Harsh Truth About 99% Of Screenplays - Gary W. Goldstein
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
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Gary W. Goldstein has produced some of Hollywood's biggest box-office hits (Pretty Woman, Under Siege, The Mothman Prophecies and more), generating well over One Billion Dollars in worldwide revenue, receiving multiple Academy Award nominations, People's Choice Awards, a Golden Globe and other honors. Before moving to Los Angeles, Gary practiced as an attorney in San Francisco. He later served as president of two divisions of IAM.com, an internet entertainment company successfully funded at $50MM. Gary's passion as a storyteller goes beyond producing the work of gifted screenwriters. He's committed to sharing with everyone who desires real success and enduring careers as a creative professional his smart, simple strategies that magically transform talent into business success more rapidly and with greater ease. Gary's spoken at TEDx La Jolla, been published by the Huffington Post, and was a contributing author for the Napoleon Hill Foundation's newest publication "Stickability". Gary also regularly speaks to creative audiences and has given talks at American Film Institute, UCLA, Emerson College, De Anza College, the Dallas Screenwriters Association, the Great American Pitchfest and beyond. Gary's latest endeavor includes CreativeEdge.com where he helps creative professionals have their voices heard, their stories told, and to turn their talents into a career.
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#writing #screenwriting #movies
This is a hard truth that I had to face before. It's important for people to know just how difficult it is to make a career out of screenwriting but if you truly love it never ever let that stop you
The other harsh truth for beginning screenwriters is that some of the worst screenwriters get constant work because they conform to cliche storytelling. Sometimes thinking too out of the box isn’t the best idea.
Yes, but virtually all of us are not working screenwriters working Hollywood. When you have that magical story that is the best you can do, that will be your entre into the industry.
At least then you still have your dignity
A seasoned writer folks are comfortable with can get away with a mediocre story. You as an amateur cannot. You must blow away folks with your screenplay.
I've been told I think outside the box but directly under the box. So, I will now take this as a compliment. haha
Well they do say you have to know the rules before you can break them.
Another bit of advice: Come late into a scene, and leave early. Don't explain things, let the audience become involved in the mystery you are setting up.
I read a short story once about a young couple walking a dog. They describe on occasion the dog doing better than they expect, scrambling down a hill to the creek, and so on. Only at the end of the story do we find the dog only had three legs. The story wasn't really about the dog, but what a delicious surprise at the end. Re-reading it, the dog's behavior made sense. That little bit was so well crafted. Be that subtle.
@@pliiatz7534 No. I was on a committe to put together the Sacramento City College literary publication. That was a couple of years ago, and because of Covid, the issue to date has not come out.
I’ve seen writers try to create artificial drama by having a couple fight while making breakfast and then having the scene go on even further as they eat breakfast. It’s ten times more effective if you just cut to the couple eating and slowly getting agitated with each other.
@@123rockfan Maybe. Depends on what conveys the emotions best. If wifey buries a knife in hubby's back, nice to onow wiat led up to it, no?
It would have been ever better than if the young couple were its parents, eh? >wink
Behind this harsh truth is really encouraging advice; understand that the writer can easily develop blindspots when working on a project for a long time, and get quality feedback (don't show the work until it's ready). Then seeing what conclusions you can make to improve the story (not just change it). Gary doesn't exclude 99% of writers or scripts for 'lack of talent', he focuses on the mindset and process that delivers the best results. That's the kind of writer a producer wants to work with. And the approach every writer can adopt.
1:15 Not the right guy for it.
2:43 Script through someone I know
4:40 Same issue - bad, Different critiques - good
5:48 If it does not grab you early with a hook, you sort of see the quality of the craft. 9:20 Let people know what you are inviting them into.
10:20 Storyteller
What a warm and generous man. He approaches stories wanting to be swept up into them. And hes right that we dont read with our brains, we read with our hearts.
Can you really separate those, though? In order to be emotionally impacted by a story you need to understand the story, don't you? And it's not always obvious. It would be kinda an extreme example in a way, but take Mulholland Dr. The movie is totally overwhelming....but only if you get the story. You can still enjoy it if you don't, but you'd be seriously missing out. Another aspect of it is how your ability to "dissect" stuff on the fly affects your ability to get immersed into and enjoy it. The popular opinion is that the less you are inclined to get sort of "professional" in the process, the more immersive your experience is. In fact, the opposite may well be the case. Say, two people are having a challenging 10 mile run along the ocean shore. One is a trained athlete. The other is completely out of shape. Who is going to enjoy the scenery better?
