Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble For... (17 page)

The real question to ask in all these cases is “What would really happen…
in this world?
” and the answer can be different depending on
the type, tone, and subject of each movie. In each of the instances cited above, the solutions are in fact right on. Are the punishments “just” for both Jason Alexander and “Kent”? Yeah, pretty much, given the world of each. Are the “Save the Cat!” beats right for both Aladdin
and
Batman? Considering the tone of each movie, I'd say absolutely; after all, the word “Dark” is in the title of the latter film — what did you expect?

We all walk into the movie theater with a basic notion of the Golden Rule, but it's not always one size fits all. The only thing we ask for as an audience is continuity. The rules of every movie can be different so long as they stay consistent. And enforcing the laws of your movie is a job for the “Logic Police.” When they're called in, they must assess on a case-by-case basis.

When the Logic Police do arrive on the scene of any script in progress, they must check in often to make sure we get and stay on course. This is where the “group grope” can help — with insight coming from a source you might not ever have expected; some-times God inspires our writing and sometimes it's a producer in the corner with a headache who just wants to go home early.

Invariably in any rewrite process we will “hit the wall.” It's not working. We can't quite tell why. And we've been over it again and again till we've worn a hole in the carpet from pacing.

Here are some ways that have worked for me — and for my writers group pals — to break out of the dead end you seem to be in:

►
Ask the question!
– In the movie
JFK
, while perusing the Warren Report, a frustrated Kevin Costner as District Attorney Jim Garrison, says: “Ask the question! Ask the question!” There is an elephant in the room, a glaring omission of truth, and yet no one is addressing it. This blindness occurs in screenwriting too. Let's say your story involves a heroine: She's a cop. Her Mom died. Her Dad's her best friend. Well, because we thought this up, that's the
way we see it, and that's all we see. All's fine except the drama is flat. Well, take a breath, and… ask the question: Why did she become a cop? How did Mom die? Is Dad dating anybody? Is she? These obvious questions sometimes jar loose an obvious answer — one that's been missing from the story.

►
Don't force “logic”
– Often we cling to a Rube Goldberg-like series of story plot points that supposedly pay off. But at what cost? To get our hero to trigger the metal detector he's going through in the airport scene we love, we give him a steel plate in his head received from his tour in Desert Storm — and maybe throw in a great scene with his Draft Board just to make sure we've set it up. But is this a character beat or are we just clinging to the airport scene and the funny line the security guard says? Yes, it all makes sense, but don't go down an unnecessary path.

►
Pull the pin
– What is your greatest fear? It's the fear you have to start over. If you pull the pin, the house of cards collapses, so you resist out of — hate to say it! — sheer laziness. That fear of pulling the pin and watching all your hard work be “ruined” is what's constipating you. Well, pull the pin. Blow it up. Then a funny thing happens. When you start picking up the pieces, you may only save one or two, but it might be the ones you can build on in the rewrite. Part of all this is task avoidance, and neither writer nor producer can hold back. Seeking the right answer often involves a radically new idea. To quote Dan again:

Actually, not to contradict Dan, but I think fear can be a tremendous boost to creativity! As I will talk about in the final chapter, having your back to the wall is often just what the doctor ordered to wring out the very best from a creative person. There's nothing like a little 3:00 a.m. panic to find your focus. I think what Dan really means is “
oppression
is not a friend to creativity.” If there is any sense in “that room” that it's “my way or the highway” on the part of executives, or we are not open to something new in the rewriting of a script, it always takes the joy out of it for me as the writer. I have to feel that we're all at least kinda on the same page.

But sadly that is not always the case…

There are some times in a rewrite when you simply have “creative differences” — a Hollywood term for “
Here are some lovely parting gifts….
” My experiences have mostly been great and I personally have only once walked away from a project — and wished I hadn't. The key is to remain ethical, reasonable, and professional at all times — or at least in public — and not withdraw for any reason that is petty, personal, or piqued. We live to fight another day!

