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In 1982, when Syd Fields Screenplay:The Foundations of Screenwriting waspublished, filling out those dreary law

school and med school applicationsthecustomary middle-class ticket to respect-

ability if not paradisesuddenly becameabout as appealing as moving pianos.

If going to the movies felt escapist, Fieldmade Hollywoodthe Grand Bazaar sofar removed from anything resemblingreal lifeseem like a normal career path.If you could write a cohesive and dramaticplot, create living and breathing characters

who swept your readers along a wild roller-coaster of a tale and rewarded them withemotional release that didnt feel like somecrummy clich, you were halfway home.

An entire generation of literarily-inclinedstudents and slackers all took Fields insightsto heart.

Yet in 2003, screenwriters might do well totake a step back from Syd Field and his suc-cessors professional counsel to size up withcooler detachment how Hollywoods land-scape has changed since back in the day.

In a business as seductive, unmappableand perilous as the movie industry, popularparadigms designed to help writers under-stand Hollywoods topographical maze havelimited value.

A NEW ERA As multi-national conglomerates began

taking over studios back in the 80s, therevenues generated by movie divisions struckthe new breed of international business

tycoons as fiscal air balls. These new globalmedia entities wanted their studio chiefs toraise movie profits to theatrically unheard-ofheightsemploying their brand of neo-mercantile economics, innovative market-ing theories and a whole host of scientificmethods to research, develop, test, revise andpublicize their product.

Artistic considerations, often emblematicof the industrys prestige, simply fell by the

wayside. This change was the beginning ofthe blockbuster eraa time, most observ-ers will tell you, when studio chiefs becamemoney managers, and the enthusiasm formaking money eclipsed the importance of

what any pious film critic might say.One of the godfathers of the blockbuster era

was Peter Guber, the former studio chief ofColumbia Pictures and former chairman andCEO of Sony Pictures. The pragmatic Guberholds both a law and business degree fromNew York University.

Recently, journalist Kurt Andersen inter-viewed Guber on Face Time. Gubers warstories are theatrical and deeply felt. His

n the past, there was a wide-

pread and mistaken belief

hat creative writing wasomething that couldnt be

aught. The skill was mysti-

al, inherited, God-given. Just

as a Medievalist biker-author

named John Gardner (The Art

of Fiction)dispelled that mythor literary buds like John

Cheever, a Los Angeles writer

named Syd Field debunked the

ame myth for screenwriters.

BY ROBERT GOETHALS

AScreenwritersMap of the

Unmappable:

HOTOS TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: Terminator 3:se of the Machines, written by James CameronGale Anne Hurd (characters), John D. Brancato

s John Brancato) & Michael Ferris and Tediarafian (story), and John D. Brancato & Michaelerris (screenplay) 2003 IMF und Film GmbH &o. 3 Produktions KG ABOVE RIGHT: The Matrixeloaded, written by The Wachowski Brothers2003 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved.

s c r i p t m a g . c o m72 s c r ( i ) p t

PHOTOB

Y:ILM

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operative business paradigm reflects howmuch the movie industry has changed sincethe days of Hal Ashbys Shampoo and Robert

AltmansMcCabe and Mrs. Miller.The [economic] forces that are at work

today are gigantic, enthuses Guber. Thebudget ofMidnight Expresswas $1.8 million.That was the price of the catering bill on

Seven Years in Tibet.That mentality concisely reveals the men-

tality that has the movie industry rear-viewingold hits. When things get this expensive, youcant afford to take a creative chance, so yourepeat last years success. Looking backwardsstarts passing for being modern.

When I was at Sony, Guber laterrecounts, I told the president of the com-pany we want hits. The search for the block-busterthe desire to have that mega-hitisso compelling. It is the devils candy. It is thereason why people stay in the business. It isthe jackpot. It is Las Vegas.

THE FEW, THE A-LISTGubers cool and mesmerizing charm

might prevent the young, romanticallyinclined screenwriter embarking on his newprofessional life from recognizing a couple ofdownsides to the studio heads philosophy ofmoviemaking.

The first downside is that when you throwin with Gubers blockbuster paradigm, youforget that fewer movies will actually be made.