Actually we read with our eyes
If you do this for a living, you must work hard. If you do this as a passion, you can work with editors to make the best version of your story.
AND...tell a story only you can tell. You are unique. Only you have your experiences. Don't follow trends, or write what you think will sell. Write the story that MUST be told.
"the story that must be told" true *10
The story that must be told depends on the IQ of the viewers understanding it. Today's viewers like crap, and everything else bores them.
I wish people would stop trying to recreate successful films.. just write what your heart desires & then make it entertaining after you finish writing it ;) I think there are TONS of sequels and remakes being made & I really miss the Hollywood of the early 2000’s
Agree. The 1990's were great too. Thanks for the comment.
Could someone explain me the purpose of that question about him reading Pretty Woman : "So it was a friday?" ??
His smile is precious
What amazes me is the lack of talent these days. Especially people who try to adapt existing books. Almost everytime it fails because they think they are better writers than the original source, are convinced existing fans are just a nuisance and have to insert modern sensibilities and their own political stance, experiences and feelings in the story. It almost never works and the result is that all these movies and series have started to resemble each other (instead of the books they are based on). One amorphous mass. It is possible though; think for example Shawshank Redemption where the script and movie are superior to the (short) novel.
I also miss the (real!) diversity in movies we used to have in our cinema. We used to have a constant stream of superb drama, comedies, crime, historical drama, mystery, adventure, sf, superhero, westerns, action-movies, horror, thrillers, romance, war, epic movies on a grand scale, kids movies and so on. And many of them of exceedingly high quality, still loved by millions, if not billions. These days it has become all so bland, so predictable. If you don't particulary like superhero movies and don't subscribe to the religion of woke (the dominant religion in Hollywood these days it seems) the pickings are slim indeed.
So my hope is a new generation of talented screenwriters will arise to push the current lot from their pedestals. It is even possible they will come from other parts of the world seeing the huge succes of a well written animation series such as Arcane (France) (a prime example of diversity well done without all the obnoxious preaching and grandstanding and fan bashing) or the wonderful and populair series and movies from Korea and Japan. There are good screenwriters out there but maybe no longer in L.A.
It really does feel like the majority of writers are cruising on being part of a team for that one movie that did really well, but seemingly only wrote like three actual lines because anything else they've had a bigger part in has been crap. But I also wonder how much of the studios influence is involved. There's probably some decent scripts out there that get turned into utter dog trash because the producers are chasing trends
@@Ailieorz I understand the studios can ruin a great screenplay.
"The Big Picture" with Kevin Bacon is a comdy that touches on this.
There are great movies out there
I completely know how you feel.. these days filmmakers just want to make films that perform commercially well & in the process, they sacrifice the creative aspect of crafting stories. Superhero films have suddenly become popular, but VFX technology can’t fix bad writing!
@@noahlebel-turcotte4662 AND...great small screen entertainment. True Detective, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones...
The harsh truth about this video is I watched the first 10 seconds, but it didn't grab me so I stopped watching.
Your videos always make me want to write but I currently have a migraine so I can't 😭
hon, wet a towel put in your forehread. lay flat on the floor , on the concrete if you can for 10 mn. you'll feel better
Hopefully you feel better soon
I always use loud music to numb my own migraines (I like metal a lot), but if I have to write through a headache then I complete really small bursts so the overall workload feels manageable
Winning “Best Original Screenplay” but NOT winning “Best Picture” is basically like saying “great idea.... poor execution.”
🎯
There is a lot of correlation between quality of the screenplay and quality of the finished movie, but it isn't that simple when it comes to the Oscars for a variety of reasons,from the fact that adaptations often win Best Picture, and that different groups of individuals vote on different categories, and that Academy voters often have sociopolitical motivations for the way they vote (Crash, I'm looking at you).
Three examples:- in 1997 Good Will Hunting won Best Original Screenplay but Titanic won Best Picture, and I wonder how many people would argue today that Titanic was actually the better movie.
