Writers have it tough. You can slave over a script, love it with every ethereal fiber of your soul – and then, as soon as it’s optioned and you’re thinking your life just got made, the studio or production company can take your precious baby and turn it into something unrecognizable.
Imagine a person you adore sitting across from you, you blink, and in their place is a broom. It’s a little like that.
Chris Keane, my former screenwriting teacher and present-day friend at Emerson College, knows all about this. Growing up, Chris had heard the story of his father’s crossing the Atlantic after World War 2. It meant something to him. It became a story that he felt destined to write.
On his father’s incredible journey home, there was a poker tournament. A ship full of men eager to leave war behind meant a ship full of men thinking about their future, and wanting it to be bright. The pot grew to over a million dollars (still a lot today, but imagine it in 1945), and the competition turned brutal. Think violence, cheating, and lots of sabotage.
Chris finally managed to capture the real-life story in a screenplay – both a fulfillment of a lifelong dream and an homage to his father – and to get the script optioned.
And then, the unthinkable.
The studio decided that, instead of a ship, they wanted a spaceship, and instead of poker… how about the ultimate X-Games? And World War 2 - forget it. Let's set this baby in the future!
You may have wondered from time to time how some movies get made, or how someone could have sold such a terrible script. Well, maybe the script wasn’t so terrible when they first sold it.
So what happened? Under option, Chris had no choice. He had to rewrite his script to meet the dubious new criteria. Every line he cut, every detail that had to be modified from gritty war ship to rocket in outer space, was painful. Luckily, the script was never filmed (no wonder), the option ran out, and now Chris has another chance to try and get his work to the big screen the way he intended it.
Do you know of any stories like this?
hells yeah! they turned a serial killer into a bear... nuff said. painful.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. In fact, I hope to tell the story about a farm boy from Alberta, Canada, who invented a technology that silently rocks the world. Rather than an evil Wallstreet story, which perhaps with a twist it could be. I don't know for sure, but THAT's not my story to tell. I'm certain of this. And it's going to be hard to sell.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy how stuff stuff gets twisted around! And Catherine - I'm sure your story would be way better YOUR way, since it is your voice. In fact, it would be really refreshing and original to see a movie like that that didn't try to stick in an evil business-world twist.
ReplyDeleteJeff - I've gotta hear more about this one!