In other words, instead of making, say, 25 $20million movies, you only make five $100 mil-lion movies instead. Twenty-five screenwriters,directors and producers would be workingnow instead of five precious ones.

On Face Time, Guber champions hisblockbuster approach. Most large films thatare made, confides the former Sony CEO,have to gather around people who are enor-mously successful. No one wants to really letanyone in that club. We get the writer whodidMinority Report. We get the director whodid Taxi Driver. We get Brad Pitt.

This jaded journalist was an original par-ticipating screenwriter on Minority Report:a romantically inclined no-name who firstbrought the project to the attention of themovies executive producers.

Yet after working onMinority Reportfor ayear,I was told by my employer that the script

would be better realized as a sequel to TotalRecall. Because I had no avalanche of box-office grosses to my credit, both the employerand the studio no longer felt comfortable withsomeone as statistically unproven as myself. So,

theres the second downside of the block-buster sales pitch. When rolling so muchmoney on a single production, executivesprefer making safe decisions even if they arecreatively lifeless ones.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS At the Union Square Barnes & Noble,

I look to see if there are proponents of theblockbuster represented on the shelves: newinstructional works on how a young screen-

writer might land some Burger King tie-insor tips on packing a script with Pentagon-styleshock-and-awe special effects that you alsomight merchandise as a videogame.

Flipping through books pages, I see howthese new screenwriting coaches cut throughthe tedious stuff about constructing plots andcharacter. The marketing guides are packed

with tour-de-force concepts like sales strategy,presentation packets, media kits, press junketsand some cherry publicity stunts to help yougo Hollywood.

WHATS ON THE SHELF?After the bookstore, I had the opportunity

to chat with Janet Jeffries at A Band Apart, theLos Angeles-based production company ownedby Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino.

My investigatory journalismhow

( d e v e l o p m e n t

money managers and marketing mavenseem to be determining the kinds omovies being produced in 2003waleaving me a little blue. I was hoping thesavvy woman who serves as the head odevelopment for these two original andlegendary filmmakers might pick up thiscreenwriters spirits.

Theres no question the power of studiomarketing machines is overwhelming, eveneclipsing the content of the movies theyadvertise, Janet explains, corroborating myfears. Good marketing can make horriblemovies look appealing.

Do marketing divisions have a dominanvoice in choosing the kinds of pictures beingmade today? I ask.

No question, says Janet, except withQuentin [Tarantino]. Quentin makes themovies he wants to make.

Do you have beautiful scripts on youshelvesmovies Lawrence Bender wantto producebut just cant? Because of thecorporate climate? I ask.

Yes, we do, Janet says. Everybodyrelies on the studios for financingevenLawrence Bender. Sometimes the best youcan hope for iswith some deft compromiseyoull produce the film with at leasthe vision it aspired to.

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VOODOO ECONOMICSLater, I phone Steve Tisch, the famous and

prolific producer whose diverse filmographyincludes Risky Business, Forrest Gump and

American History X.Tisch won an Academy Award for

producing the monstrously popularForrest Gump. Given the current popularHollywood paradigm, who can resist admir-ing a man, attaining all that success and theability to shake hands on any seven-figuredeal, who instead rolls the dice on a dark

killer of a film calledAmerican History X?Yes, concedes Tisch, responding to my

question about whether the business inter-ests of a few media giants were having anadverse effect on the kinds of movies beingmade. I think well see fewer humanlycomplex, original and risky films comingout of the majors.

How much of this is due to the increasedpower and sophistication of their marketingdivisions? I ask.

A lot, says Tisch. They have a tre-mendous amount of power. Theres noquestionespecially when youre talkingabout a movie north of $75 millionthatyoure not going to pull the trigger withoutthe blessing of the marketing division. Astudio president can greenlight a film, but amarketing president can make it disappear.Burger King tie-ins are more attractive to astudio than John Malkovich.

What is it with these marketing divi-sions? I ask Tisch. (Not one marketingpresident returned my calls.)

Tisch chuckles.

