Re “Bridesmaids”: I know this is going to drive you crazy…
You may have read hundreds of scripts.
You may have analyzed scores of movies.
You may have devoured the many books of renowned screenwriting gurus.
You may have sweated bullets over a single word of dialogue or scene description in your screenplay.
So what do you feel when you read this:
Kristen Wiig had to buy a screenwriting guide before penning ‘Bridesmaids’.
The ‘Saturday Night Live’ star was thrilled when Judd Apatow offered to make a movie if she wrote a script — but “freaked out” when she realised she had no idea what she was doing.
She said: “I said yes to Judd really quickly then hung up and completely freaked out. But he was cool about it, he just said, ‘Pitch me some ideas and we’ll figure it out.’
“So I flew out from New York to Annie [Mumolo] in Los Angeles and we wrote the script in six days.
“We didn’t know what we were doing, we bought a screenwriting book, a guide to how to do it, like Screenwriting 101.
“We didn’t know how to write stage directions or anything so we were, ‘ Oh put “Cut to.” there.’ We put “Cut to” on everything actually.”
I suspect what your initial temptation may be. You may be inclined to say, “They only sold the project because of who they are and who they know.”
In part, that may be true.
But that does not explain this: $144M. That’s the box office return of Bridesmaids as of today.
Even if they sold the project based upon connections, representation, and SNL, that does not in any way account for the resounding success of the movie. For that you have to go to:
(1) The writers’ innate storytelling ability.
(2) Their sense of humor.
(3) The movie’s strong high concept.
(4) Timing of story and cultural zeitgeist.
(5) The characters.
The success of the project had nothing to do with screenplay form.
Nothing to do with this screenplay paradigm or that one.
Nothing to do with bowing at the hem of some screenwriting guru’s robe and their vaunted theories.
It succeeded primarily because the story flat-out worked.
You may not care for Bridesmaids. If, however, you are inclined to disavow the movie’s success without digging into reasons why the movie works, then you are taking a longer road to becoming a professional screenwriter.
Takeaway: Like I said before, “The story rules”.
For more from the article on Bridesmaids, go here.