Hollywood films is your goal, you must be able to get to NYC or LA within a few hours of flight or drive to take meetings on short notice.
Agents and producers greatly dislike drop-ins, so you are going to have to set appointments by calling and letter anyway, which gives you the time to arrange getting there. Even if you live in LA or NYC proper, it is going to take you an hour to get across town, so flying in from a neighboring city, and taking 2 to 5 hours to get there, really is not a big difference.
For the big budget films and television: working and aspiring actors, TV writers, producers, editors, cinematographers, agents, et cetera, will have daily interactions that require being available for work and meetings, therefore, living in LA or NYC for those careers is usually necessary. This is not the case for screenwriters.
Your happiness and the quality of your scripts are what is important for a successful career in screenwriting.
Screenwriters do not have to be in LA all the time. Go out into the world and be inspired!
Screenwriters can make opportunities anywhere and can go to LA or NYC on an as-needed basis.
Sunday Picture Post 40 – Open the Box !
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: OPEN THE BOX !
Want to start a new script, but not sure where to start? Open the box!
What is inside your box? Why is it there? How did it get there? What memories do the inside items spark?
For today’s writing exercise, open your box and come up with a movie idea complete with characters, motivations, and a story structure. You can either use the image I have provided to create your story, or come up with your own real or imaginary box.
You have a week to be done with it by Sunday. It can be just one paragraph or a whole script, whatever you want, but start writing! No excuses. You came here for inspiration; you got it, now write!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
South Park Motorcycles Episode and Writing Humor
South Park: The F Word, Episode 1312 (2009)
The TV show South Park is continually and always bizarre — I love it. The topics that Trey Parker and Matt Stone put out are shocking and hilarious, so wrong and wonderful with their spot-on social commentaries about the ridiculousness of society.
The F Word episode caught my eye for two reasons: 1) I have written a TV sit-com pilot episode called The F Word, totally different topic, and 2) this episode makes fun of motorcycle bikers, a near and dear part of my life.
In this episode, the South Park boys want to officially change the dictionary meaning of the derogatory word “fag” to not refer to homosexual people, but rather to motorcycle riders for their loud and obnoxious behavior.
If you like dark humor, sardonic wit, and cultural satire, you can learn to cultivate your humor for screenwriting from the very best and watch years worth of South Park episodes for free at SouthParkStudios.com!
You are a Lab Rat !
Documentary Movies about Food and Your Health
Change the world by changing what you eat. What food you buy with your money will determine the fate of this planet.
Below I have listed some movies that can dramatically change the quality of your life and also help the earth move into a better direction.
Since 1990, genetically modified foods have been sneaking their way into your stomach. Plants and animals genes are modified by using virus and bacteria to host the gene entry and changes to the cells and reproduction. Sound safe to you?
As we people, we human-sized lab rats, eat up these altered food commodities unknowingly, we are suffering terrible mysterious ailments in unprecedented numbers: Diabetes, Obesity, Brain Tumors, Blood Sugar and Insulin problems, Endometriosis, Depression, Dementia, Anxiety, Cancer, and so much more, it does not end.
Nuking your brain with bluetooth wifi probably is not helping you much either. There are a lot of modern technologies, that although they may make our activities more convenient, they are not serving your overall good health.
When I was a kid, it was not like this. Life was different. People did not en masse need anti-depressants, other drugs, and major surgeries.
Why is this happening to us now?
It is nothing other than money and greed and runaway capitalism: big business people bribe politicians by funding their campaigns, politicians appoint people and make law choices in favor of big business, suppressing the dangers and risks of products, food businesses poison us personally, reaping as much profit as possible, while the insurance and health industries further rape us when we are sick from the foods and technology.
Go to the source and change it! Change what you buy to eat.
Some other leading countries refuse to buy or eat certain U.S. food because the concern is that serious, yet our government does everything in their power to protect the businesses and keep its citizens (you) in the dark about what you are eating.
All the while you are complacent, our genetically modified food is contaminating the natural food sources in all the world, either carried by the wind, water, or tossed by the companies themselves into others’ crops!
It is a terrible evil cycle and YOU are the rat in the maze my friends. WE, the People with our belly aches, head aches, and financial debts just don’t know what is happening to us. It is time for change!
What are YOU going to do about it? Just run around in your little box maze testing their contaminated foods and drugs? Keep giving this poison to your babies because it is cheap so they can grow up to be schizophrenic, psychotic, or autistic? Or are you going to make a change?
Start by watching free on Hulu.com: The Future of Food (2004) by Deborah Koons. This will give you a basic understanding of some of what is happening.
