Interview [Part 6]: Misan Sagay, Screenwriter, “Belle”

Misan Sagay is a screenwriter whose credits include The Secret Laughter of Women, starring Colin Firth, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, starring Halle Berry. Misan’s most recent writing project is Belle, an historical drama starring Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing the title role.

Today in Part 6, Misan shares some thoughts about the screenwriting craft:

Scott: Some craft questions. How do you come up with story ideas?

Misan: From things around me. Paintings I see and people I meet. The main things is that I am always open.

Scott: How important do you think the story concept is to the overall strength and commercial viability of a screenplay?

Misan: I think its very important and for Belle, my concept was strong. A black Jane Austen.

Scott: How much time do you spend in prep-writing?

Misan: A lot. A screenplay like Belle could not be written in a short time. It needed time, researching, reading, to find the story and find the characters, and craft the screenplay.

Scott: How do you go about developing your characters?

Misan: I will pin photos of a casting wish list. This is where I spend a lot of time. I have read a lot about characters in Belle being based on members of peoples family. As though you could just get a photo album and there you are. I am sure they can be understood in this way but what is written is the fruit of much research and labor. To base these characters in their time and place and make them believable and serve the screenplay is craft. You can base someone on your mother-in-law, but that character is different if the film is set in the 20th century or in Anglo-Saxon England, if that character is black or white, etc. Without the work of creating the screen character, there would only be your Mother in-law!

Scott: What about dialogue? How do you go about finding your characters’ voices?

Misan: I find the key dialogue along with the character and the structure. You can paraphrase every other word in the scene, but if those remain you dot change the essence of the scene. I do think an ear for dialogue is a talent like an ear for music! You can change tell the story of Romeo and Juliet and it is still recognizable. If you keep 75% of the dialogue, but eliminate Juliet and the love story leaving only the feud, I think you are looking at a different piece of work.

Scott: How would you define theme and how important is it to you?

Misan: Theme is what the story is really about and in many ways, the theme reflects who the storyteller is and what story they want to tell. The themes of race, class and gender, of belonging and the value of a human being are all there in Belle and in myself. They are inherent in the character and her story, and were present from the beginning. You can’t impose theme after the fact.

The theme of finding out who you are, accepting yourself, and loving yourself very much comes from what I feel.

Scott: What do you think about when writing a scene? What are your goals?

Misan: It depends what the scene is about. I enjoyed writing the more comic scene like when Lady Ashford finds out Elizabeth is poor. Her sudden volte face and the rush for the exit. It was fun to write and fun to see on screen.

Scott: When you finish a first draft, you are faced with the inevitable rewriting process. Are there some keys you have to rewriting your scripts and if so what are they?

Misan: Evolve. Don’t get married too early to a line of dialogue or a character or even a subplot.

Scott: What is your actual writing process? How do you write?

Misan: Every day from 9 to 12.

Scott: What is your single best excuse not to write?

Misan: My children.

Scott: What do you love most about writing?

Misan: I love creating something out of air. I looked at a painting and saw a story and a few years later people are paying to go to the cinemas to see it. Amazing and humbling.

Scott: Finally, what advice can you offer to aspiring screenwriters about the learning the craft and breaking into movie and TV business?

Misan: Get good lawyer to draft your contracts.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Part 5, here.

Misan is repped by Independent Talent Group.

Twitter: @MisanSagayFilm.

For an interview with the movie’s director Amma Asante, go here.

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