I mean, I say, you read a piece like theone by [University of Michigan BusinessSchool professor] Kathleen Sutcliffe in lastmonths Harvard Business Review, and youdiscover that the sophisticated decision mod-els companies use to collect and make sense ofdata often break down due to informationaloverload, especially in industries as complex

and volatile as the movie industry.Its voodoo economics, says Tisch good-

naturedly. A demographics sleight-of-hand.Most marketing heads, for all their postur-ing, are wrong as often as theyre right.

Then, as if by afterthought, Tisch adds,To be fair, not everyone comes in from themainstream. Look at the risk Universals tak-ing with Ang Lee, a heady guy who did TheIce Storm and Sense and Sensibility.

Still, I say, you dont see many studiostaking risks like that. And movies like The IceStorm are as rare as diamonds.

The independents will have to remaincreative. That is, in creating new kinds ofopportunities, Tisch responds. After all, itsin their nature.

Steve Tisch is exuding his own charismaticbrand of ying-yangy appeal. In moviemak-ing, like affairs of the heart, everything isproblematic.

My turn to chortle.And mind you, continues Tisch, Im

not suggesting every independent film is worth seeing. Thats hardly the case. The

Dancer Upstairs, Blue Car, Bend It LikeBeckhamthese are the exceptions.

INFLUENCING THE MAJORSBob Osher resides at the summit of one

of the most well-known and deeply admiredmovie production companies in the world,Miramax Pictures.

Like my experience with Tisch, the fact theMiramaxs co-president of production pulledover from the high-speed racetrack he navi-gates to give this hitchhiking journalist a ridepicked my spirits up immeasurably.

My theory that studio executives are riskaverseat least to taking a strangers ques-tions seriouslywas taking a pummeling.

What do you think about the inten-sifying climate of conglomeration in themovie industry? I ask Osher. Do you, atMiramax, feel pressured to become a bigcommodification machine? Serve up morecinematic Slurpees?

Osher laughs, No, not at all.I mean, after all, I reply, youre owned

by Disney.

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Disney gives us immense autonomy,says Osher. Weve been uniquely successful at making movies that are different fromeveryone elselike Fridalike the films werproducing todayincluding the adaptation oCharles Fraziers classy novel Cold MountainThese movies speak for themselves.

So theres still a feeling of loyalty to the

edgy, outsider company Bob and HarveyWeinstein created in 1979? I ask.

Absolutely, says Osher. We make movies at reasonable budgets and expect modesprofits. Whats most important to us is artisticintegritynot necessarily a happy ending.

Like Chicago? I ask.Precisely. Its not the kind of materia

youd associate with the mainstreambut ifinds its way into the mainstream.

So, interestingly, you see Miramax influencing the majorsmore than the majorinfluencing you, I say.

I do, states Osher.If you split the moviemaking world into

two camps, I say, one thats composed oscreenwriters and filmmakers who want tomake clear-sighted movies about what it is tobe human, and the other composed of making movies that are fantastic, special-effectsdriven spectaculars like the ones coming outhis summer ...

Osher knows well the debate Im referencing.

... which side does Miramax come down

on? I ask.You cant be a snob about these things,

replies Osher thoughtfully. Making moviethat are full of mindless pleasuresescapisand funyou cant attack them. They represent a perfectly acceptable way to go.

Osher pauses for significance.But, basically, at Miramax were concerned

with more serious-minded films, like you saythat are about the human condition.

Thats cool, I say, signing off.Talk to you later, says Osher, unaware

of the events by which hes edged a jadedscreenwriter closer to a belief that a capacity for artistic merit still lives in Hollywoodcorridors of power.

COMING FULL CIRCLEDespite my fresh discoveries, there are

plenty of young, off-beat talents, as well aindustry veterans like Bill Mechanic, theformer chairman and CEO of TwentiethCentury Fox, wholl still roll their eyes whenasked if corporatization hasnt driven creativecontent into hiding in Hollywood. On PBS

Edward Norton inAmerican History X, written

by David McKenna

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good content is a trend that can still winthe day, he says.

This is how we discovered a movie thatcost about $5 million and had no buzz at all.

