Film Courage: What are the best questions a screenwriter can ask themselves to make
the story better?
William C. Martell, Screenwriter: What are the best questions a screenwriter can ask
themselves to make the story better? One thing is how is this my story? Whatever this story
is, how does it relate to me? So that I can use my emotions to tell this story better?
Because the weirdest part about being a screenwriter is that we sit in a room alone, we are isolated
from society, we are basically cut off from emotional situations, we hate conflict, we
hate all of these things then we are going to use, those are the elements we need to
use to make our story passionate and emotional and all of those things, all of those things
that we sort of fear to deal with we now have to deal with.
Basically look at the story. One of the things with assignments that I have to find a doorway
into an assignment. If I am offered a deal, if I am offered some thing that I read a book
whatever, some assignment where they are going to hire you to write the script I have to
look at that and go ‘How is this story my story,’ so I can tell it honestly. Because
if it has nothing to do with me then I am just taking money and typing. The bad part
about that is the script will not work. The worst part about it is you may have to do
a couple of rewrites after that on a script that becomes torture. It’s like I’m just
typing this, I am just writing this. I have no connection to the story. So then it becomes
work and if any of us wanted to do work we wouldn’t be writers.
Film Courage: So even if the story is not exactly similar?
Bill: No it doesn’t. Exactly there has to be something in there that I can relate to.
If I don’t relate to the story then it’s like I don’t get this.
I had a meeting with the people who did the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan movies and I can totally
relate to Jack Ryan even though I’ve never been in the Navy all down the line. But it’s
like I am the guy who is the bookworm who knows things but doesn’t necessarily know
how…isn’t the action guy. So that is the way that I can get into that story.
I think if you look at the Harrison Ford and Jack Ryan movies and the Baldwin Jack Ryan
movies, those really have the guy who is the fish-out-of-water who is the brainiac who
now has to do action stuff.
Where the problem with the reboot version was he was the action guy who had to do action
stuff. It doesn’t work, it didn’t work as a movie but if I were offered that I would
say I can’t do that story. I am not…I can’t relate to that character. I can relate
to other characters but I am not sure I can relate to that character.
So you kind of look at things and go “Where is my doorway into this story?” And it could
be something where it’s symbolic. It could be something where it…I am trying to think
of some example now and I can’t off the top of my head.
But okay the weirdest part about assignments is that you end up being offered things where
you go “That’s a movie?” So somebody offers you LEGO the motion picture and you
immediately go “There is no story there.” But if you find the story in there and you
go okay I am going to do a story about a rebel in a world where everything is awesome I am
a rebellious type person so I can see that story. You find your story in there. And sometimes
you look in the material and the story isn’t there. There’s things you will be offered
that you go I could hack that out and make money but it would be hack work. So I always
try to turn those down and try to wait for somebody to offer me the job where I go “I
want to do this project!” And whatever that is. I mentioned the Finland story. The Finland
Story was a producer who had a deal with Finland and came to me and said “We want to do a
complete ripoff of TAKEN. So I said “Can I work with this and pitch it back to you?”
And they said “Okay.” They were open to that which was great. So I basically came
up with a story about a novelist who is on a book tour to Finland who writes action books
who because he is a famous novelist ends up getting invited to the World Wilderness Federation
meeting, the Vice President of the United States is one of the keynote speakers as are
all of these other dignitaries.
And so he goes there with his wife and his wife wears the exact color dress as the Vice
President and when bad guys come to kidnap the Vice President’s wife, they get his
wife by mistake. So now he kind of have our taken situation. We have the wrong woman is
kidnapped and now he’s got to go from being this guy who is a novelist who writes action
stories to the action guy. He knows all of this stuff but has to put it into practice
so I could write that story. When I pitched it back to them they said that sounds great
and so I got that job.
Sometimes when they give you the outside parameters of the assignment you kind find the story
inside that kind of fits within that so it’s like TAKEN but it’s got my own sort of spin
on it where I can tell the story.
Of course the husband and wife get closer and closer from this story because now that
her life is threatened they rekindle their relationship and all of this fun stuff that
happens that works for me as the writer. So that’s the thing you find the story in whatever
they have or if they don’t, it’s a bad idea to take that job. Wait and some other
job will come.
Film Courage: So if the character in the film is someone who is just distasteful to you?
Bill: That ends up being a problem. I had…uh oh…this is the one that I was offered a
script to write about an adult male who has an inappropriate relationship and it was heavily
influenced by LEON THE PROFESSIONAL except LEON THE PROFESSIONAL hints at some romance
things and this one took it all of the way. When I was offered this I said “No way in
hell am I going to write this!” And I am kind of afraid to have another meeting with
these people and I completely turned that down because there are characters and scenarios
that you will be offered that you look at and go “I don’t want to tell this story.
I don’t want to have part of this story.”
There are…I am sure there are plenty of…I don’t think we have horror films (torture
horror films) anymore because I think that has kind of faded away but I don’t think
I could write a straight on, torture horror film where it’s all about hurting people.
That doesn’t do anything for me. You know I had a…while those were hot I did a treatment
for a story that was about people who wake up in a warehouse handcuffed to the person
they most hate (to their sworn enemy) and now have to make it through a maze with their
sworn enemy handcuffed to them. And I thought this is it. I can tell this story because
it appears to be the torture horror where the maze has all of these things where people
get killed in it but what it is really about is forgiving the person you most hate because
now you are trapped with them. Now that you are trapped with them you don’t see them
as that person that ruined my life, you see them as another human being who can help you
out of these situations.
So that was my way to pitch something to the torture horror producers who might get a yes
(it didn’t). They were like “We would rather see them hurt each other with the arms
off and escape.” I don’t think I am going to write that story.