Now What?

I don't want to prove anything, I merely want to live.

-- Anna Karenina

A good part of my holiday weekend was spent in the desert with wife, dogs and friends. There was much neck-craning as the fire burned down, trying to see Andromeda and other heavenly bodies, which can get pretty funny without a star map ("There's Mars!"  "Cool -- it does look kind of red."  "Oh, wait, no -- there's Mars!" etc.).

Conversations around the campsite were similarly all over the map, variably profound, deranged, and happily inane, but one in particular has really stayed with me.  My friend Phillip and I were talking about Tolstoy (Hey, now that Dancing With the Stars is on hiatus, what else does one discuss?), and he noted that when Tolstoy started out writing Anna Karenina, he saw Anna as a villain, the anti-heroine of a cautionary moral tale, but as he got further into the work...

"She seduced him," I said, because Tolstoy did in fact have a change of heart about his adulterous protagonist, the further his project progressed: he ended up having such compassion for Anna that far from a figure of scorn, she became his beloved, capital-H Heroine by the final draft.

Phillips and I talked about how characters can change your opinions about them, and I confessed that I'm a bit leery of the old "My character took on a life of her own!" thing.  It strikes me as a somewhat sentimental notion, too redolent of Artist-Writer as the Great Creator and all that.  I do think it's true that when you get deeply involved with a fictional creation, the actions your unconscious suggests for them to do can be surprising, even startling.  But in Tolstoy's case, I think what happened was fundamentally different.

From what I know of Leo and his methodology, he was a ceaseless observer of his culture and the people in it.  Like all great writers, he wasn't so much spinning tales made out of imaginary whole cloth as he was reporting on the known.  Tolstoy was a conduit, a receiver and transmitter; he was a kind of divine divining rod, with perceptions so acute and empathy so intuitive, that I've always felt in reading Anna K (three times so far and more to come, God willing) that it's as if I'm reading what a book written by life itself might be like.

 

Bear with me here, those of you who are Russian Lit fans and would like to say, "I have Count Tolstoy right here, and he says, You know nothing of my work!": I don't really think Tolstoy created an imaginary villainess who seduced him into making her a heroine.  I think that what he was doing was bringing an already existing, specific-but-universal, emblematic-of-the-epoch woman of his day, age and culture into focus. 

The more Tolstoy learned about what a contemporary woman at this moment in Russia's (and the planet's) history was really like, the more accurate, less judgmental, and transcendentally real Anna Karenina became.  She couldn't be what he'd preconceived her to be, once he'd fine-tuned his already exquisite sensitivities to the task of seeing who the living 1877 Anna looked like; she had to be who she really was. 

And that, most readers would agree, is a large part of why she still seems alive to us, over a hundred and thirty years later.

 

I think that's one reason my wife and I are obsessed with Beyonce -- cultural icon as avatar of where we are and who we are, right now -- but I'm here to talk about screenwriting, or rather, to open up a conversation about it.  Here's my point:

We are living on the verge of we-don't-know-what.  Our world is in crisis on every conceivable level, and certainly on the economic front, if you're paying attention to the gloomier of the punditry, we can expect things to get a lot worse before they get better.  Yet we Americans have also just lived through a historic election that was all about the triumph of hope and a faith in change.  Much of our political conversation these days centers on: How different will it be?  Will it be too much the same?  What, exactly, is the next presidency (and the future of our country) going to look like?

You wouldn't write a movie about "today" with a Bush Republican world view.  Now is not the time, some Hollywood watchers have noted, to release a comedy about the hilarities of going into debt called Confessions of a Shopaholic.  But then, what is it the time for?  If you accept my premise -- that the job of great writers is to accurately perceive the moment they're living in, and reflect on this present moment with us and for us -- this is an incredibly rich and strange opportunity for scribes.   What does it feel like to be us, at this point in our lives?  I think that's the inquiry our most intriguing and effective screenwriting is bound to come from.

 

This doesn't mean, by the way, that one has to literally write about the here and now.  A key ingredient to the success of Mad Men is that although it takes place in the early 1960s, the emotional feel of that time -- filtered through the prism of Matt Weiner's take on our here and now -- has an eerie resonance: it's about a moment just before a paradigm shifted, when change was staring us in the face, but we couldn't quite recognize it.

When I talk to industry colleagues these days, invariably we end up musing on the currently unknowable, i.e where are the currents taking us?  What kind of a movie is the public going to want to see?  What is the nature of the story that we're all living in right now?

I don't have an answer, and this is where you come in.  Call it a readers and lurkers alert: I'm genuinely curious to hear, especially from those of you who've yet to comment here, how what you're working on has been affected by current events, and what you think the present-day screenwriter could and should be writing about.  Living the RomCom wants to know.

 

Comments

[Racicot]

Hello Billy,

I love receiving your posts in my Reader - you're always so calm!