We simply convinced the independent filmcommunity of the merits that a whole lotof regional festival-goers recognized as well.That film, Nowhere in Africa, was just nomi-nated for an Academy Award.

I listen to Gregory, thinking that in thefilm world, friendships truest measure is theamount of time fighting for someone who isunknown.

We got behind that hidden gem, con-tinues Gregory. [The film] was based on aphenomenal script, and we devised grass-roots marketing strategiesthat is, selectivepromotional screenings, word-of-mouth,the Internetall the inexpensive ways we

could devise to reach out to an intelligent,appreciative audience we knew this film

would attract.The funniest thing about all of this is,

you dont need to go to Cannes and hole upin some posh hotel with a bunch of famousmovie stars. You dont have to travel toBerlin, or New York, or any of the other bigfestivals, he continues.

Suddenly, it seems, the entire world ofmoviemaking is shimmering with a newbenevolence.

There are truly talented people, con-cludes Gregory. Theyre writing and produc-ing scripts on a shoestring ... and you know

what?I know hes smiling.Theyre all right in your own back-

yard.

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FRONTLINE titled The Monster That AteHollywood, Mechanic offers a perspective notunlike Peter Gubers.

Yet theres an industry original riding inoff the moviemaking horizon who offers newhope for us screenwriters who, for better or

worse, see our daily duty in terms of creatingworks of lasting value.

The guys name is Gregory Kahn. He andhis partners Kerry Edelstein and Gavin Blackform, of all blessed things, a market researchconsulting firm called filmBUZZ.

Im talking to Gregory as he prepares tohop a plane bound for the Nantucket FilmFestival.

If youve written a killer script, saysGregory, and by hook or crook managed toraise the money to get it produced, the firstthing you usually try to do is get it into oneof the regional film festivals.

Cool strategy, I chime in.What we do on the behalf of these often

unknown filmmakers is help them under-stand who their target audience is. We helpget their films seen.

How do you do that? I ask.We partner with 15 different regional

film festivalsand that number is grow-ingand we poll the audiences when thesefilms are screened.

Poll them how?We ask them questions, like Howd you

like the films plot? or What did you think

of the films pacing? or Did you like the writ-ing? Its quite a panorama of questions. Weget into things like whether the viewer wouldpay to see it again, or would they buy it onDVD. [All] questions about the demograph-ics [of the film]. If we see a deserving film andcollect solid marketing information at the fes-tival, then we can go to a distributor.

Not the studios? I ask.Studio people rarely show up at regional

festivals. Theyre dealing with huge films,huge ad campaigns, splashing their movies ontelevisionall over the place. Im not bashing

them. Were just doing a different thing.So we present distributorssay, the peo-

ple at New Yorker Films, Zeitgeist Films orSearchlightspotlighting a trend why theseparticular movies should be picked up.

For instance, what kind of trend? I ask.That people still react to good content.

Were both laughing. Its so obvious. Sooverlooked. So true, true, true.

In an era thats so hyped and controlledby powerful marketing influences, here weare, coming back full circle. We believe

Our clients are winning scriptcompetitions & film festivals, getting

agents & signing studio deals.Now its your turn!

Chairperson Susan Kouguell, award-winning screenwriter & filmmaker, Tuftsinstructor and author of the acclaimedThe Savvy Screenwriter: How to SellYour Screenplay (and Yourself) WithoutSelling Out! provides objective analysisfor scripts, films-in-progress, treatments,queries, synopses, pitching and

submission advice. Extensive Studio/Indie credits. Competitive rates.

SU-CITYPICTURES EASTSusan Kouguell, Chairperson

Mailing Address:20 Chestnut Street, #N-30Exeter, New Hampshire 03833(603) 772-9858 or (212) 219-9224

E-mail: sk@su-city-pictures.comWeb sites: www.su-city-pictures.com

www.savvyscreenwriter.com

Robert Goethals, Minority Reports first par-

ticipating writer, is currently producing his first

feature and is a contributor to Cineaste magazine.

If youve written a killer script,

and by hook or crook managed

to raise the money to get it

produced, the first thing you

usually try to do is get it into

one of the regional film festivals.