In 2004, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind won Best Original Screenplay but Million Dollar Baby won Best Picture but not Best Adapted Screenplay.
And in 2017, The Shape Of Water won Best Picture over both Get Out (Best Original Screenplay) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri for some reason or other.
@@RobertDeadford Exactly, even the nominations are down to who puts together the best campaign, not necessarily the best work.
Another thing is the Academy loves movies that celebrate filmmaking and/or nostalgia or references to Hollywood classics, which goes some way to explaining The Shape of Water.
Not to mention the, 'this person has been nominated four times already, so we better give it to them now, even though their previous performance was better'.
The best advice given to me many years back was to write a book before trying to make my story a movie. True, it's a lot more work but the pay off is priceless. Create your own buzz, and the producers will come to you instead of you having to go to them. With your product being successful on its own you will also have more negotiating power. I believe that's why actors get more respect than screen writers; they themselves are a pre established product that producers can see insurance worth investing in . No one, be they producer or common 9 to 5 worker wants to take a gamble on their money if they are wise. They want to know if their investment is secure. Therefore you must establish your own buzz and make fans out of potential investors. You and your story will be respected and appreciated so much more. I hope this helped someone.
It’s all subjective. It’s executives that turned down some of the biggest hit films at times. It’s all in who’s reading the script. Scripts are boring, but if it’s a category you like, it’s interesting. Like the old saying in hollywood, nobody knows S…t. It’s luck and if a person likes you. The script is getting a rewrite anyways unless you own the studio
Great guy. A man worth listening to.
It is not a matter of technics it is a matter of finding people of influence that see potential in your work
This is excellent, thanks.
With features I give them the 1st 30 minutes (30 pages). With shows I give them the pilot. I think that’s a decent gauge for me at least.
I really like this guy. I have used much of his advice.
Nailed it with the feedback part. The industry just seems full of people who will blow wind up your rear for appearances
And for money.
His voice tho 🤩
The bottom line is, the viewers decide what they want to see. And if they want crap, then the writer and filmmaker must deliver crap.
Julia Roberts might have passed on Pretty Woman if she didn’t like the script. Don’t forget that actors need to like your script too. Thanks Film Courage.
A well of wisdom for writers.
Honestly, this is the problem, because now all Hollywood gives us is reboots, remakes, and marvel. Literally bankrupt if ideas but still acting like they’re producing anything different.
If this guy is looking for "the caliber of writing" or the "quality of the craft" in the first 10 pages it's a problem as that's not necessarily what makes great story. Great screenplays rarely make great movies. A great example is Sicario, weak script but interesting story that a good director saw the potential and shot and a good editor could pull a great movie out of (thanks to a reshoot). Good story is everything and it may be hidden in a horrible mess and it's the job of good film makers to pull it out, of course it's always nice to come across a ready to shoot tight script that's ALSO a GREAT STORY but that's not a reality.
One of the things we do is audience reaction research and in doing over 1500 movies we've been able to correlate a lot of data and one of the most interesting things is how the quality of scripts relate to the final product. You should have Kevin on talking about his new book.
Kevin who? If you don’t mind me asking
Yet that is reality. Read the first 10 pages of "Argo" to see a screenplay that grabs you right away.
One in a hundred! Back in my theatre-going days, out of ten plays two would be good to great, two or three would be terrible, and the rest would be somewhere in the middle. I could live with 7-8 unremarkable experiences for the sake of the one or two that were transformational. I am talking about works that made it to stage, of course. But one in a hundred? Yikes!
He didn't say only one in hundred are good or great, he's talking about one in hundred is something that he would consider producing (and that certain types of script he wouldn't even consider because they are not his type of thing e.g. sci-fi)
@@Ruylopez778 Good points.
@@Ruylopez778 Gary, quoting his friend: "I feel lucky if one in a hundred gets me really excited." He confirmed that maybe he'd want to speak with the writer of about 1% of the scripts he's exposed to.
Another experience I had, a local paper used to have an annual short story contest with a very big first-place prize. When I was in university I was one of half-a-dozen first-filter writers. If we liked a story we'd pass it up the chain. It was the only way to trim thousands of entries. Gary said he'd give a script three pages. Usually I could tell from the first paragraph but out of fairness I'd read the whole, damn thing. Awful. The hardest stories were the ones that had promise but no satisfying or even logical ending. It was a short term annual gig and a way for a starving student to make a few bucks but I can't imagine doing that for a living.