Are there sad stories? Dean has one we've all experienced:

There is many a slip twixt the green light and the script, but we have no choice but to keep plugging away. To quote Jeremy:

If only there were another development solution…

One of the reasons my producer pal Dan was attracted to the
Save the Cat!
method of our workshops is because it's an alternative to the current development track. As stated, the top-down model (screenwriter being given notes by executives) might benefit from the success of the peer-to-peer model found in our small group. In fact, Dan's interest in our group dynamic was piqued further once we saw how effective it was. There was even a call to take our act on the road as a kind of traveling notes-giving machine, offering the collective feedback of seasoned pros to anyone whose script needs help.

But the needs of our own careers came first.

And yet this peer-to-peer model continues to fascinate.

When asked to do a retreat for animators at a major studio in 2009, I was prepped by a remarkable article from
Harvard Business Review
titled “How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity,” by Ed Catmull,
about the Pixar development model that works along these same lines. With maybe the most astounding series of hits in movie history, from
Toy Story
and
The Incredibles
through
Wall-E
and
Up
, Pixar must be doing something right in vetting, refining, and rewriting scripts in progress.

Pixar calls it Peer Review, in which a director and a writer working on a project can meet with a panel of seasoned greats (including John Lasseter and Brad Bird), who hear stories in progress. Yet writers are not ordered to include their boss's suggestions — and aren't guaranteed that including them will win approval. In a weird way, it's just like our workshops: With no vested interest in your project, other than as a creative puzzle, ideas flow more easily and with greater objectivity. And I can tell you from our group that the projects Dean, Ben, Dan, Jeremy, and I worked on got better geometrically, and led directly to sales… and green lights. What about this model can be used in taking and giving notes, and what about it is really different?

Part of what makes peer-to-peer work is lack of emotional attachment. Both in our own writing groups, and in the peer review dynamic, it's your story, and you are the one ultimately responsible for it. And our panel, the group who is listening to your struggle as you pitch out the beats, or breathlessly hand us your latest draft, have one thing you don't have: apathy. Reading your script or hearing your pitch, we're just bystanders. We're listening or reading and responding like any audience would.

So, what are our rules of engagement? And how can we utilize them in the context of a peer-to-peer style review?

Believe it or not, we can critique without being critical. And we can take our own prejudices out of the development process in favor of universal truths we can count on.

We start by asking questions. I've come up with 50 — from the initial idea through every phase of the script — that get to the heart of all script-development issues. If you honestly answer these questions about your own project, or anyone's, odds are you will come out way ahead.

The diagnostic review is the “greenlight” checklist that keeps us all from playing a game we can't win — whether we're the writer or the producer.

And because I always start with an “
Atta boy
,” finding at least one thing done well from the last draft, we'll start asking questions at a much higher level:

You worked hard. You are a tad frazzled.

Well, I'm here to tell you, you're great.

And we're going to make you, and your script, even greater!

► Is this the best title to tell us what this story is visually and emotionally? Does it “say what it is”?

► Can you pitch this in a minute?

► Is what you pitch being delivered in the script?

► Does it grab the audience and keep them wanting more?

► Can you easily tell your story through its key beats?

► Does the
tone
tell us what kind of story this is without giving away too much?

► Does the Opening Image put us in the right
mood
for the
type
of movie it is?

► Do we get a clear picture that this Opening Image is the “
before
” shot?

► Is there a
thematic premise
being raised?

► Do we know what this story will be about
on the inside
?

► Is it
primal
for all audiences?

► Do we know who the
hero
of the story is?

► Is this hero
as far back as possible
when we first meet him/her?

► Is the hero and his/her world rife with
problems
? What are they and are they clear?

► Is something
done
to our hero?

► Does it force our hero into
action
?

► Is it
believable
?

► Is there a valid
argument
for the hero?

► Is it the hero who has the
debate
?

► Does it give us insight into the hero's
emotions
?