I'm in the Treatment stage of a Romantic Horror Comedy.

A fan of Slasher & Zombie films since I was a wee lad - and a die hard romantic - I thought I would attempt a love story set in the wonderfully cathartic world of the splatter film.

A tall order, I'm sure, but lucky thing I have your book to guide me.

Thanks again for that.

Matt.

[E.C. Henry]

Great thought provoking post, Billy. And to think this came via shootin' the breeze with Phillip looking up into the stars while camping; spinning a pearl through a grain of sand. Are you part oyster?

"... where are the currents taking us?"

What E.C. sees: Breakdown of America. A land with less and less opportuniy. Moral and chosen ignorance of God.

"What kind of a movie is the public going to want to see?"

What E.C. sees: Good ones, crafted well which lift up good morals.

"What is the nature of the story that we're all living in right now?"

What E.C. sees: A gradual loss of what is good. Being slowly lulled into accepting the pervese, then making that the norm. A gradual "eviling" of what began as a Godly nation.

"... how (has) what you're working on has been affected by current events?"

E.C.'s responce: current events sober me up, and make me want me to put more of a Godly message into what I write. Current events make me want to write more things of substance. I DON'T want to be lumped into the toffo stuff out there. I wan't to have taste!

"... and what you think the present-day screenwriter could and should be writing about."

E.C.'s responce: Writers should ALWAYS follow your heart and write what you a passion for. BUT every writer should offer their writting up to God. Include Him in the writing process, and let Him shape their writing and their lives.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[MaryAn]

I actually (forgive me, please) think these are moot questions since, as you accurately point out, they are "unknowable".

(1) The gestation period from idea to development could be years and years so yeah, we should write that shop-o-holic story or even that (gasp) wedding story because we have no idea what the climate will be when lightning strikes.

(2) I don't even want to guess how many Dick and Jane type foreclosure and joblessness scripts are being written and pimped out there. It will get old. Fast.

(3) Who's to say that a shop-o-holic script can't have a theme that works right now? Maybe it's an analogy or allegorical film that uses a greedy and self absorbed shop-o-holic as a substitute for a capitalist country?

[Giles Bowkett]

Giving my answer feels disingenuous, because the answer is "read my script" - but at the same time, it's the only answer you could get from someone who believes in what they're doing. That or "I'll know it when I see it."

More seriously, I did in fact just write a script about this, from a very different perspective. I'm a programmer, I built part of Hulu. I remember in 1994 building web sites and trying to convince companies that one day people would do business on the Web. People didn't believe me, but of course I was right. William Gibson says "the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed." So I wrote a script about the way that screws people up, because the future gets to some people before others.

Like the commenter above, it's also a zombie movie. :-) What can I say? I love zombies. But it's a zombie movie about YouTube. I set up contrast and conflict between the survivors, and the people who are supposed to keep us safe - the police, broadcast media, etc. The idea basically being, this is why the new ways have to become mainstream, because when the people who keep us safe are less effective than we are at gathering information, communicating, etc., then they're actually more a danger than an asset. I started out wanting to write about illegal Bush administration wiretaps but got away from that and more into the whole tension between people who are already living in the future and people who are sort of in the path of the future's tsunami - people whose lives will change completely and who don't even know it yet.

I tried to be very compassionate and so on but I mostly turned the not-future-yet people into zombies and had my survivors shoot them. :-)

[Anna from Sweden]

In my writing I try to find a basic topic that is emotionally engaging and interesting, then the actual story tends to automatically and naturally become a story of today - because the characters are often inspired by myself, my family and friends. I've noticed that my story ideas often, besides love and friendship and parenthood, are about money in one way or another. The differences between people's lives in economic terms are interesting, and the way money affects relationship. The feelings around this topic are always strong, you can use it in various ways and levels, and I think it is always going to generate new interesting and fresh stories. You never have to worry about the story getting old, which is a good thing.

[Christian H.]

As usual, you resonate. Posts like these are why I love screenwriting. I wrote a script that has a heroine the total opposite of your initial description and it was thought to be a cautionary moral tale.

I thought I was showing that "it takes a village to raise a rapist..." but oh well.

I just love it when some famous writer has a similar story or script as I do.
It's as vindicating to my efforts as Barack's election.

I do think that "in the now" emotionally is the way to go. Americans are totally different from even ten years ago so we writers need to "stop being clever" and write from the heart.

I tend to observe people when watching trailers and I can always tell what will click and what won't.

I find that people want some interestign elements and don't care abotu character arcs or plot twists; just how quotable or memorable scenes within are.

I think it explains the success of the "spoof movies." Most of those are really bad but they have those moments.

That's what movies are: a string of memorable moments, whether happy, sad or indifferent.

[Chris]

Great. Now I have to read Anna K.

I think there's always that issue of the crest of the wave. Great art, great accomplishments, happen because they were unleashed on society at the exact time that society was looking for them (without knowing it). The Beatles, musical geniuses yes, but would they get signed today? Would they become historic today? I don't know.