A change to Organic, gluten-free, un-processed, unaltered, local foods will have immediate positive effects for you: clear thinking, stable moods, and a significant drop in physical pain.
Plus, organic natural foods taste so much better!
With scientists genetically altering life forms to be seedless and infertile (plants, animals, and humans), life will simply eventually come to an end, for there will be no more air or water cycles either because they rely on the plants and animals. We are all connected.
When possible, AVOID herbicides, pesticides, highly processed, hormone injected, and genetically altered foods.
Educate yourself today about what is happening to your food. Go to Wikipedia and learn what you are eating: rBST, rGST, BGH, insulin, pesticides, herbicides, agent orange, genetically modified foods, dioxin…
As a planet, we will either turn into a barren dry Mars or remain the earthly lush Garden of Eden with which we have been blessed. Just changing who you give your money to is an enormous first step.
Buy Organic and local foods, when possible! It will make you feel better physically, emotionally, and spiritually, while also contributing to slow down the progress of the greed monsters who are killing this planet by disrupting the natural flow.
If you cannot look at your food and know exactly from where it came or how it was made, or you have no idea what are the ingredients in the food because they look like a foreign biotech language, you should be concerned. The more processing, packaging, and mystery to your food, the more you can figure it is bad for you. The words “natural” and “healthy” are just sales pitches, not honest legally binding contracts with you.
Look for these Organic labels:
| Organic Certification |
|---|
 United States |
 Japan |
 Australia |
 Germany |
 France |
When you see those Organic labels, it is not an absolute guarantee of purity, but you will have better odds of meeting these requirements:
- avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge;
- use of farmland that has been free from synthetic chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);
- keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
- maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
- undergoing periodic on-site inspections.
As long as we are mass producing food and having to package it, there will always be health risks. Minimizing the contaminations is the best we can do at this stage. If you have any land or patches of sunlight, grow your own food from organic dirt and seeds!
Please watch these movies now and make a change! Your body and your children depend on it. There is no time to wait.
Food Inc. (2008) by Robert Kenner
Free on Hulu.com:
The Future of Food (2004) by Deborah Koons
Super Size Me (2004) by Morgan Spurlock
Writers & Filmmakers Note: These are top notch successful food and health related documentaries that any writers or filmmakers considering to make a movie about similar topics must watch! Pay attention to how their stories unfold and how, even though it is a documentary about food, you become emotionally attached to the characters and have involvement with these movies. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, there is much to be learned from these movies.
These are the kinds of movies that change your life and change the world; they are the most important, noble, and courageous types of filmmaking a person can do, to challenge big businesses for the betterment of humanity and for the earth.
Please add other movies to the comments section that you feel are life changers.
Writing the Antihero
Making Your Audience Love the Bad Guy
by Jaden
What is an antihero?
An antihero is a villainous main character of your story, a protagonist who is not quite as nice or good or perfect as the archetypical hero. An antihero has serious personality flaws and often may be the stereotypical bad guy, a downright villain, but for some reason, we like him or her. Antiheroes are often criminals and we see the story from their perspective, which causes us to relate.
An archetypical hero may be beautiful, strong, noble, rich, blessed, intelligent, lucky, or have super powers; an antihero will try to get those things in corrupt ways.
The envy and hate a person may feel towards the hero may create an antihero, a less fortunate person driven by sin, basic instinct, or need to ignoble actions.
The antihero can be the underdog who becomes top dog by unscrupulous methods.
A most famous example of an antihero is the character Tony Montana played by Al Pacino in Scarface (1983), a poor Cuban guy with a crazy temper who climbs up to great wealth as a drug dealer, pictured above with his foxy wife played by Michelle Pfeiffer.
Why do you have to make your audience love your antihero?
Your audience has to love your antihero or your script won’t sell. Movies with fully detestable lead characters do not sell.
People do not want to be angered or depressed by a movie, they want to feel charged and rejuvenated. When people go to see a movie, they want relief in some sort of way. If your lead character only makes people feel uncomfortable and frustrated, or they do not relate to him or her at all, you will have a flop of a movie.
The antihero serves the common people by taking action where the rest of us don’t because our good morals and laws prevent us. The antihero reacts to his anger about perceived injustices that may have to do with money, crime, war, bad manners, or relationships, whereas the average person will do nothing. We want this bad guy to succeed because we are secretly angry too, but we can’t do anything about it.
The antihero serves a very important part of society, filling a void in our lives, the void where we feel powerless. The antihero makes us feel like something right is being done to equalize things, even if it is wrong.
