Film Courage: Why do you say that most movie ideas are very simple?
Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: Well I think movies tend to be based
on really simple stories. One of the things that newer writers can end up doing without
realizing it is over complicating their stories right because they feel like especially if they
start writing without a solid outline and they kind of get stuck they feel like oh I have to add
more complications to give me more story to write and they'll end up making things overly complex
where the movies that we tend to see are pretty straightforward stories they're a concise setup
some good escalations in the middle and then a wrap it up in the end and it's the execution that
makes things entertaining and interesting right so it's it's not that we need very complex stories
in movies a lot of times overly complex stories will be kind of hard to follow a little bit
bloated it'll be hard to kind of really go deep in a character's experience in a story that has
too many complications or too many characters uh whereas typically in movies what we see
is like one person pursuing one thing and what's interesting or entertaining about it is the way
that that sort of is executed the interesting cinematic cool stuff that happens along that
journey which is actually a pretty simple journey but it allows us the kind of space to dive into
how that character is transforming the emotional experience of it and kind of like the the
cool cinematic stuff that happens along the way does a simple idea mean a boring screenplay
no I i don't think so I think most if you look at most movies it's actually a very simple storyline
right it's a it's a pretty straightforward one person trying to achieve one thing
I think a lot of times newer writers maybe worry that their stories are too simple and
that will make them boring but if you have a simple story that just gives you a a nice
sturdy framework to tell your story and then it gives you the sort of space and the freedom
to find the entertaining moments and cool stuff in the execution of that story if that makes sense
right I know you've said and I don't know if it was it was in the book or in an interview that the
cliche of sort of like the the pretty but doesn't know it or the hot mess that sort of is rescued
right that that's been done so much and I i agree but what if somebody really needs to stick to
the rom-com where high school reunion and best friends getting married and does anybody object
but they want to do the next memento or they want to do the next crash something that takes a little
more putting together and you guide them and say maybe you're not totally ready for that yet
yeah I think that that is a challenge right some there are some stories that are I don't know if I
would call them more complex but the the execution of them is more advanced right like crash is
intersecting story lines kind of all put together within the structure of a feature film
I would call that like an sort of advanced craft kind of movie right so I don't think that that's
uh necessarily an overly complicated story at all and there definitely are newer writers who
who love movies like that and who want to write something like that and that's what's
inspiring them and sort of getting them in front of the computer to write it I certainly wouldn't
discourage them I do think that when you're learning it's going to be easier to learn and to
to sort of understand or wrap your brain around like how to put a screenplay together if you
work with a simpler story or a more sort of straightforward mainstream kind of story with
one main character who's sort of pursuing one main goal in the story that'll be easier just to
learn on if that makes sense like when you're learning to drive a car if you learn on an
automatic that's a little bit easier than like learning how to shift and learning how to drive
at the same time not that it can't be done but it just might take a little bit longer right
might take a little more patience so so yeah I think that if you're if you have the desire
to write something like crash or like memento if you are willing to be patient with yourself
and give yourself the time to sort of figure out how to write that particular screenplay then great
different people are motivated by different things so if that's what's going to get you
to show up and keep trying and keep learning your craft then go for it it just know that it might be
a longer process because you're sort of learning lots of different skill sets at the same time
and learning how to write a screenplay is already a bunch of different skill sets sort
of put together so that's just adding a little bit more to your plate but it it can be done for sure
sure I love that analogy so the driving the car so it's like learning to drive in your dad's old
station wagon versus some sporty little foreign model with a clutch on a hill right right exactly
and you've never driven before and you have all these people behind you honking so yeah that
that makes sense yeah yeah but if you're in that situation I mean if that's what sort of inspires
you to learn how to drive right then then go for it and just know that you're going to have to be
sort of gentle on yourself and and patient with yourself because it's it's probably going to be
frustrating but if you love the story that's okay you might have the patience to kind of
get through that right do you think audiences though really resonate more with simple stories
or no as long as it's a well-told story yeah I think as long as it's a well-told story I think
simple stories the the benefit that that maybe they offer to audiences and to writers too is that
they when I say a simple story I mean sort of like the the plot framework is fairly straightforward
and what you're what you're able to bring to that as a writer is finding new ways that
maybe the sort of tropes that we expect from the genre those things are executed in a new
interesting entertaining cinematic sort of way right so you're bringing your you're not
you're not writing the boring screenplay just to make it easy for yourself you're you're choosing
a story that gives you a framework that is easy to wrap your brain around so that you can bring the
creativity to it and add the entertaining stuff on top of it and then the other benefit is that with
a with a somewhat straightforward plot I don't want to say it's too straightforward but if with
a simple plot framework that allows you to then come up with the cool reversals and interesting
twists and turns and all that stuff the other thing that you can that gives you is sort of the
space and the freedom to develop the character more right because if you are taking less time
to explain the way the plot is working or why complications are happening the way they are
it gives you room for the characters to feel things and to interact with each other and to
transform and be be affected by what they're going through and it gives you kind of some space for us
to have that experience along with the character if that makes sense it does and I know we've
talked about Bridesmaids before and you use it as an example in the book and what seems like
a simple story when you actually put these relationship dynamics it's actually much
more complicated yeah very interesting yeah and that's a good example I think that Bridesmaids
is a simple story right it's a very clear story framework that they're working within but they
have all these lovely lovely funny set pieces that are inventive that we haven't seen before right so
that's in the execution that they're able to kind of they have this sturdy foundation that they're
building on top of but it gives them the freedom to do really fun funny entertaining things and we
also because the plot framework is so sturdy and easy for us to kind of understand what's happening
you get that character that is nicely developed over the entire movie which you might not expect
that in a broad comedy right but there's a lot of feeling there too she's really going
through something in that story so yeah there's a lot of levels and and it's about to uh the outward
appearances yeah and trying to kind of keep up with friendships and your peer group and stuff
and so yeah it's a movie that when I first heard about it I was like yeah that's not for me and
everybody was like oh you got to see Bridesmaids I'm like no and then I finally saw it and I'm like
why was I resistant to it because it's excellent yeah that's one of those I can watch over and over
again because it's so entertaining and there is so much sort of genuine humanity in it as well so.