Screenwriting : An Art Rant by WL Wright

...And he would have kept both ears.

it’s called “Show Business”, not “Show Art.”

Btw, Van Gogh was mentally ill, penniless and killed himself.

I have to say I feel the attack on Van Gogh misses the point of the new art form he brought to the art world. Scripts are art and as much as any statute, painting, pottery, jewelry et al. I disagree that it's not.

WL Wright I totally get what you mean. I find that when I'm over-thinking the beats of my script, it does not flow out of me and it feels robotic. When I just take a deep breath and tell myself I can fix it later, then it flows out. Either way, I probably write the same thing (since I usually have some sort of outline or beat sheet). I guess, it's a mental sport! So yes, Van Gogh was probably bat crap crazy and that was probably because he was expected to conform.

Sidenote: I've often seen articles that praise highly regarded scripts for breaking the norm or being unconventional. I've said it before and I'll say it again...beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder. Sidnote 2.0: I think conventions are waning because of all the streaming platforms! Kbye!

Yeah this 'Art Business' has its downside for sure. Whether right or wrong, I tend to divide practitioners into three subcategories, with fuzzy lines of distinction; tradesmen, craftsmen and artisans. I think of Tradesmen as those folk motivated by a steady income stream above all else. A few evolve into Craftsmen over time as flashes of creativity burst through bringing with it a sufficient economic boon allowing a very few to join the Artisan group. Very few ever reach that level but it is a wonder to behold when it happens. This group can dedicate their existence to the art regardless of economic constraints. We all recognize that Van Gogh was a full blown Artisan but none of us know for sure if his illness and poverty were the driving force or were the result of his Artisan status.He be dead so he ain't sayin'.

I been flutterin' around the movie industry for about half a century now so I have witnessed the evolution of the 'method to the madness' and morphing of the industry into this movie making 'thing' we all know and love (we could all be truck drivers, ya know). Traditions evolved that resulted in a greater democratization opening the process to far more practitioners than ever before. I hate the term 'rules and regulations' but I believe that learning and understanding the traditions; the how and why they have become steadfast is a basic necessary foundation upon which our careers survive and grow. Without that 'method to the madness' we would all just be drifting aimlessly about.

Art is the product. Sales is the business. The term show business is a way of defining the business not the art. The same way the car business doesn’t change the car. A car has evolved to meet the customers demands. So has film.

Be warned cruelty to follow.

The rules exist to give the inexperienced and less talented hope. It makes them feel safe. They are held up as a magic formula. They are used by snake oil salespeople to separate writers from their money.

Vincent was mentally ill, true. His art was not recognised at the time because it wasn’t aligned to market needs. He was an innovator. And mentally ill.

Oil painting changed with the introduction of photography. It was no longer needed to make a record of how a person looked, we had photos for that. So oil painting could now push the boundaries and explore art. But that was not immediately recognised. Dinosaurs and many people couldn’t see a painting as anything more than a record.

Streaming and the lowering of production costs is our photography. It will expand opportunities for art and exploration in story telling.

Some people are stuck on a Hollywood fixation. Hollywood has massive cash reserves and these will dwindle over time, much like the need for oil paint as a form of record keeping. But Hollywood is smart. They will change.

Millions of people follow formula as closely as religion. Millions of people are not getting sales. Just something to think about.

If your work isn’t selling it is because it is not meeting the customers needs. Not because it doesn’t comply with some rule or formula. It’s failure to sell rests with you. You created it. You can fix it.

Okay FYI everyone I haven't been accused of breaking any rules, I learned them all, literally. Not all rules are the right ones and some of those rules deny art itself. For instance, the page count issue for new writers. It doesn't matter how great the story might be if it's over the page count no one will read it, period. After that if it's over the page count restrictions put on new unknown unmade writers it's not a problem. That denies art. For those that will try to tell me that I am wrong Django script was 250+ pages, Interstellar was around 180 pages and that list goes on and on for the made screenwriters. So there it is, the reality where rules can literally deny art. It's not about being lazy, it's not about being unwilling to learn the rules it's about rules denying art.

Hey Nick I am speaking generally not specifically. I have a copy of the final production script on Django it's a weird story. But it's definitely the page count I said. Whatever the case, the idea that an unknown can't write a great piece is not supported by history and the instant decision that it must be defective if it's over the page count is a denial of art even if it is a general truth.

Grab a camera, do whatever you want.

Lots of people do that.

But if you want to be paid, that means that you will be entering the business side. And screenwriters are employees.

We forget that rules are created by people with the power to enforce them.

What are rules of the road without highway cameras or motorcycle cops?

What are rules of grammar if people don't shut you down at school?

This is why grammar goes out the door when people are out in the wild. No one to enforce or punish. Heck I've seen thousands of senior managers use 'there' for 'their' and 'flare' for 'flair'. Guess what? No one is punishing them so they 'break the rules'.

Hollywood is the same. You send in your screenplay as an outsider and every single error gets spotted and your script gets trashed.

Larry David (no longer an outsider) no longer writes scripts. He thinks of a premise and gets 5 years to figure out 10 story outlines. Why? Because he no longer needs their approval.