The antihero is our hero because he is doing what no one else wants to do and he takes all the heat for it.
How do you write your antihero into your script so that your audience will love him or her?
By telling the story from your villainous antihero’s perspective, the audience is forced to relate with him or her on some level. You must show why your antihero became the way he did, why he does what he does, and give the audience a reasonable answer to which we can all relate.
The antihero must have traits to which the audience can relate. The antihero may have a family he is trying to save, protect, or support. The antihero may have basic needs that everyone has, trying to make money to eat and support himself. The antihero may have a love interest who is his weakness — we can all relate to being in love.
No matter how bad you make your antihero, as long as he or she has personality traits and life circumstances to which the audience can relate, you can write a successful antihero.
The motivations of your antihero have to be something to which your audience can relate. Wanting money, power, living comforts, and love are some of the most common motivations with which we can empathize.
As the antihero is doing bad things, he must be punished, so don’t forget to punish your antihero. If he doesn’t get punished, then he is just another bad guy, an antagonist, and your audience will hate (and envy) him for getting away with it, which is not good if you want to make money as a screenwriter.
The audience must sympathize with your antihero.
When you write your story for your antihero, imagine that the audience is a court jury and you are the antihero’s defense attorney. It is your duty to convince the jury, that despite all the bad things your client has done, he doesn’t deserve to be punished. And why he doesn’t deserve to be punished (even though he will get punished) is because your jury audience can relate to the motivations of why he did what he did. If you can’t make the jury understand his perspective, you have just another loser creep on the stand that everyone wants to give the death penalty, and that my friend, is not a good antihero and not a financially successful movie either, and you have failed as a defense attorney and as a writer because your client is just so bad and inhuman that no one can relate to him, nobody likes him.
Ultimately, your lead character, whether good or bad, has to win a popularity contest. The majority of people must like him. That’s what movie sales are, they are the public saying, yeah, we love that one, we love that guy. Blockbuster hits are the winners of popularity contests. Love it or hate it, that’s just the way it is. The most popular guy or gal is not necessarily a good person, but it is the person who is most liked.
A well-written antihero will evoke thoughts from the audience like these :
That’s a bad guy, but I can understand why he does what he does. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side, but I would sure like him on my team. I secretly love him and sometimes wish I was him, but I probably wouldn’t admit that to anyone.
Who are your favorite antiheroes?
Please share in the comments section.
Like this article? Other ScreenwritingforHollywood articles you may like are:
Turning Bad Guys into Good Characters
15 New Script Reviews About 15 Old Movies
Oscar’s Best Screenplay Awards
Guest Post By Molly Duke
On Sunday, March 10, 2010, The 82nd Academy Awards will broadcast live from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. The nominations will be announced on February 2, 2010, so we don’t yet officially know which talented screenwriters are in the running for this year’s most prestigious awards in writing for the silver screen. We also don’t know who will emerge as this year’s Oscar losers. What we do know are which wordsmiths have won the coveted golden statue for the past 81 years.
Many awesomely talented screenwriters have walked away with an Oscar, leaving behind lessons that the rest of us movie lovers and fledgling screenwriters can learn by asking the question, What does it take to write the best screenplay?
Before the 2010 Oscar buzz begins, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at eight decades of Oscar’s best screenplays. That’s a lot of film titles to get through in one post, so I’ll highlight one best screenplay from each decade, and I’ll choose screenplays that not only won the Oscar, but also led to timeless and legendary films.
…and the Award for Best Screenplay Went To…
The 1920s – 1930s
In 1939, Gone with the Wind screenwriter Sidney Howard was posthumously (he was killed by a tractor – no joke) awarded the Oscar for best screenplay. The script for Gone with the Wind was based on the novel by the same name, and while the film deviates heavily from the book, both were huge successes. In other words, lots of people made lots of money. Sidney Howard was also a Pulitzer Prize winner and a playwright by trade.
The 1940s
Citizen Kane is one of the earliest and best-known films to engage movie-goers’ curiosity by employing the brain twister. As the rich and famous Charles Foster Kane dies, he utters one last word: “Rosebud.” This film tells the story of a reporter who embarks on a quest to find out what “Rosebud” meant to Kane. The ending is unforgettable (watch it for yourself and find out why). It’s no wonder this film won best screenplay in 1941. Welles co-wrote the script with Herman J. Mankiewicz.
The 1950s
There’s a famous scene right on the cover of the DVD. If you ever see a clip showing a man and woman rolling around in a suggestive way on the shore, being lapped by the waves (and each other), you’re either seeing a scene, a parody or a rip-off from the movie From Here to Eternity. Even if you’ve never heard of this movie, you’ll probably recognize that one snippet of the film. Daniel Taradash took home the Oscar for best screenplay in 1953.
