Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 5): Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy
A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2015 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy.
Here is Part 5:
Scott: How about the TV side of things? I just posted something the other day where there were 409 scripted series on TV in 2015. Is there something going on there in terms of development that may be opening things up wider in Hollywood?
Liz: TV feels like an encouraging place to be right now, because there are so many more outlets. And there are older places like say Lifetime where because of all the new guys on the block, they wanted to rebrand themselves, and so they put on this amazing strange bold show on Unreal, and it worked for them.
Or there are some smaller streaming outlets that are willing to take chances on an original voice. And this is starting to solve what has always been a puzzle for me: I like intimate stories, but that’s not rewarded by the culture of Hollywood, at least in features.
However, television is intimate, simply by virtue of delivery mode, right? Right into your living room, or your laptop. And now, when you have television networks or outlets that don’t have a lot of money for big budget shows, but want something of quality that will pop, then suddenly you have an opportunity if you’re an original voice. Someone like me has an opportunity to make something that’s not screaming with Sci‑Fi elements or whatever. You’re seeing more, and more distinct, auteur voices pop up on TV as the kind of Bruckheimer model — and I say that with love because I participated in that model for very many years — as the Bruckheimer model that was these shows that were like machines, with big formulaic paradigms, fades away.
Jessica: I totally agree. I think Mr. Robot on USA was like this extraordinary moment. I don’t know if you saw it, but I loved it. In TV, I’m going to use industrial dairy, and the homogenization metaphor, and pasteurization metaphor versus artisanal.
Liz: Do it.
[laughter]
Jessica: Great TV is like an artisanal cheese right now. Think of a popular niche cheese like Midnight Moon. You can be a nice little operation like Cypress Grove — started by a hippie and two goats — and do really well. Independent cheese producers may have stinky bacteria in the cheese, but people want it.
[laughter]
Jessica: When it comes to movie making, it’s like they want to have Kraft singles. Going through the process feels like they are going to filter out any unfamiliar bacteria because that’s the studio process. Because of this “process-by-committee” IF they all agree, and IF they all sign off on it, they are protected. It’s a consensus model, therefore none of them can get fired.
The homogenization of the development pipeline at the studios is burying other profitable genres. Studios are making tent pole movies but audiences are hungry for artisanal point of view. You have the most sophisticated audience in the history of consumers and audiences.
I might be combining studies but this is interesting. I read that Google ran mathematical models testing pre-internet saturation. They estimated there were approximately five exabytes of information between the “dawn of known information” and 2003. By 2010 we were running through information at a much higher rate. So what was the difference in exposure for a consumer of narrative in 2010 vs. 1998? How much more narrative do you think consumers were exposed to in ten years? Just take a guess.
Liz: My guess is 400 percent.
Jessica: 400 percent, OK. Anybody else?
Stephany: Yeah. At least that. It’s just gone through the roof.
Jessica: 2,000 percent.
Stephany: Holy crap.
Liz: Wow.
Jessica: That’s how sophisticated and saturated consumers are. With “Call of Duty” and all the gaming out there, those are all storylines. Those are all narratives. Think of all the access people have to storylines, whether it’s in gaming, on Facebook, on TV or movies.
I can’t even picture that. I can’t even picture what it’s like to get through that big a shift in such a short period of time. In TV, point of view is what gets through. You need a sharp, clean voice to get through all that excess. TV does that better than the studio movies because it allows point of view to shine through.
Movies just aren’t built for that right now, and development isn’t built for that. That’s why indie movies are thriving.
Liz: Can I bring up something related to the dairy model? I just want to say what I hate is when I hear people saying that women don’t want to participate in the industrial dairy model. Do you know what I mean?
Stephany: Oh, completely.
Liz: Of course, all artists don’t want to think of themselves as the person who owns the industrial dairy, but when the industrial dairy means you get to say direct a Star Wars movie, then that’s a positive thing.
In a way, this polarization of what a movie that Warner Brothers is going to put out looks like, and how much it costs, and what a true artist is going to make let’s say in the indie model, because indie films have gotten so much affordable, has meant that because women are not going to get shoved into the, “We trust you so much. We’re going to give you a film that costs $100 million for production alone”, we get shoved into the indie model.
What you hear about that is women have distinctive point of views so can’t be running the industrial dairy. Women have a niche perspective because we’re 50 percent of the population which apparently is niche. I wanted to bring that up as one of the many narratives around women in this business that drives me nuts.
Stephany: That drives me nuts too. I’m working in the industrial dairy model right now. [laughs] I have to say, we need to get more women working in the industrial dairy model because that’s where the money is. Where the money is unfortunately is always where the power is.
We need people to realize that we can be trusted with millions and millions of dollars, and these huge budgets, and that our voice, and what we have to offer deserves to have that kind of money, and power behind it. We need to get more women working at the Marvel’s, and at the Disney’s, and in the Star Wars, and everything else.
Each day this week, I’m going to highlight one of the writers. Today: Liz W. Garcia. Liz is an American television producer and writer. As a writer, her credits include “Dawson’s Creek,” “Wonderfalls” and “Cold Case”. With her husband, actor Josh Harto, she created and produced the TNT series “Memphis Beat”. Liz wrote and directed the 2013 independent feature film The Lifeguard starring Kristen Bell and is in pre-production to direct the movie One Percent More Humid which she also wrote. Other film projects to which she is attached as writer: Sisterhood Everlasting and French Women Don’t Get Fat.
Liz W. Garcia
Please take time to leave a reply with your observations and follow-up questions, and while you’re there thank these writers for taking time out of their busy schedules to do this roundtable for GITS readers and the wider online screenwriting community.
On Twitter:
Jessica Bendinger: @JBendinger
Lindsay Devlin: @DevlinLindsay
Stephany Folsom: @StephanyFolsom
Liz W. Garcia: @lizwgarcia
Julia Hart: @juliahartowitz
Lisa Joy: @lisajoynolan
For Part 1 of the series, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Part 4, here.
Tomorrow: Part 6 of this exclusive screenwriter’s roundtable.