BTW, I'm guessing from your handle that you're a chess player. And with a QB6 move you favour black's side of the game.
@@seanferguson5460 "The thing he remembered me saying was, 'I feel lucky if one out of a hundred gets me really excited.'"
"It's not always because the quality's not there... ...I'm probably not the right guy to..."
So he's saying that 1% of scripts are both great (or perhaps even exceptional, since he doesn't quantify what is required to excite him) AND it's something he wouldn't discount himself from making. I'm sure he's read many great scripts that are also too similar to a project he's already done, or another movie. I would guess his barometer for a great script is probably higher than mine would be - because he can probably see 100 issues that wouldn't even occur to me [not that I want to produce movies].
I can imagine most script submissions aren't really polished enough, and full of irritating mistakes. I suppose, my view is that most people in the industry are complaining about scripts that are sloppy due to lack of thought, or effort. I don't like the attitude of some viewer comments on this channel that basically blame it on "who you know", or the ones who want to put everything down to "talent" [not claiming you were doing that, though]. I think both those perspectives enable poor craft.
It doesn't explain how a writer can write an amazing work of art, and then follow it up with something that is poorly received. Of course, you can't please everyone, but I dislike the notion that some people are 'talented' and everyone else is just deluded. I much prefer the notion that each work will either be well received or not, and any work can be improved with effort. My own emotional baggage about the opinions of others, I guess.
Edit: And I think the other 'crime' is writers submitting something to the wrong studio/agent/competition - due to lack of effort on their part to assess who would fit the project, and then complain that they get no results.
Translation - they only read the first three pages before it gets the circular file.
These Rock!
Next it'll be the first 3 lines or your done 🤕
My understanding is that sjw and China both need to approve a screenplay or the movie never gets made.
Based
Insightful, it's so difficult to assess something when you're genuinely enjoying it. I guess when it's a binary decision whether or not to purchase it, that's probably a great thing lol. Harder when you're trying to study the craft in order to emulate it.
I think people need to be careful about who they get feedback from. Personally, I trust the opinions of other writers far more than people who are primarily interested in money, especially if they write in a similar style.
This is fine and probably the right approach if writing is a hobby for you. It is not a helpful approach if you want it to be your business.
@@harryspeakup8452 It all depends on whether you prioritize money above all things. If you’re an artist first, the answer is obvious.
so many films that get made today aren't very great to watch, writers still don't have that much input today
A ton of big or biggish paint-by-numbers films get made, despite being bad. Screenwriters don't have to create Unforgiven in order to get their work into a cinema.
American cinema makes more sense to me know now. The utter shit state it is in i mean.
What do you like about this video?
His honesty tempered with kindness for lack of a better word.
Let's face it, most of us will not have Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Strive to make art that makes you happy, art that you think can change the world. You must live the story. It may be clumsy, but that can be fixed. Make your reader engrossed, as Gary says.
He gives a nuanced perspective versus a black and white answer. That’s sometimes a good hint that you are talking to someone seasoned and experienced.
👍👍
Duh, it says spider man! Here's my money!
Holy shit am I early
New video every day at this time.
@@filmcourage 😀
The whole script to movie system seems incredibly flawed. Movies are a visual medium, and the first step towards making one is a script with no visuals. Star Wars would never have been successful if it looked like all the sci-fi movies that came before it.
Thank you for addressing this. Watching this video hits home quick. hahah
I'm not exactly a professional certified film producer but I've been actively producing short films and tv series for the last 4 years here in Brunei. II've encountered so many potential scriptwriter and screenwriter that immediately get agitated because somebody that wants to work with them criticise their writings, and they immediately doesn't want to do it anymore or doesn't want to discuss the matter to make the story better. And it gets worse when working with a new director who just outright want to redo the whole script because his vision was different. I wish I can learn more on how to mediate between these 2 opposing opinions, and how I could tackle these sorts of things more efficiently.
Be a filmmaker and a screenwriter
It can be hard to find a balance between what the director wants & what the writer wants, but here’s a tip of advice: as long as the main message of the film remains the same, your job is 60% complete