Exclusive GITS Q&A: Pen Densham (Part 3)

Today I continue with an interview I recently conducted with screenwriter, producer and director Pen Densham who has written the new book “Riding the Alligator: Strategies for a Career in Screenplay Writing,” published by Michael Wiese Productions.

ON STRUCTURE AND THE ORGANIC NATURE OF STORY

There are certain formalities that seem to be natural to the form of writing movies. Once you push all the words onto a page in a script, you’re really dealing with a short story. There’s only so many elements. And then it comes to why are these elements falling in the same plot forms all the time? My theory is it may well be biological. a story’s purpose is to take a fragmented view of life and reintegrate the character into a new holistic, optimized personality. The story takes the world that’s in chaos and integrates that chaos, so the character is now stabilized into this new form, one that enables them to live in that chaos — which I think mimics dreams.

This is all quite theoretical because no one actually quite knows what dreams are. But scientists believe dreams are essentially the way the psyche optimizes the fragmentation of the day, then putting it into an organized form. And that ties into my theory about Joseph Campbell essentially saying all stories fit the same form, therefore all stories must be a biologically valuable process because we wouldn’t waste time as an animal on things that have no value or outcome for evolutionary opportunities. And that’s where I thought people would really kick me in the teeth, where I’m writing on evolutionary psychology in a screenwriting book like this. But I thought if we could actually understand why we’re writing these stories and what they mean, then you can let go and stop trying to contrive, and actually let it come out of your psyche — because if this is a natural form, then getting out of its way, not calculating it too much should in theory mean you’re going to write closer to the needs of the viewer.

If you’re going to create a landscape of some kind, the audience is going to feel like they discovered something when they go to the theater on a Friday night. Novelty is an enormous stimula to the human animal. We don’t mind seeing the same stories as long as they’re told in novel ways.

ON AN EMERGING FORM OF FILMMAKING

I think there’s a kind of hypertext of filmmaking that’s coming. We’ve seen all the conventions, we don’t need to see them as much anymore. Getting a signature shot, the exterior of the building so we know where we are, that’s all going, so it can be more dream-like and psychic imagery. Inception is in that range and the structure of The Social Network is hyper-texting. It’s uniquely special to this time, I think we’re at the beginning of another evolution of thinking.

ON WHAT ADVICE HE HAS FOR THOSE TRYING TO BREAK INTO THE BUSINESS OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD

You have to look at being a story-writer and let that passion create stories, and see where there’s a place you might be able to find people to support them. There’s many more places than Hollywood to sell stories to, many more opportunities nowadays. It may mean you have to make an enormous amount of self-effort. If you create, you can’t delegate to someone else and expect the result to be as good as if you pursued it yourself. Which comes back to that logic of only create that which you’re most passionate about. The markets are there.

You did choose a medium to be an artist. This is optional. If this option feels good, then you’re growing as a human being, you’re giving yourself permission to live in a sensory world where everything you see and do can be a part of your creative endeavors, if you can live closer to your true nature, money isn’t so important as living happily.

Some of these byproducts hopefully come out of that thing while you pursue your creativity, one day one of these things gets to the screen. If they don’t get to the screen, maybe they can form into something else. Several of the scripts I find, I draw on when writing another script, kind of like jigsaw puzzle pieces fall out of other ideas and fall into the piece I’m writing, and that one’s really good where the others ones weren’t really as strong.

This process is kind of magical and it’s unknowable about what will happen. You must enjoy it, you must value what you’re doing as you do it, and you must not feel that the non-production of a finished script is a judgment of the finished work. It’s impossible for the number of scripts to get them all made. You chose already to play in a sport where winners are very few. But that’s the noble thing you chose.

For more information on Pen and his new book:

The book’s website.

Michael Wiese Productions website.

Amazon website here.

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