Rules are followed when you have a cop tailing your vehicle. When you're in the clear, anything goes.

Rules are made to keep us 99% out and let the 1% safe in their privileged world.

Sometimes you get lucky and write it yourself and shoot it yourself and get paid. That's like 1 in a million. Good luck everyone. We need it.

Jaeson Iskandar I would normally agree. Except when conmen are involved.

If you hear real writers and producers talk about this they laugh at us. Any scriptnotes podcast will let you hear what they think. These are self imposed rules that we use to make us feel professional.

Conmen (and women, not to be sexist) are keen to make us believe it is engineer and not art. If it is engineer that have a standard they can point at and say “you must do this”. Sorry no faith in that entire industry.

Van Gogh may have been an Artisan, but he didn't bring a new art form to the world. He was a painter like many others; that means he had to follow some rules: paints, canvas, palette, brushes, and so on. He innovated execution (expression), but he still painted (form).

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." - attributed to Pablo Picasso.

So don't poo-poo the rules, or the people requiring they be followed. Comprehend the rules so well that you can elevate you story to the next level while still remaining within the framework of expectations (rules).

Fluffy bunnies and buttercups.

Summary of an Art Rant going off the rails:

WL Wright rants about rules governing the structure of screenwriting/storytelling for movies accumulated from over 100 years of film making industry.

The discussion moves to talking about Van Gogh being mentally ill.

Another speaks of the differences between art and commerce.

Another comment talks about scripts being guides rather than bibles for the actual shoot.

Another mentions one script in particular to sweepingly represent the state of film making in 2020.

Another talks about just make movies on your own dime.

Another (my own 2 cents worth) moves to comments about rules governing society.

Another mentions that rule breakers are essentially murderers of children.

The misdirection and redirections above is a great example of why we need rules.

If we stuck to rules we'd stick to the subject at hand; WL Wright is perhaps questioning why film making as an industry has become entrenched in rules for content creation. Agree? Disagree? Alternative perspective on these 'methods'?

Instead of adding to the conversation, it's human nature to want to rise to the top by simply yelling something 'indisputable' regardless of whether it relates. A one-up-person-ship. "My dad is bigger than your dad!" "My family has more emeralds than yours!" "The Water Bear can live in suspended animation in the vacuum of space!"

Kind of like what happens in government when you suddenly bring up unrelated issues to a debate.

So sticking to these outlined rules, let me behave in the way all the rule respecters in this thread might like to do in the spirit of a civil discussion:

Q: Method of madness from the deeply entrenched film making industry; aye or nay?

My 2 cents:

Aye(?)

I say use the methods you like and go your own way the rest of the way.

(Any other distracting comments will prove the authors to be attempting to 'break the rules' and thus demonstrate themselves to be possibly on the spectrum as a 'psychopath' due to their rule breaking proclivity.)

Jaeson Iskandar. Q: Method of madness from the deeply entrenched film making industry; aye or nay?

I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you asking if people follow the rules of formatting? If so my answer is both aye and nay because sometimes I follow all the so-called rules and sometimes I like to break them if I think it will help my screenplay.The end result is all I care about.

I suppose asking people if they write for a living is out of bounds in forums? Really, who here writes screenplays for a living- say a minimum of 5 straight years & averaging $100,000 yearly income. Not writing books, teaching, blogs. Strictly Income from screenplays. I’m pretty sure writers who write for a living have rules and they are not sell outs.

Someone demanding people submit their credits and financial info so they can be validated while hiding behind a fake name. This thread is now complete.

Claude The industry standard is three acts for a screenplay but even that is not a rule and not every story is going to follow the same structure..

CJ, do you think using a nom-de-plume is somehow dishonorable?

I'm trying to work in the movie industry, Doug. I stopped assuming people had any honour a long time ago.

The Sixth Sense was written on New Times Roman font. How about that for breaking rules - M Night Shyamalan has been breaking rules of the trade all his career because he makes money. So make money

I guess you need to mind the Hollywood rules only...Laslo Nemes's script for Saul Fia is basically a book...if he pitched it to Hollywood exec wouldn't get pass the philodendron in the secretary office....yet the film won an Oscar...

Holy crap so one Art Rant I posted apparently stoked a lot of emotion and of course as per usual, some decided to want to kill the messenger. Okay well hope you all had fun with it and thinking about something deeper then a virus. That was my only point. Art rules, period. Without it life would be way too boring.

WL. It has been interesting. This topic comes up in different forms now and then. Some people believe story and art is all that matters and if you follow the so-called modern rules you are selling out to the man. Then on the other side you have people who believe if you don't follow all those so-called rules your doomed to failure. The only thing I know for sure one side is never going to convince the other side so they should just do what they think will work for them and not worry about those people who disagree with them.

One thing people here should think about is that this is a public forum. If someone is considering in purchasing their screenplay and they Google their name and see the screenwriter has a difficult time dealing with people they don’t agree with or get along with and decide they don't want to deal with them. If a producer or agent thinks a screenwriter might be might be difficult to deal with that is usually a deal breaker. That is not aimed at you or anyone in particular. I am just saying some people might think about that before they attack someone.

There are always multiple facets to every issue. There is a little bit of truth in each but none is complete in and of itself.