Screenwriting : How does being in the industry affect your watching films? by Joseph Rhea

Not exactly a product of me being in the industry, but I like to read about birds and wildlife in my spare time, and any time I watch a movie or show, I get annoyed if they put a bird call in a setting that the bird is not native to. For example, in one episode of "The White Lotus, Season 1" the call of an Oropendola bird is audible in the background. Oropendola birds are native to the Amazon rainforest. TWLS1 is set in Hawaii. Urg. Also, the movie "The Forest," a horror movie about the Suicide Forest in Japan, had a collection of North American and European bird calls in a Japanese forest. I know it's kind of silly, but it just...gets on my nerves, haha.

This past year I have watched for the beats in other films and how characters evolve,

Steven, I can relate. Many people have specialized knowledge from either career or just an interest that makes them cringe when what they're watching on TV or the big screen gets something wrong. My day job is in science so I cringe a lot during many scifi shows. I'm like, do your research people. ;)

I'll watch a Good movie more than once. The first time for the impact. The second time as a screenwriter, disect-ing the scenes.

Mainly Im shocked at how hard it is to make a special movie- something ppl discuss daily & pay again for tickets.

I'm not in the industry.If I watch a film I do not want to be distrected by anything; when I don't believe the acting and thereby I realise I'm watching a film, something that's not (completely) real, only then I start to look at technical detailes.. and it's game over. I've taken myself out of the fantasy world I paid for.

I started watching less movies and watching more TV shows.

One positive is being able to understand why you like what you like in much greater depth. It can become a valuable tool in developing ideas and characters.

I pause a movie/show at certain key scenes and check the run time too, @Joseph Rhea. I also figure out things early (Example: Who the real villain is). And I take notes of what to do/what not to do in my scripts based on what I'm watching.

Some say it ruins films because you know how they are developed and made, but for me it's had the opposite effect. I now have a much greater appreciation for pretty much any film released. For example, I don't love watching old b-movies because I'm doing it ironically and think they're laughably bad. I love watching them because they were so ambitious, edgy for their time, and created cultural ripples that led to some of the best blockbusters made decades later.

I also have lots more respect for the writing in "dumber" movies that have been made to satisfy the lowest common denominator and sell to a wider global audience. It's far more clever and calculated than it seems.

Credits are a lot more fun to sit through when you recognise names too, and, due to the rampant nepotism and fad following you see, I can't take anything within the festival/awards circuit seriously at all.

I am a screenwriter, not a critique so it doesn't affect me at all.

I'm not in the industry, yet, but as unproduced screenwriter I find myself looking for plot points, character developments, the 3 acts...

I can see the writers that follow a strict format. Watch the first Fantastic Beasts film in the Harry Potter universe. At the end you feel history, I thought, “beat there is one final trial”, tada Colin Farrell reappears for the final big battle. It was so predictable.

I think that is the outcome of education. Things become more predictable. Especially those that stick to the (what I believe) are tired formula.