The 1960s
Most young people will be amazed that just over forty years ago, a movie depicting an interracial marriage caused such a stir. But interracial marriage actually used to be illegal in the United States. In fact, it was still illegal in 17 (southern) states until the same year this film came out, just as the civil rights movement was drawing to a close in those parts. Screenwriter William Rose won the golden statue for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? in 1967.
The 1970s
Usually, when a screenplay is adapted from a novel, the filmmakers destroy the integrity of the original story but Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman didn’t do that to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Then again, how can you go wrong when you’ve got Jack Nicholson in the leading role? This one took home the Academy Award for best screenplay adapted from other material in 1975. Read the book, watch the movie, and question your sanity!
The 1980s
Being an 80s movies buff, you’ll have to excuse me for getting a little carried away in this decade.
Some excellent 80s movies that were awarded the statuette for best screenplay are Witness, Rain Man, and Dead Poets Society.
Noteworthy screenplays that were nominated for best screenplay in the 80s but didn’t take home the gold are Fame, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, WarGames, Back to the Future, and When Harry Met Sally.
The cream of the crop for the 1980s is Moonstruck. It’s refreshing to see the Academy award a screenplay that’s somewhat lighthearted. Historically, comedies and science fiction or fantasy films don’t get a whole lot of love from Oscar, but in 1987, John Patrick Shanley proved it could be done with his quirky love story Moonstruck.
The 1990s
Don’t tell the 80s I said this, but I think the 90s produced even better films than the 80s. Actually, let me qualify that statement: The Academy made even better choices for best screenplay in the 90s. They did such a good job, in fact, that we have a tie for best of the best screenplays.
Pulp Fiction was immediately heralded as a cult classic, both for its screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and for the innovative way that it was directed and produced. This movie boasted a killer cast and some original stories woven together in a way that was both entertaining and at the time, somewhat shocking. Tarantino took home the golden statue in 1994.
Another killer film from the 90s that simply must be mentioned is The Usual Suspects, a film that takes you on a wild ride that makes you question, think, guess, and then guess again. Christopher McQuarrie deservedly got the gold for best screenplay in 1995.
The 2000s
The only thing you need to know about best screenplays of the past decade is that Diablo Cody won for Juno. And hopefully you all know how Diablo Cody got discovered? No, she didn’t get discovered as a stripper (although she did a stint as a stripper for a year – for fun!). Diablo Cody started out as a blogger. That’s right, she was once just like us. Her story of a quirky, knocked-up teen building a relationship with adoptive parents will pull your heartstrings, but not in that cheesy, fake way that after-school specials do. Cody won best screenplay in 2007.
Molly Duke is a throwback to legwarmers and boom boxes. She blogs about the 80s and spends a lot of time ogling totally vintage goodies on eBay while waxing nostalgic about pop culture and the days when MTV Music Television actually played music.
2010 Screenplay Contests Deadlines & New Links
The following are the deadlines and links to the best 2010 screenwriting competitions.
Nantucket Film Festival Showtime’s Tony Cox Awards Screenplay Competitions
March 1, 2010
Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition
May 1, 2010
Austin Film Festival Screenplay And Teleplay Competitions
May 15, 2010
Samuel Goldwin Writing Awards Competition for Theater, Film and Television
June 1, 2010 — University of California Students only!
Zoetrope Screenplay Contest
September 7, 2010
For more information about each of these contests, please read last year’s post that includes writers’ discussion in comments section:
Top 8 Screenplay Contests of 2009 and the Scams
Good luck!
You may review other contests or add your own screenwriting competition to the comments section here. Thank you.
The Dialogue Series
Interviews with Top Hollywood Screenwriters
by Jaden
Who better to learn about the craft of screenwriting than from those who are succeeding at it?
Host Mike De Luca (an entertainment executive who has reigned over at New Line Cinema, Dreamworks, and Columbia Pictures) asks all the right questions, reading your curious mind, as if you were the one sitting there.
During the interviews with screenwriters, topics covered are: story ideas, story structure, studio politics, pitching, breaking into the business, and lots of personal screenwriters’ Hollywood tales working with actors, directors, and studio execs.
Your favorite screenwriters that are offered on DVD are:
My favorite interviews are the ones with Jim Uhls (writer of Fight Club) and Callie Khouri (writer of Thelma & Louise).
