You may think that today\u2019s topic concerns the plight of the few hundred or so writers, mostly in the United States, who earn their livelihood writing screenplays and their struggle for the recognition they so rightly deserve.\u00a0 Not at All<\/i>!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As far as today\u2019s post is concerned, they can cry all the way to the bank!\u00a0 <\/i>For what I really want to discuss today is the aspiring screenwriter and his struggle to discover whether or not he has any role at all.<\/p>\n
When I lived in New York several years ago and attempted to launch a career as a screenwriter, I used to be jealous of my friends who were artists, actors and playwrights.\u00a0 I was jealous of them because they could pursue their art with little or no financial success.\u00a0 A painter can always paint; the cost of the materials is not great.\u00a0 And there is always some place to exhibit his or her work.\u00a0 How exhilarating it is to have a show opening, even if most of the attendees are friends and relatives and nothing is sold.\u00a0 And as for actors, there are always unpaid showcases where they can exhibit their talent:\u00a0 never forget that an actor lives to act.\u00a0 \u00a0Then there are the playwrights.\u00a0 For them there is always some small non-profit theater group eager to perform their plays, especially if they are one-act plays with only two or three characters.\u00a0 But for the aspiring screenwriter, it is a totally different story.\u00a0 Because of the tremendous cost of the production and distribution of motion pictures, even for the most low budget ones, realization of the aspiring screenwriter\u2019s work through his own efforts is usually totally out of the question.\u00a0 Regrettably , the plain truth is that\u00a0 a screenwriter without a produced film is like a musician without an instrument.<\/i>\u00a0 Usually the aspiring screenwriter will write a dozen or so screenplays\u2014if that many– on speculation.\u00a0 If nothing happens with them, which generally is the case, the aspiring screenwriter usually gives up and moves on to some other form of writing where the odds are not so stacked against him.<\/p>\n
Yes, it is a rather bleak picture that I have painted for the aspiring screenwriter.\u00a0 But then, a few weeks ago, I began to think that perhaps there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.\u00a0 It suddenly dawned upon me that right in the palm of your hand, within your smartphone, there is more technology than was available to Jean Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer for their early films!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just what do I mean?\u00a0 Of course, I am not suggesting that someone use a smartphone to make a feature film\u2014although that is not impossible.\u00a0 But for the cost of a smartphone or less you could conceivably buy a video camera\/recorder that is adequate for the task.\u00a0 Some of you who read an earlier post of mine in which I advocated for screenwriters being allowed to be just screenwriters may see a contradiction here.\u00a0 Not necessarily so, because unfortunately, the screenwriter, as with anyone else seeking to get their foot into the door of the film industry, must often take things into his own hands, from submitting his script to a major actor ,to getting all or some of the financing for his project.\u00a0 But let us return to the \u201csmartphone\u201d analogy.\u00a0 Just what would this entail?<\/p>\n
The first thing that would probably come to mind is the concept of \u201cthinking small.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, we are not talking about a film with a cast of thousands or multiple car crashes and explosions.\u00a0 But remember the old adage \u201cwrite about what you know?\u201d\u00a0 So what would an aspiring screenwriter most likely know about?\u00a0 The same thing that Godard, Truffaut, and Rohmer knew:\u00a0 a story about a guy, a girl and an apartment\u2014remember Rohmer\u2019s My Night at Maud\u2019s<\/i>.\u00a0 And if the story takes place in New York, there most likely will be a couple\u00a0of scenes in a coffee house; in London, a pub; and in Paris ,a sidewalk caf\u00e9.\u00a0 These are locations that should cost you little or no money to find.\u00a0 What about actors?\u00a0 Surely they should cost you some money to obtain.\u00a0 Perhaps\u2014but maybe not as much as you think.\u00a0 The American screen and television actors union has, in the past, been very accommodating in allowing their members to appear in low budget and student films for little or no payment at all (of course, if the film makes money you will have to pay them their minimum rate).\u00a0 But what if you live somewhere other than the major American cities where most professional actors live and work.\u00a0 Well, there are always amateur actors; for amateur acting groups can be found in almost every community\u2014and many of them are quite good.<\/p>\n
Alright, now that you have found your actors, what about the crew?\u00a0 No problem, because with the proliferation of film and television production programs throughout the United States (and the world), volunteers should readily be available.\u00a0 But what about the director?\u00a0 Well, naturally you, the screenwriter, would be the first choice: who else knows the story and the characters better?\u00a0 However, if this still seems like too daunting a proposition, I am sure that a volunteer can readily be found.<\/p>\n
But if you do produce your own film (video), what do you do with it?\u00a0 How do you get it seen, distributed?\u00a0 Why, on the internet, of course.\u00a0 There are numerous venues for screening films\/videos on the internet; and it is very likely that more people will see it there than at the second and third tier film festivals where most first time directors\u2019 independent films wind up.<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t that really setting your sights too low? you might ask.\u00a0 Not necessarily.\u00a0 Do not forget that the highly successful film Meet the Parents <\/i>(2000)<\/i> was first produced as a very low budget film with unknown actors.\u00a0 A major American studio saw it, bought the rights and then remade it as a big budgeted film with major actors.<\/p>\n
Would I do something like this?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 Should you?\u00a0 Well, that depends\u2014that is, depends on you.\u00a0 But whatever you decide, it may no longer be accurate for the aspiring screenwriter to say that whether or not he has a career to pursue is\u00a0dependent on the decisions of others.<\/p>\n
Update – July 2015:<\/p>\n
I have recently read about filmmakers who have indeed used their I-phone to create their films and have had them screened at the Sundance Film Festival.\u00a0 One filmmaker stated that he preferred using an I-phone because the non-actors that he employed were more familiar with it and thus was less intrusive than more traditional filmmaking equipment.\u00a0 I guess that my post was not as radical as I thought when I first posted it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may think that today\u2019s topic concerns the plight of the few hundred or so writers, mostly in the United States, who earn their livelihood writing screenplays and their struggle for the recognition they so rightly deserve.\u00a0 Not at All!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 … Continue reading