Screenwriting 101: Steven E. de Souza
“There’s dynamics you don’t know about. There’s an executive at your meeting, she’s been frustrated that every movie that comes out of this process turns out to be aimed at teenage boys with fart jokes, and she’s trying to elevate the material. And then you have her arch-enemy who’s not going to make any wussie movies. Then you have the person who’s job is shaky who wants to show off in the meeting. So all this stuff is going on.
You want them to have a good meeting. One of the things you can do is go in there and leave opportunities for ‘plug and play’. If they can say anything in the meeting that they can think is their idea, then they’re invested.
For example, you might say, ‘I think these villains are doing something to screw with our economy, they want to mess with our money, they’re trying to fool people, they’ve got a big suitcase full of… of…’ And someone says, ‘Counterfeit money?’ [claps hands] ‘Yes, yes, that’s right. I like that. Can I write that down?’”
— Steven E. de Souza