Made just for the education of you screenwriters, I recommend supporting and checking out The Dialogue Series, a DVD series that shines the light on writers, writers who are the beating heart of cinema.
Who Gets Story Credit?
by Jaden
photo credit: jumpinjimmyjava – iKIVA …. you can KIVA too
Writing should be a fun, but sometimes, when you involve other people, it becomes legally messy and confusing as to who holds the rights to the story.
Story credit is not what you might think.
Per the WGA, here are some important points on which I will elaborate below with a fictitious scenario.
Story
The term “story” means all writing covered by the provisions of the Minimum Basic Agreement representing a contribution “distinct from screenplay and consisting of basic narrative, idea, theme or outline indicating character development and action.”
It is appropriate to award a “Story by” credit when:
1) the story was written under employment under Guild jurisdiction; 2) the story was purchased by a signatory company from a professional writer, as defined in the Minimum Basic Agreement; or 3) when the screenplay is based upon a sequel story written under the Guild’s jurisdiction. If the story is based upon source material of a story nature, see “screen story” below.
Screenplay
A screenplay consists of individual scenes and full dialogue, together with such prior treatment, basic adaptation, continuity, scenario and dialogue as shall be used in, and represent substantial contributions to the final script.
A “Screenplay by” credit is appropriate when there is source material of a story nature (with or without a “Screen Story” credit) or when the writer(s) entitled to “Story by” credit is different than the writer(s) entitled to “Screenplay by” credit.
“Written by”
The term “Written by” is used when the writer(s) is entitled to both the “Story by” credit and the “Screenplay by” credit.
This credit shall not be granted where there is source material of a story nature. However, biographical, newspaper and other factual sources may not necessarily deprive the writer of such credit.
WRITTEN MATERIAL PREVAILS
Decisions of Arbitration Committees are based upon literary material. Claims of authorship must be supported by literary material appropriate for submission to the Arbitration Committee. In the event of conflicting claims, literary material always prevails.
No Other Credits Approved
Any form of credit not expressly described in this (WGA) Manual shall be used only upon receipt of a waiver from the Guild. Fewer names and fewer types of credit enhance the value of all credits and the dignity of all writers.
Are You A Professional Writer?
If you are selling material to a signatory company, you must be considered a “professional writer” to be eligible for writing credit. The MBA generally defines a “professional writer” as a person who has received employment for a total of thirteen weeks as a television or theatrical motion picture writer; or received credit as a writer on a television or theatrical motion picture (including series); or received credit for a professionally produced play or a published novel.
To make story credit easily understandable, let’s use Alfred Hitchcock as our character in this fictitious story about story credit.
Alfred Hitchcock is sitting at his table one morning reading the newspaper. His wife brings him coffee mixed just the way he likes it. “Hey, honey, listen to this,” Alfred says to his wife. He reads the paper: “Crows, seagulls, and other birds rain from the sky all over Capitola. Unexplained, authorities say it may be related to poisoned shellfish. Before dying, the birds are reported to have gone crazy and attacked people.” Hitchock puts the paper down. “Wouldn’t that make for a unique movie, darling, don’t you think? Birds attacking people?”
Alma Hitchcock agrees and throws out some ideas. Alfred takes note of them. She’s always full of good ideas.
Alfred then calls his long time friend screenwriter Bob and tells Bob about the story. “So what do you think Bob, you want to work on the script with me?” Bob declines and says he is too busy, but agrees it is a great idea.
Alfred then talks to an old friend Charlie that he hadn’t talked to in a while, someone who has nothing to do with the film industry at all and has no experience. Out of normal friendship and conversation, Alfred tells Charlie about the new movie he wants to make in full detail, including the story arch, all the main characters, how the story will end, and what is the theme.
Loving the story, Charlie gets excited and starts throwing out all kinds of great ideas to Alfred. Alfred never thought of Charlie as a potential writing partner, but his ideas are so good, he says, “Hey Charlie, you want to work on this script with me?” Excited, Charlie says yes and starts researching real incidents right away.
Alfred writes a treatment based on his initial ideas and registers the story idea with WGA.
Charlie and Alfred have many talks about the script and start to flesh it out. Alfred writes out thirty pages of the script based on his own and Charlie’s ideas.
Alfred also finds this great book The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, which he incorporates into his overall idea.
Alfred then gets sidetracked for many months by his other film projects, including one script that he wrote from scratch beginning to end with Charlie that was rejected by producers. After a while, Alfred tells Charlie, “Ok, let’s work on the birds script again.”
Charlie says, “I’m not working on it with you unless you re-register the story credit to my name too.”
