Black List writers on the craft: Theme (Part 4)
“If I think too much about what my themes are, it becomes laborious, over the top, like hitting you over the head.”
Over the years, I have interviewed over 50 Black List screenwriters. Over the next four weeks, I am running a series featuring one topic per week related to the craft of writing.
This week: How do you understand and work with the concept of ‘theme’?
The diversity of responses among the Black List writers I have interviewed is fascinating. Monday we explored various articulations of what ‘theme’ is. Tuesday we looked at some writers who begin the story-crafting process with theme. Yesterday we hear from writers who discover theme during the writing process. Today we consider writers who carry a concern about theme: Not to come off as “preachy”.
Michael Werwie: “I’ll probably get crucified for saying this, but I don’t really think about theme anymore. In my early scripts I put a lot of thought and a lot of energy into crafting and shaping theme, weaving it through the story to the point where it got heavy‑handed and preachy. I just stopped thinking about it and started trusting that it will reveal itself at some point along the way. I trust that it’s going to naturally be within every character and every scene and running through the spine of the script, because it’s this mysterious, intangible element that’s driving the writing already. So I don’t put too much thought into it, at least in the early stages of a script. Once I finish a script, I’ll have read it through many, many times while I’ve been working on it, and certain things will start to emerge and certain ideas resonate, and so I’ll eventually develop or deepen those ideas. Other ideas that seem like they stray from the spine of the story, I’ll take out.”
Spenser Cohen: “For me, theme is very important, but I’m never thinking of the theme right off the bat. I think the theme comes out while you’re writing. But I never go into a project thinking about it.”
Scott Rothman: “I’ve got to say, just as a counterpoint, theme is something that I’ve never thought about that much. I would have it in the back of my mind, or I’d develop a theme as I went. It was never a guiding principle that I had spent any time going back to. I never wanted to appear didactic, or I was screaming in the reader’s ear what the message was or what the point was. It’s something that I really learned from Rajiv [Joseph], and writing with him. He takes theme very seriously, as he’s just pointed out. I’m sure I don’t obsess over it, to the point he does it naturally, but it’s definitely something now I’ve learned to pay more attention to. I do think my writing has gotten that much better because of it.”
Joshua Golden: “I don’t want to beat the audience over the head with it, though.”
Julia Hart: “I think that if you think too much about, at least for me, if I think too much about what my themes are, it becomes laborious, over the top, like hitting you over the head.”
Chris Roessner: “I think one of my deficiencies is allowing theme to drive my story too much from the outset. I think that, from the beginning, you should know what it is, on a very emotional level, about your story that appeals to you. You want to declare it specifically, and then put it away. Then think about character, think about character, think about character. Then theme will naturally start to weave itself in there and give you an opportunity to shape it in future drafts. Theme’s obviously important. It’s what elevates your work. But I think if you let theme drive your story instead of character, you’re going to find yourself in no man’s land.”
Takeaway: It’s possible to overthink theme. If you focus so much them that it restricts your creative exploration… stifles your characters and their voices… bogs down scenes and the plot… and comes across as beating the “audience over the head with it,” a good idea to lighten up. Remember it’s a story about characters. Their world, their lives.
I am reminded of the quote attributed to one of the original Hollywood movie moguls Samuel Goldwyn who told the writers he had under hire at the studio: “If you want to send a message, send Western Union.”
After all, movies are ultimately about entertainment.
For Part 1 of this week’s series with Black List writers, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Come back tomorrow for more about this important subject: Theme.
