Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on the Screenwriter’s Creative Power

Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination 5, The Thing, Hours, Story of Your Life) is probably the Hollywood screenwriter most willing to go online and provide a Twitter rant on a specific subject related to the craft. Writer Tim Wainwright hosts a blog and has been posting Eric’s rants there for the last year or so.

After several GITS readers asked me about archiving screenwriting Twitter rants so they wouldn’t get lost down the online rabbit hole, I reached out to both Eric and Tim about hosting some of Eric’s previous rants here. They both thought that was a swell idea.

Today: Eric’s March 2014 rant on the creative power a screenwriter brings to the professional table.

*takes a swig* Okay, ladies and gents, it’s thunder and lightning.

In a meeting recently, an exec pitched me a movie title and showed me the poster. That’s all they had. Plus marketing’s word it was “gold.”

You don’t build a goddamn house by starting with the furniture. I don’t care what the IKEA lady said, you’re gonna have a bad time.

This kind of mindset is actually common in the studios. Why? THEY DON’T CREATE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. That’s our job. So what can they do? They can think up movie titles and walk them into the marketing department and get some poll done at a mall. No studio wants the motto: “Patiently waiting for original material.” They don’t want to believe that’s a reality. They want control.

The good news is: An original story with a universal message will win you keys to the city. That right there is the REAL gold.

But if you’re struggling to get a foothold in this crazy upside-down business, sometimes your only way in is with a studio property. *cough*

So what can you do in the scenario when facing an exec pitching you CATNADO? If you’re struggling to pay bills? Character. It will feel like the most bizarre thing to go at it talking about theme, character, and metaphor, but crack that, you’ll get hired. The mid-level people are all focused on the trailer, the poster, etc. But the top execs? They want to keep relationships with actors. How?

By delivering great CHARACTERS in their movies.

If you want to pitch CATACLYSM or whatever “summer tentpolecat” open writing assignment, make it something a star would love to star in.

I pitched for a project last year by showing up with a scripted monologue for the hero. I said, “This is the kind of person he is.” That was above-and-beyond, but I saw the whole movie through that lens, and as a writer my most convincing weapon is actual writing.

On top of all this, you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT be cynical about the business. Even if you feel like Charlie Brown w/ Lucy’s football. Way more execs than you realize can smell cynicism. Can sense when you truly believe they’re the enemy. That attitude is cancer.

There are amazing people in the studio system, at all levels. They can be hard to find, yes! But good attracts good. Seriously. The people making STORY OF YOUR LIFE believe in movies with ideas. They have big hearts. They don’t care about the ‘fuckability factor.’ There are screenwriters who’ve found their way to producing positions. They know the plight of the writer. A lot of them are way cool.

You have to silence that voice that warns you’ll get fired for pushing for quality, and assume it’s a monogamous movie relationship.

Also! The studio system isn’t the only game in town. I got HOURS made entirely out of that world, with one producer and financiers.

None of these paths are simple or easy. You will get exhausted swinging at them. But great material gets attention. Maybe quick, maybe slow.

If your goal is to sell a screenplay, you are in for a world of hurt. Because those shouldn’t be your goalposts. A sale = a START to career.

Another one: DO NOT dare watch a crap movie and think you can make it in the biz because “I can write better than that!” No no no. That is called the “shit plus one” dilemma. It means your goal was to produce something marginally better than shit.

And consider maybe that crappy movie actually started as a GENIUS script, way back when? And some writer cries over the monster it became.

*coughs* *coughs again*

So let’s reach for really damn awesome writing. Let’s raise the median, skew the grading curve, build a new floor.

If you’re looking for total creative autonomy, you’re bound for heartache in this business. It’s collaborative by design. Want your words to reach the audience directly? Cool! Write a novel. A script is a thing to build what the public eventually sees. That means when you’re working with producers, directors, cast, execs, etc., you have to think about what will help them in your writing.

The spec script gives you freedom to do whatever you want. Put in all the needle drops you desire. Paint the world blue. Go nuts.

The moment that spec sells, understand the realities that set in: Song rights are expensive/impossible. Digital coloring troublesome. Etc.

The biggest lesson I learned as a writer was to work on my social skills. Shyness cost me jobs early on. Fear of introducing myself, mainly.

I hate the term “networking.” It’s not really accurate. It’s also a staid business term. What we do? Seek friends. Mentors. Peers.

When I write a script now, I don’t write for the studio, I write to impress @jonspaihts, @jonrog1, @garywhitta, and my other writer friends.

So this began with me bitching about the exec with a movie poster and no script, but it ends with: They need us to show them the better way.

You’re all awesome and I’m a little drunk. I’m gonna bail tonight before I start hugging everybody.”

The link to Tim’s blog post for this rant is here.

Eric has put together a book that arose from his Twitter exchanges: “150 Screenwriting Challenges” which is available for Kindle here.

Each day this week, I will be posting one of Eric’s Twitter rants via Tim’s blog.

You may see all of the Screenwriting Twitter Rants archived on the site here.

Thanks, Eric, for taking the time to share your insights with the online screenwriting community.

Thanks, Tim, for making the effort to aggregate Eric’s Twitter rants.

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