“Destroy property, defy authority… and take people’s clothes off”
I wrote my first screenplay in 1986. With no formal training, I was left to my own devices to find my sea legs when it came to the craft. Two things I did: I read a lot of scripts. And I went to a lot of movies.
It just so happens that a movie called Sweet Liberty came out that year, one of the many I screened as part of my ad hoc education. Here is the IMDB plot summary:
Michael has written a scholarly book on the revolutionary war. He has sold the film rights. The arrival of the film crew seriously disrupts him as actors want to change their characters, directors want to re-stage battles, and he becomes very infatuated with Faith who will play the female lead in the movie.
Michael, the Protagonist, is played by Alan Alda, Faith by Michelle Pfeiffer. The movie also stars Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, and Lillian Gish. Even with that cast, it’s not a great film, but for nearly three decades, I have remembered this exchange between Michael and the movie’s director Bo Hodges (Saul Rubinek):
Bo Hodges: You realize who goes to see movies. Eighty percent of them are between the ages of 12 and 22. And you know what the kids like?
Michael Burgess: What?
Bo Hodges: Well, this may sound silly to you, but kids go completely ape if you do three things in a picture: defy authority, destroy property, and take people’s clothes off.
Michael Burgess: [bollixed] What does that have to do with American history?
Bo Hodges: Oh, come on, Michael, think about it for a second. Why do kids defy authority? Because they’re in rebellion. The American revolution, Michael, was the ultimate rebellion. And they destroyed property! So all we had to do with these lunatics’ help was to get their clothes off.
The exchange is highlighted in the trailer:
And my God, isn’t that an 80s feeling trailer!
Anyway I was talking recently with some fellow writers, noting the increasing influence of the international box office on the type and tone of movies Hollywood is producing nowadays, and I was reminded of Sweet Liberty.
The conventional wisdom is that dialogue-driven comedy doesn’t translate as well overseas as visually-oriented storytelling. So if you’re writing a comedy and you want a touchstone on how to write scenes that can play visually to international audiences, try this:
Defy authority!
Destroy property!
Take people’s clothes off!
Okay, that’s the PG rated version, but you get my point.
If you think it’s kinda depressing that in order to succeed as a comedy in the contemporary marketplace, Hollywood has had to revert to the mindset of filmmakers in 1986, it’s time for a little history lesson.
Defy authority!
Destroy property!
Take people’s clothes off!
This sort of thing has been going on in movies for a hundred years or more.
Movies are primarily a visual medium. And as the international market grows, we can expect this truism to become ever more part of Hollywood’s conventional wisdom.
Therefore if you’re writing a comedy, you’d be wise to remember these three things:
Defy authority. Destroy property. And take people’s clothes off.
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