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| An original take in many ways |
You’re a writer – you’re a lover of films – you’ve seen more films than any of your friends. You live and breathe films, you know your trivia and quote film dialog as if they were your own words. Let’s face it – you know a lot about film … and there you have it – that should be your testing ground. When you have an idea for a spec script – think. Is it original? Is it something you can honestly say you haven’t seen in all-too similar ways on screen before? Is it truly a unique take on a subject? Is it a unique point of view? Is it a unique character? That should be the starting point for you – if you have an idea where you can say, to the very best of your knowledge, that you’ve never seen anything like it – you’re on to something that might some day make a worthy feature film.
Producers, studios or indies, will always look for “original”. Now this doesn’t have to mean “Avatar” – you don’t have to create new universes to be original. Take “Juno” – what made it truly original was a unique look on teen pregnancy, a unique character with her very own way of looking at life, facing challenges, interacting with friends and family. And, lest we forget, Diablo Cody’s very distinct writing. It made a small story truly unique – and definitely deserving of the best screenwriting Oscar.
Again – always ask yourself – before you spend a year working on your spec – is it original? Have I ever seen anything like this before? Is it a truly unique take? If it isn’t, you'll still gain experience, you work your writing muscle, you may even get it made as a TV movie... but it won't get the silver screen treatment.
1 comment:
A John Brown biopic could be spectacular. This idea that got planted in my head about 11 years by a fascinating book I read called "Lies My Teacher Told Me". In high school history texts this guy got a pretty short, bland treatment, but he was a truly fascinating figure.
Check out these great quotes:
"I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
"That (refering to the bible in the court room) teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.”… I believe that to have interfered as I have done as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done!"
"I wish to say, furthermore, that you had better - all you people at the South - prepare yourselves for a settlement of that question that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me very easily. I am nearly disposed of now; but this question is still to be settled - this negro question I mean; the end of that is not yet."
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