Screenwriting : What question would you ask Jordan Peele's Development Executive? by Jason Mirch

I would like to know if he wrote the film Get Out if he was inspired by one of The Twilight Zone episodes or what inspired him? In addition, a few years back he sent out a request looking for scripts to produce from anyone who wanted to send him one, is he still looking for material or ???? Thanks, Jason Mirch

At what point do you know if a script is good? Is it that it checks off all the certain boxes on an invisible checklist, is it a gut feeling that says YES THIS IS THE ONE, an educated guess based on market needs, or a shot in the dark?

Hmm... I think I'd love to know what catches his attention with a thriller. Thrillers can be a slow boil, potentially losing a reader's interest, or in this case a kick-ass Dev Exec's interest. What reels him in? And as a juicy bit of BTS - what "ah HA!" moment did he have when in development that made its way through production and post-production and persisted until the final film? I'd love to know what nugget of wisdom was unpacked early that allowed a particular project to shine.

I'm interested to know how Jonathan's script-assessment process is affected by the fact that the "Get Out" script never would've made it through an industry-standard script assessment process.

Hey Richard - that's an interesting question/point of view. Can you expand on that? Why do you believe that "Get Out" wouldn't have made it through an industry-standard script assessment process. Do you mean that it wouldn't get past a Development Executive or receive a "recommend" from a reader? Curious to hear more.

Jason - Here's how I imagine the assessment process would've gone for the "Get Out" script had it gone through one: What happens in the first ten pages? Nothing? Okay, we're done then. Press the auto-reject button and move on to the next one.

supposedly, Peele sold the pitch of Get Out before he typed a single screenplay page.

I believe that Dan MaxXx. Richard - that is a great point. One of the things we discussed in the Writers' Room during a Breakdown Webcast is the "First 10 Pages". One of the points we discussed was that readers, executives, gurus, books, blogs, advice columns, etc. have all contributed to the destruction of the "slow build" or "character driven" first 10 pages because the "rules" say a big hook needs to happen before page 10.

It's a big reason why thrillers and horror use the sort of Prologue scene before we even see our main characters - think Scream, The Ring, and even Get Out - to give us a big scare and set up the central antagonist and mystery.

Jason - I agree that the rules work against character-driven screenwriting. However, I believe there are plenty of examples of rule-breaking scripts that have produced successful movies. "Get Out" is one of them. Most of the script is a slow mis-direction play that sets up the dramatic reveal at the end.

"Juno" is another one. There's virtually no plot - certainly no chase scenes, and no fight scenes, and nothing blows up. It's just an engaging character interacting with a few other engaging characters. "Ladybird" is another rule-breaker that did well - no hooks there.

So rule-breaking scripts have proven that they can work, but the industry-standard script assessment process doesn't seem to allow any exemptions to the rules for unknown writers.

I just want to visit this lounge for one day and not see a conversation about breaking rules.

Regarding first ten pages obsessions, this also comes from smaller distributors and sales agents targeting global markets. Many of them encourage fifteen minute first acts and a set number of trailer moments so the films they represent are more competitive. Unknown films from unknown filmmakers don't have much benefit of the doubt granted to them.

I'm not saying they're right or wrong or that's a good or bad thing (I like slow burning films) but that's where some of the advice stems from on the producing/filmmaking side and it is, to some extent, justified by the economics at play.

There's a rule against everything in this business. It's not possible to write a script that doesn't break at least one of the rules. Every script that gets produced, does so because it got an exemption from whatever rules it was breaking. So the question is, how does a script qualify for one of those exemptions?

Richard, I'm going to suggest something radical to you so strap in tight. Maybe, just maybe, every produced script hasn't received some kind of magic exception and perhaps, stay with me here, the rules people tout are mostly complete BS spread via Chinese whispers, fuelled by excuse making for failure, and leveraged upon by those capitalising on the fear they generate.

As someone who's written two produced scripts that break a lot of these supposed rules, I'm still waiting for my exception card in the mail.

Rules? I don't need no stinkin' rules.

Watched a Hollywood Reporter round table with him a few other directors on Stage 32. Excellent

"...leveraged upon by those capitalising on the fear they generate." Too right. Viz the "First 10 Pages" types of competitions, collecting $26–$99 a pop.

What question would I ask?

What’s your schedule and what are you looking for?

If he isn’t looking for scripts. I’d ask is Jordan smokes as much weed as his characters did on TV.

Then along comes “the rules”. Everyone can breath easy. I don’t have to be great. I just have to follow these rules... sigh.

The truth is vast. You can either be paralysed with fear or embrace the freedom.

Great session. I don't write that genre and still got a lot of terrific info. Thanks Jason

This was a great interview! Glad it's in the vault! Is jonathan taking pitches through Script Services???

That's so great to hear, @Kathleen!