| [BACK]
HOW TO BE A HACK, PART ONE
My Fellow Writers,
Hack writer. We all want to be working, but none of us want to ever be referred to by that dreadful term. "Hack." So how do you avoid it? Well, knowing what a hack is and how a hack thinks is probably a decent first step.
Actually, many people would disagree with me, but in my view, the problem isn't so much hack writers as it is hack writing. In short, it's mediocrity. We're all capable of it.
Over the next few weeks, I'd like to cover the four major areas of a screenplay - premise, story/structure, characters, and dialogue - in terms of how one can avoid hack writing in each of those aspects. You'll see that much of what I'll be talking about relates to two things: originality and emotion.
The trouble starts at the beginning - the premise. Often, hack writing happens because writers don't care enough about the project that they're writing. They're looking to get paid and they'll write whatever comes their way, whether or not it's up their alley. Hey, it's understandable. We all want to work. But I'm noticing that one major difference between the good writers and the hacks is that the good writers find something to which they (hey, and the rest of us!) can connect in the premise, no matter how far it might be outside of their metier -- and the good writers bring out that connection.
On the other hand, a hack will just take the work and never become invested in the premise or story. They won't research. They won't care about the quality of their work. They'll just finish the assignment to a minimally acceptable level and then go on to the next one. Lucky bastards. The rest of us will struggle with dozens of drafts, sleepless nights, high blood pressure, prolonged procrastination, deterioration of social relationships, and self-flagellation - all because we're trying to create something a little (okay, a lot) better.
A great premise doesn't guarantee a great screenplay, but a mediocre premise sure makes the whole endeavor much more difficult. When it comes to premises, the key words for hacks are "recycle" and "borrow." Again, we all combine ideas that we see in other films, literature, and life - that's a natural part of creativity. The problem is when the premise becomes a dead-on retread.
A number of times, I've heard about television series lifting old COLUMBO and STARSKY & HUTCH scripts. I'm not talking about watching the episode and following the storyline. I'm talking about retyping the script, changing the names, giving it a dialogue polish, and putting it into production.
Am I getting high and mighty again? Crap. I guess it's just that I've read too many scripts lately in which the writers are striving for mediocrity. Even if they executed the script perfectly, the story is one that we've seen a million times before. Why hamstring yourself with an overdone premise? I will reiterate something I've said many times before - when it comes to the premise of your script, pick something that is personal to you.
When you're going to do a spec screenplay, think about it this way - if you could only write one movie your whole life that would be made, what would it be? Got one? Okay, that's the one you write.
That's about it on the premise for now. I know I didn't mention much about emotional resonance and theme, but I'll talk about those two more when I cover story and structure next week.
All right, I'm climbing down from the soap box for now. Now that I've talked trash about hacks, I have to go re-read my latest script. I know it can be a little better . . . (sure, this column can, too -- but I never said I wasn't a hack columnist!)
Revising,
Grady
|
