Beyond Words At The Writers Guild Theater
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Beyond Words (Polina Diaz)
And 10 screenwriters were able to share their veteran perspectives to a sold out crowd at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills this Thursday.
More than half the room was filled with budding writers according to a show of hands, a palpable energy present in the air as heavy- weights such as Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network") and new-comers like Mark Heyman ("Black Swan") filled the stage.
The first topic on the agenda posed by moderator and SCA alum John August was: “Why write films as opposed to novels?”
“Originally, it was a sonnet,” joked screenwriter Stuart Bloomberg about "The Kids Are All Right," an Oscar-nominated film he co-wrote with Lisa Cholodenko.
The response set the tone for the rest of the evening: a humorous, light-hearted yet deeply introspective conversation about what it's like to be a writer.
And, as Bloomberg pointed out with an anecdote about his TV pilot being rejected in the same week as his Academy Award nomination, what it's like to be a writer in Hollywood.
Something John Requa, screenwriter of "I Love You Phillip Morris" knew all to well.
One frequent question he got asked during the film's eight year development process?
“If Phillip Morris could be a woman,” he said, referencing the difficulty of financing the film.
A wide range of films were represented, from the “real-life Rocky” biography "The Fighter" to the crime drama box-office success "The Town," as were an assortment of different writing styles: Sorkin prefers note-cards, though reaching that point can be an arduous process and involve multiple car rides through Los Angeles.
“There's a lot of days of nothing happening. The hardest part is starting. The difference between page two and page nine is life and death,” he said.
Sorkin's first draft of "The Social Network" can claim a feat virtually unheard of: it was shooting the script, and within 24 hours of submission attached director David Fincher to the project.
Films such as "The Fighter," however, faced an upward battle. Screenwriters Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Scott Silver, recounted a decade of development struggles, fallen financing, and in instances where even the interest of an actor like Brad Pitt could not sway the studios from supporting the project.
A similar daunting battle awaited "The Kids Are All Right." The film was being being shopped around studios as early as 2005. And when you're not attempting to make the film, you're researching.
"The Town's" co-writer Aaron Stockard visited agencies such as the FBI, and Heyman spent two years gathering information about the intimate world of New York City ballet.
But one of the most important lessons gleamed from the panel was finding one's own voice and holding on to your confidence even when, as Sorkin described, everyone thinks a movie about Facebook would only involve poking and playing Farmville.
The panelists: Stuart Bloomberg ("The Kids Are All Right"), Lisa Cholodenko ("The Kids Are All Right"), Mark Heyman ("Black Swan"), Nicole Holofcener ("Please Give"), Eric Johnson ("The Fighter"), John Requa ("I Love You Phillip Morris"), Glenn Ficarra ("I Love You Phillip Morris"), Scott Silver ("The Fighter"), Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network"), Aaron Stockard ("The Town"), and Paul Tamasy ("The Fighter"); moderated by John August ("Big Fish").
