Saturday, 20 October 2018 06:17 pm
Book Review: Writing Screenplays That Sell
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deckardcanineI hadn't heard of Michael Hauge, but apparently he's an accomplished screenplay consultant to this day, at 71. His last book was published last year. I think this was his first. Anyway, I picked it off the giveaway shelf because of a casual interest in the prospect of screenwriting.
My biggest hangup is the initial publication date: 1988. The copy in question adds 1991 to the copyright line, but it still makes no mention of Die Hard or other works from the interim. Don't get me wrong; I'm familiar with most of the examples herein. I've even seen all the most thoroughly referenced movies: The Karate Kid, An Officer and a Gentleman, Stand by Me, and Tootsie. (The occasionally cited TV shows are another matter.) It's just that the processes of networking and formatting have surely changed with the Web, and some of the trends in the industry must have faded or taken new turns. I had to take those parts with a grain of salt.
Not that those aspects were of greatest interest to me. Sure, talent will get you nowhere if you can't grab the right people's attention, but I'd worry about that later. Mainly, I wanted tips on what the title indicates: the writing itself. And those tips probably remain relevant, including for types of screenplays outside his primary focus, such as animated shorts.
Without summing it all up for you, let me just say that Hauge is highly methodical in his recommended approaches. Never mind outlines; he suggests whole charts, as well as deliberately awkward dialog to be cleaned up twice later. You may not feel like bothering to write what no one else will see or hear, but it can result in a sort of structural integrity throughout the piece.
Hauge does not address unpublished writers exclusively, but it's clear that he has novices in mind. Some of the things he says not to do, such as writing period pieces or having more than two heroes, have been done successfully countless times -- just usually by writers who have already made money for studios. In truth there don't seem to be any hard and fast rules, only guidelines. (The same could be said of art in general.) But as he touches on in the Q&A near the end of the book, before you do something unconventional, make sure you know that it is unconventional and why. Viewers tend to sense a difference between the rebellious and the naive.
Do I feel ready to write a screenplay and then try to sell it? Nah. It'd be cool, but I don't yet have a story that I'm dying to tell everyone. And it sounds even more challenging than making and selling a novel. You might be surprised what percentage of submitted screenplays get rejected before execs ever have a glance. Keeping up the momentum is no easier. Hauge advises watching more movies per year than I do, and there was no Netflix in those days!
Regardless, you don't need a serious desire for a piece of the action to enjoy the book. It's informative in unexpected ways, and Hauge can be pretty entertaining in his delivery. I gained a new sort of respect for some of the movies he examines in detail. Maybe I'll check a couple out again.
My current reading is of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber. That too is a used book selected on a whim, albeit from a store.
My biggest hangup is the initial publication date: 1988. The copy in question adds 1991 to the copyright line, but it still makes no mention of Die Hard or other works from the interim. Don't get me wrong; I'm familiar with most of the examples herein. I've even seen all the most thoroughly referenced movies: The Karate Kid, An Officer and a Gentleman, Stand by Me, and Tootsie. (The occasionally cited TV shows are another matter.) It's just that the processes of networking and formatting have surely changed with the Web, and some of the trends in the industry must have faded or taken new turns. I had to take those parts with a grain of salt.
Not that those aspects were of greatest interest to me. Sure, talent will get you nowhere if you can't grab the right people's attention, but I'd worry about that later. Mainly, I wanted tips on what the title indicates: the writing itself. And those tips probably remain relevant, including for types of screenplays outside his primary focus, such as animated shorts.
Without summing it all up for you, let me just say that Hauge is highly methodical in his recommended approaches. Never mind outlines; he suggests whole charts, as well as deliberately awkward dialog to be cleaned up twice later. You may not feel like bothering to write what no one else will see or hear, but it can result in a sort of structural integrity throughout the piece.
Hauge does not address unpublished writers exclusively, but it's clear that he has novices in mind. Some of the things he says not to do, such as writing period pieces or having more than two heroes, have been done successfully countless times -- just usually by writers who have already made money for studios. In truth there don't seem to be any hard and fast rules, only guidelines. (The same could be said of art in general.) But as he touches on in the Q&A near the end of the book, before you do something unconventional, make sure you know that it is unconventional and why. Viewers tend to sense a difference between the rebellious and the naive.
Do I feel ready to write a screenplay and then try to sell it? Nah. It'd be cool, but I don't yet have a story that I'm dying to tell everyone. And it sounds even more challenging than making and selling a novel. You might be surprised what percentage of submitted screenplays get rejected before execs ever have a glance. Keeping up the momentum is no easier. Hauge advises watching more movies per year than I do, and there was no Netflix in those days!
Regardless, you don't need a serious desire for a piece of the action to enjoy the book. It's informative in unexpected ways, and Hauge can be pretty entertaining in his delivery. I gained a new sort of respect for some of the movies he examines in detail. Maybe I'll check a couple out again.
My current reading is of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber. That too is a used book selected on a whim, albeit from a store.