Alfred feels uncomfortable by this new demand from his old buddy, since it was indeed Alfred’s own initial idea. Alfred tells Charlie, “I can’t worry about this right now, I am too busy. Can we talk about this later.”
Charlie then says, “Well, it’s not your story idea. You read it in the newspaper. And you read that book. They should get story credit, not you. I gave you a lot of ideas and I want story credit.”
Alfred excuses himself from the conversation and hangs up, but Charlie calls him back 10 times in a row, insisting Alfred immediately change the registration of the story.
Alma asks Alfred, “What’s going on?” Alfred tells her. Alma says, “Goodness, I think I gave you more ideas than Charlie did, might as well give me story credit.” Alma and Alfred laugh.
The hostility and ignorance coming from Charlie makes Alfred not want to work with him at all, so he decides to shelve the project all together. Angry, Charlie never talks to Alfred again.
A year later, still too busy but still loving the story idea, Alfred takes out The Birds treatment and hires Evan Hunter to finish it. Evan re-writes the initial 30 pages that Alfred wrote, plus another 70 pages.
Five other writers are also paid and add substantial lines of dialog and story structure changes.
The Birds movie comes out in theaters and immediately, a series of lawsuits come down the line to Mr. Hitchcock. There is the one guy who wrote a similar story about birds attacking people and he mailed the script to himself in a sealed envelope. There is another guy who copyrighted his script about birds attacking people. A third guy read the same news articles and books as Alfred did and he also registered a very similar script. Then there is Alfred’s good ol’ friend Charlie.
Alfred, of course, never heard of these other guys or their scripts, but now they all want a piece of his pie and everyone is suing him. Did they do the work and bring their own scripts to the movie screen? No.
WHO GETS STORY CREDIT? Who gets screenwriting credit? And who gets paid?
1) The Wife?
No.
The wife gave lots of good ideas and support right from the beginning, as did lots of Hitchcock’s friends. Do they get credit or paid? No.
It was still Hitchcock’s initial idea to move forward and write a script and make a movie. Without Hitchcock telling people, “I want to make this movie about birds attacking people,” it would not have been made. People can offer Hitchcock ideas at their own discretion.
Hitchcock may decide to pay them or give them some kind of credit, but it is not mandatory, it would just be a consideration based on how much a person contributed to the final product. Over three screenwriting credits is frowned upon and generally forbidden by the writers’ guild.
Yes, the wife would get credit if…
Had the wife, in the kitchen that morning, said to Alfred, “I would like to write a script about that story,” or they had the idea at the exact same time and she then wrote a treatment or a first draft screenplay for Alfred, which she has in the past, then she would get a story or screenwriting credit, depending on what role she played and how much she contributed.
Giving ideas over meals or for lengthy periods of time does not earn story credit or screenwriting credit.
2) The buddy Charlie?
No, Charlie does not get story credit.
Charlie had lots of good ideas and they were going somewhere with it together, but it was not Charlie’s initial idea. As much as Charlie contributed, maybe 15 pages worth of ideas at most, the overall story arch that Hitchcock had in mind and pitched to Charlie in the first place, is still in tact and still the same. For Charlie to claim it as his own now, just because he worked on it and helped flesh it out some, is wrong. Charlie was working on the screenwriting phase and he did not carry out his part of the verbal agreement to write a full feature script together.
As time revealed, Hitchcock just had someone else write the script who was less confrontational and more pleasant to work with and who did not erroneously make a fuss about story credit.
Without Hitchcock, Charlie would never have had the idea to make a movie about attacking birds and was not even in the industry to do so. For Charlie to pursue the birds story any further as his own, would be fundamentally and legally wrong.
Since Charlie did not contribute a substantial amount of material to the final script and is not a professional writer, Charlie gets no credit.
3) The unknown Screenwriters?
No.
Alfred never heard of these guys and never read their scripts. Many people around the world may write similar screenplays — that does not give them the right, just because of coincidence, to get a piece of Hitchcock’s pie. People all live in the same world and have access to the same inspirations. No one lives alone in a vacuum of genius ideas that no one else had ever considered. We are all on the same vessel here, seeing and considering the same things. What matters is whether you take your idea to a finished product or not.
4) The Newspaper or its writers?
No, not usually.
Fiction stories usually do not give story credit to the non-fiction sources from where they may have initially been inspired or researched.
An extreme example of this, that I found highly strange at the time, was Elephant (2003) by Gus Van Sant. Not long after the real crime occurred in Colorado, this movie emerges depicting an almost identical version of a high school shooting, yet the movie is categorized as fiction and Gus Van Sant is the only person noted for writing credit. So either he was having a psychic experience and wrote the story before it happened, or he quickly turned it out afterwards. Either way, this is a major news story turned “fiction” with one writer receiving credit.
