Scriptland: when bad writers happen to good ideas that other people have already had.
By Burbanked on Sep 14, 2006 in Blogging, Movies, Screenwriting | 990 views |
The Los Angeles Times has launched a new feature called “Scriptland” which will highlight, each week, “the work and professional lives of screenwriters”. We couldn’t be happier about this idea, because screenwriters are truly the unsung heroes of the moviemaking process - the backbone, the glue, the guiding light of cinematic storytelling through the ages.
And you’ve really got to admire the Times for the unique creation of such an idea, especially when you consider that shy screenwriter types rarely peel back the curtain and let us in on their work or their lives. And their process, thoughts, fears and frustrations. We need more of this kind of thing, right?
Too bad, then, that the first installment of “Scriptland” reads like the junior high school ravings of a fanboy on an online message board. Writer Jay Fernandez - for whom we’re provided no introduction or background - goes pretty far over the top in assuring us just how exciting it is that he! gets! to read! Charlie Kaufman’s new script:
“But many people, beginning with Kaufman, do not want me to have the script, do not want me to read the script, and without question do not want me to write anything about the script.”
Whooo. Sounds like Fernandez is about to shake the movie industry to its core, especially when he goes on to question “whether cinema is even capable of handling the thematic, tonal and narrative weight of a story this ambitious.”
Now don’t get us wrong; we love Charlie Kaufman and his writing certainly bends and breaks the tired conventions of most screenwriting - but as far as we can tell, Hollywood has somehow managed to make actual movies out of his scripts, as opposed to stashing them away, Ark of the Covenant-like, because they’re just too big and gutsy for us to handle.
Maybe Fernandez was feeling a bit hyped up about his new assignment or maybe future installments of “Scriptland” will solicit various and different takes (i.e., from more seasoned and reasoned journalists) on the art and lives of screenwriters. Or maybe Nikki Finke is correct in her rant that “Scriptland” is “the single worst idea in the history of the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section” (although we’re even a little shocked at Finke’s writing prowess, as much as we admire her style: who uses the word “jejune” in a blog, in the middle of an impassioned tirade?).
Still, we’ll return to “Scriptland” again to see if the Times makes any improvements, or simply for the entertainment value of watching what will likely be a slow-motion train wreck.
Dedicated screenwriting 101 here: From an interview with Harrison Ford on the MTV Movies Blog in which the inevitability of another Indiana Jones movie is mentioned:
How do I get out of this? I love going to the movies with my boys, opening up their minds to the great pleasures of cinema and all that, but this is a hard one. Please help me: do I suck it up and just go, or can anyone out there provide me with a plausible, kind-hearted, permanent way out? (
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Kate | Sep 14, 2006 | Reply
Oh, man, it’s just SO AWFUL but so damn trainwreckalicious! I thought it was a joke at first. What on earth is wrong with the LA Times?
Burbanked | Sep 14, 2006 | Reply
Apparently they’ve taken to hiring otherwise unemployable burned-out studio script readers.