The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “Perks of Being a Wallflower” Writer-Director Stephen Chbosky

All hail Vulture for this:

Over the next few weeks, Vulture is talking to the screenwriters behind 2012′s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. What pivotal sequences underwent the biggest transformations on their way from script to screen?

In this article, Perks of Being a Wallflower writer-director Stephen Chbosky talks about the “difference between filming a script and making a movie.”

The scene that was both hardest to crack and also had the most different versions was Charlie’s breakdown. I knew I wanted to tell an emotional story, because my novel’s an emotional story, but I also knew that since film is more visceral, there would only be so much emotional heaviness that an audience could take. What I figured out early on was if I make the audience go through what Charlie is going through as much as possible, in that if Charlie blacks out, we black out, then I can talk about every emotion I want to and not burn out the audience.

On set, once I saw Logan Lerman delivering that performance, I realized that now I had my maypole to build my scene around. You cannot underestimate how when you write, “Charlie cries” — two words on a piece of paper — it’s not the same thing as this young man delivering this moment. I had to write new dialogue when his sister is talking to him on the phone, because my lead delivered something that was better than what I’d hoped.

Here’s some takeaway: Stories are organic. That extends through the writing process and beyond it. Development, pre-production, production, even post-production.

Making movies is not a precious process. So as you work in the quiet confines of your study in the wee hours, carefully massaging each scene, each line, each word, crafting this wondrous story from your imagination, if you are lucky enough to see that script sell, you have to be ready for all hell to break loose. It’s scary as any time we move into the unknown is. But there can also be incredible moments of serendipity, even magic.

So pour your heart and soul into your spec script, but always remember a script is the foundation of making a movie. Hundreds of people are involved in that process. Weather impacts it. Actors’ moods and health affect it. It is an organic process.

And sometimes, the stars align and everything works together to create special scenes like the one excerpted above.

For the rest of the article, go here.

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