Usually, writers will fictionalize their fiction stories that were inspired by true stories, but even in this extreme case where Van Sant’s story perfectly mirrors the true story, he still takes all writing credit.
News and true stories are public domain, available for everyone. Hundreds, thousands, or millions of people may read or hear or relay a true story, a crime, a natural disaster, or a news story. Therefore, pin-pointing one source for credit becomes difficult and unnecessary.
Yes, story credit…
If a substantial amount of information is taken from only one specific written source about the true story, with very detailed and specific information that only one writer attained, one may give story credit to the source. A good example of this would be a non-fiction movie based on an expose story produced by 60 Minutes, Vanity Fair, or a book like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (1965).
Usually only non-fiction movies will give credit to their non-fiction sources, be it an expose or a book. Fiction movies usually do not give credit to their non-fiction sources.
5) The additional paid Screenwriters who worked on the script?
No.
The paid screenwriters do not get story credit, even if they rewrote the entire script and the new version is essentially all attributable to one of the paid writers, they still may not get a screenwriting credit and definitely will not get a story credit. They are paid to do a job: write.
6) The Author of the Book The Birds or Alfred Hitchcock?
Yes. Both are eligible for story credit.
In this case, and often is the case, whether the book was the initial inspiration or not, story credit will be given to the book (fiction or non-fiction) that most closely resembles the final film because of its firm and indisputable existence in the world.
Let’s say that Alfred read the news article that inspired him. Had he written a fiction script entirely without any research other than the one news article he read, Hitchcock would take the Story By credit or Written By.
Since Alfred (in my fictitious example) proceeded to research the topic and read the book The Birds and he liked lots of the scenes in it and he wanted to use them, he and his lawyer decided to give credit to the author of the book.
Let’s say the author of the book The Birds was inspired by the exact same news article as Alfred and Alfred is not even using very many details from the book, Alfred’s lawyer still may choose to give story credit to the author just to get rid of the heat by all the other people who wrote similar stories and seek payment and credit. If you can point to a source and give credit, lawyers usually choose to do that as a technicality to alleviate pressure from other claims, and appease a judge or arbiter.
Paying the author of the book for story credit, whether it was the true inspiration or not, is like buying story insurance in Hollywood. Whether the book is the main source or not, it gives a safe legal place to say is the source.
STORY CREDIT versus SCREENWRITING CREDIT
Story credit will go to the person who has the initial seed of an idea and the most tangible material to back it: that may be a screenwriter inspired by some observation in the world or it may go to the author of a book.
Story credit does not go to the many screenwriters and people with good ideas who helped develop the script along its journey to the big screen.
No more than 2 people may receive story credit.
Screenwriting credit will go to whoever contributed the most to the final script, or whoever had the best contract. Often there may be 20 writers on a blockbuster movie. How many credits do you see on the screen? Usually just one to three screenwriting credits will appear; they are:
- The initial writer, the person who wrote the first draft or whose story idea it was
- The writer who physically wrote the most material in the script
- The writer who has the best lawyer and agent who best negotiates on his behalf for credit and royalties
If the movie is a WGA sanctioned major movie, the other screenwriters will get paid to union writers’ scale, but they won’t necessarily get a credit, even if they worked a year on the script!
It is impossible to give credit to every single source and every single person who offers ideas on a script. Giving too many credits is considered tres gauche and unprofessional. Whoever had the initial idea that got the ball rolling is obviously key and essential. Beyond that, credit is debatable.
This article provides fictitious scenarios based on some real people to give you a general idea of how story and screenplay credit work; please consult a literary entertainment lawyer if you have real concerns and require legal advice.
A Discussion of Unusual Movie Scripts and Marketability
by Jaden
When you write, it is good to keep in mind what is the most important outcome for you: a unique exciting groundbreaking script or a mass appeal marketable movie? True originality and marketability often do not cross paths.
The movies listed here are examples of good scripts that are hard sells because they don’t fit into the blockbuster movie box.
Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
Really cool and weird movie Bubba Ho-tep was made by writer-director Don Coscarelli, derived from a short story by Joe R. Lansdale. A friend wanted to watch this movie and showed me the cover that looked like some silly zombie movie (not my favorite genre), but since all of his other recommendations were great, I agreed to watch it. 
Pleasantly surprised, this movie was bizarre and awesome.