I liked the Gibson quote by Giles. Someone is already developing the next big thing, and the only thing keeping them going is their passion, and everyone thinks they're wasting their time. Why make CDs? We have tapes. Why make DVDs? We have VHS. Why download music? I can go to a store. By the time our society realizes the revolution, it's already swept us up.

Personally, for me now is a time of questioning responsibility in the world. What do I do with the time I'm given? What do my characters do with the time I give them? I think that uncertainty of what they'll do comes from my own uncertainty of our future. Can this President of hope deliver? What if he doesn't? And where do I fit in.

Anyway, good conversation for sitting around a fire!

[mernitman]

Racicot Matt: I love the idea of rom-com horror. Not since SHAUN OF THE DEAD...

EC: Interesting. Personally, I refer to God as Her.

MaryAn: Fair enough. But I think what I'm saying is, write what reflects the truth of the moment you're in. In your (2) you're taking me too literally.

Meanwhile, there is a certain studio that has a romantic dramedy set during the 2000 election, and they have to see if they can reconfigure it for the 2008 election, or keep it in 2000 but with a different take -- precisely because our gestalt has shifted.
See, for example, Giles, here --

Giles: "...when the people who keep us safe are less effective than we are at gathering information, communicating, etc., then they're actually more a danger than an asset." That's great -- this is exactly what I'm talking about: you're writing something that reflects a shift in our perceptions. You wouldn't say, write a script that accepts the MSM as an all-seeing, all-knowing authority in 2009... because we don't believe that it is, anymore. Love the Gibson quote, BTW.

Anna: Intriguing synchronicity -- I just finished reading a review of a new book by Margaret Atwood (PAYBACK: DEBT AND THE SHADOW SIDE OF WEALTH) that's in part about this: the idea that classic fiction is "driven by money, which indeed holds a more central place [in the story] than love does." You might want to check it out.

Christian: Hey, I'd say any time you and Tolstoy are on the page, you're doing pretty good.

Chris: The question of responsibility is a great one -- especially as grist for a story's theme.

Meanwhile, reading ANNA for the first time is no punishment; I'd recommend either the recent Pevear & Volokhonsky translation or the Maude (Magarshack's good, too) as opposed to Constance Garnett. I envy you!

[Anna]

I'm definetely going to check that one out. Thanks!

[Christian H.]

I know. I've read myself and written myself into a stupor. I'd be totally peeved if I didn't find that I have something similar to the greats - even if only semantically.

Heck, Cinema 2 from Deleuze made me start my moving to LA plans. I love this job. It's just a shame that I love my day job as a programmer so much - especially the fact that I'm above the average salary of WGA writers.

But soon; yes, soon we will make use of all of the maniacal studying I've been doing.

But it's OK though because people WITH degrees have to work hard to keep working or even start.

As always,
Keep Writing as Writing is the Revealing of the Soul

[RickKF]

Люблю почитать подобное

[Alley K]

Bring on a story that can bring me hope!
A story that will let us all escape the constant bad news. A story that will bundle us up, take us on a roller-coaster of emotion, and let us believe there is always gain after pain.
That's all I want to go see and write about in these uncertain times. But then again - that's all I ever wanted to see.
When it comes to hearing good stories, the only thing that current times will change (I believe) is the way we get to interact with them, and the amount of pop-corn we can afford to consume while watching.
x

[mernitman]

Welcome Alley K: Well put. I'm all for seeing how that gain for pain is achieved, on screen, page, and in our daily life.

[simone]

I played my first show since the recent "economic events" and I found myself leaving out We Used To Stand So Tall, a song which only recently felt really right, and now, when I imagined playing it, seemed too on the nose, too topical. "Enough already, we know about it" is how I thought it might be received. I've also stopped playing The American War.

[mernitman]

Simone: That all makes perfect sense to me. Be curious to see what the events of 2009 will bring us in the way of political songwritery.

[Catherine]

Alley K says bring on a story that can bring me hope--and I agree. Which makes me think of hero stories, a constant source of hope.

Americans love a hero, and a story about the making of a hero in particular, deeply resonates. So perhaps we'll see new heros, and new forms of heroism? Fewer purely good guys/gals defeating the starkly evil, doing good with fewer guns in their hands. Maybe stories that show us that the hero doesn't always win or survive but nonetheless the effort is worthy, that allow for complexity. Humans are noble and irrational and beautiful and also mortal. Maybe more groups of people doing heroic things and fewer Lone Rangers.

Just a few thoughts. Love your blog.

[mernitman]

Catherine, I think you're right. Even this past week I worked on a Uni project where the protagonist -- very damaged to begin with -- dies at the end, while nonetheless foiling an extant evil plot, and it felt only appropriate for the present moment, somehow, that this was the "right" ending...