Q&A with Rachel Gets Married screenwriter Jenny Lumet
Jenny Lumet, actress and daughter of veteran film director Sidney Lumet, can now add “screenwriter” to her credit list with the recent release of Rachel Getting Married, a movie based on her original screenplay. In this interview at WGA.org, Lumet has some interesting observations about the creative process. First, how was it working with director Jonathan Demme:
When you were working with Jonathan on the script, what was the most profound lesson about screenwriting you took from that?
He said, for this story in particular, if you don’t know what to do, go toward the truth. The stuff that he taught me was very particular: “Look at this transition. If you don’t fix this transition on page 35, you’re going to be screwed.” It was very particular, which was amazing. I personally love that stuff.
The solid, mechanical, structural stuff?
Absolutely. He said that all this mechanical stuff will liberate you to get to the honest part, and he’s absolutely right. You can only be free in the science of it. It would be hugely pompous and pretentious of me to make big sweeping statements about this stuff, but I can tell you what I learned from that guy, who’s a smart guy. You know, it’s called the arts and sciences, and he said, “Maybe you should have the science along with the art and have the art along with the science.”
I say that very carefully, being a fledgling screenwriter.
Next what the writing process was like on this project:
Give our readers an unvarnished idea of what it was like in the trenches when you were alone writing this script before you hooked up with Demme.
It sucked. It sucked in the sense that, it would be lovely if writing was done in a room full of people telling you how wonderful you are, plying you with M&M;’s and showering you with cash. But you know, it doesn’t freakin’ work that way. I have a son, I have a home, I have a mortgage, I teach in school, so you work when you can. You have to learn to take advantage of the time you have because you don’t have that much. When you have kids, it’s a different universe.
There are moments of total joy when you’re really pleased with yourself because you wrote something funny or you wrote something clever, or hopefully, you wrote something brave and honest. I really loved having written much more than I enjoyed the writing.
What’s your opinion of Rachel Gets Married?