There is an old guy who thinks he is Elvis (maybe he is, maybe he isn’t, we never really know, the story is plausible). He is in a rest home where old people are, of course, dying. The movie shows us Elvis’s world from his demented old man perspective, which therefore makes things mysteriously fantastic, yet believable.
The mystery to Elvis is: how are all these old people dying? The answer he finds is that this cursed mummy who was accidentally dumped into a nearby river comes to feed on them, sucking out their soul. What better place to eat souls than a place with helpless dying old people, right?
Although it sounds strange, the clever script does a great job of taking us into the mind of looney old lonely people in retirement homes, and for that it is actually a beautiful moving story about getting old, being ignored by loved ones, and dying. The senior citizen issues are explored in an unusual and fun way for young or old people.
Why is Bubba Ho-tep not a blockbuster?
- Genre distortion.
Phil the Alien (2004)
Rob Stefaniuk writes, directs, and stars in the lead role as Phil the Alien. You know what? He does such a good job of writing for and being an alien that I think Mr.Stefaniuk actually is an alien.
I won’t spoil any of this strange story by telling you too much. It involves a local bar, a drunk band that goes nowhere, government secret ops, an alien of course, some local hicks, and certain hilarious inspirations by C.S. Lewis’s book that was made into the movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), as well as other famous books and movie references. That’s all I am going to tell you.
This script is really weird. People on IMDB have rated it rather low, 5 out of 10… boring people! Probably not the kind of people with whom you want to go out and have a raging good time, because that is what this movie is: absolute silliness. The movie appears to be low budget: please don’t let that turn you off; it is a goofy entertaining good movie script!
Why is Phil the Alien not a blockbuster?
- Low budget and very specific humor style that does not appeal to everyone.
The Dead Girl (2006)
The Dead Girl, a relatively unknown movie, stars none-other than the very well known actor Brittany Murphy who recently passed away at 32 years old due to cardiac arrest on December 20, 2009. It is always eerie the irony of what actors play in their movies and what happens to them in their real lives.
I think Christopher Reeves playing Superman and then becoming quadriplegic is one of the worst Hollywood ironies of all time. Click here for an interesting article about the Superman Curse. I watched Superman as a very little girl and just loved him.
Totally getting derailed on movie roles irony… sorry.
You don’t know that Brittany plays the dead girl until the very last sequence of the movie. You don’t even see her until the end due to the script’s unique story structure.
The story opens with the story of the very odd homebody girl who finds the dead girl and dates some creepy local guy who is intrigued by what she found. Then we cut to various other people who have something to do with the dead girl: the coroner who thinks it is her long lost missing sister, the murderer’s wife, the prostitute friend of the dead girl, the long lost mother, the dead girl’s daughter, the murderer, and so on. Each person has his or her own personal relationship with the dead girl that takes place within their own tale.
It is a fantastic script, twisted, and dark.
I don’t think you can have a runaway blockbuster movie hit with this type of writing structure because it is too disjointed for most people to enjoy, but it is a good study for you to open your mind to other possible story structures.
The Dead Girl is written and directed by Karen Moncrieff and has an all star cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Rose Byrne, James Franco, Mary Steenburgen, Toni Collette, Marcia Gay Harden, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington and more.
The Dead Girl is not a horror movie, as the title may suggest, it is a murder mystery drama that takes you on a psychological journey through the emotions and effects of death and murder on people.
Why is The Dead Girl not a blockbuster?
- There is no singular hero to follow and the story structure is broken up into fragmented vignettes.
What all of these movies have in common is that they are not classic Hollywood writing styles and they do not immediately jump off the shelves to most people. It is hard to market them because they are different from the norm and what you expect; they don’t easily fit into one genre category.
My movie examples above are not “high concept” films.
High concept films, you can sum up in one word or one sentence, like: Titanic or Snakes on a Plane or Armageddon, the title says it all. With blockbusters like these, you know what you are going to get, you can expect to have a hero, some background history, and closure at the end of the film.
With the films I have highlighted in this post, the titles are just one portion of the unexpected things you will experience.
It is good to watch movies like these to understand and recognize the difference between blockbusters and the financially less successful films. Pay attention to story structure, topics, and dialog; how you choose to tell your story determines the financial success of it.
The further away you get from basic story-telling structure, one genre, and appeasing the masses with a widely accepted humor, the less money you can expect to make.
Every now and then, there is someone who breaks the mold, like Tarantino, but Tarantino is extremely well studied in movies, he purposefully and intelligently plays with genres, humor, and he always has a hero.
Like this topic?
You might like these Screenwriting for Hollywood articles:
When Science Fiction Becomes Reality
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