John August

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Goodnight Moon, Hello Movie

Check the date, News, Projects

I’m happy to finally be able to announce the next thing I’m writing after Shazam!/Captain Marvel — an adaptation of one of the best-selling children’s books ever: Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown.

bookAnyone who’s ever had a baby has probably read this book, so it’s no surprise that Hollywood’s been trying to adapt it for years. Robert Bolt wrote a draft, as have Waldo Salt and Andrew Kevin Walker (his version had Tom Tykwer attached.) So will this new incarnation be the one that finally gets it made? Hard to say.

There are certainly plenty of heavy-hitters involved: Gore Verbinski is directing, Joel Silver is producing, and Lucasfilm has signed on to handle the visual effects. The movie will be shot largely greenscreen, like 300, with extensive motion capture to handle the Little Bunny and the Kittens.I fully recognize the irony in using greenscreen to create the Great Green Room.

Probably the most innovative and challenging aspect is the casting of the Quiet Old Lady: Jessica Tandy, who passed away in 1994. Using reference photos and forensic measurement (obtained with permission of her estate), she’ll be digitally recreated, a pixel-perfect reproduction.Tandy’s voice won’t be a particular challenge. True to the book, the Quiet Old Lady only whispers one line: “Hush.” The hope is that the R&D involved in building her for this movie will enable her to be re-used in future movies.I’ve actually read a script for a sequel to Driving Miss Daisy, which was obviously never shot. They’re talking about doing it in digital 3D, but it’s unclear whether that’s really going to happen. The infrastructure might not be there, and I’d question whether little kids are going to be willing to wear special glasses. No matter what the format, count on a great Danny Elfman soundtrack to accompany the visuals.

The movie is set up at Walden (who did Narnia) for 20th Century Fox. Given the number of zeroes in the budget, one would expect it to be a summer or Christmas release, but it’s obviously a long ways off.

Before you ask, I have no who we’re casting for the other roles. Right now, I’m focusing on how to turn an 18-page board book into a 100-minute family-friendly blockbuster.

UPDATE (4/2/07): For future readers looking through the archives, please make sure to check the date: April 1, 2007. Which is also known as April Fools’ Day.

Renumbering when moving a scene

Formatting, Projects, QandA, The Nines

questionmarkLet’s say you are doing revisions and are dealing with scene numbers, and a scene gets moved up/down. How do you format the scene number?

Say scene 70 moves up in front of scene 69. Do the numbers read: 68, 70, 69? Or: 68, 68A, 69, 70 OMITTED.

Technically the scene still exists, i.e. was not omitted. What to do?

— Johnny

The second form is correct, though my AD’s prefer to use the letter before a scene number, for reasons I explained in an earlier post. So I would number the scenes…

68
A69 (the scene you moved)
69
70 OMIT“OMIT” or “OMITTED”. Either is okay. (where the scene used to be)

With rare exception,One exception was The Nines, due to some complicated time-and-reality issues, which made normal sequencing too confusing. When revisiting an earlier scene, we’d put an X in front of the scene number. So, X48 was a version of scene 48. you always maintain scene number continuity. If you’re pretty far into pre-production, it may be helpful to include a note either with the script revision or on the page itself to point out the change, so a harried production designer (for example) doesn’t look at the “OMIT” and suddenly stop construction on a needed set.

The “OMIT” is a good place to put such a note:

70 OMIT [This scene is now A69.]

How do you become successful?

Education, Film Industry, QandA

questionmarkI’m currently a grad student at USC film school. Your site was a great help to me in learning how to write screenplays, then applying to and getting into USC.

From the class that graduated with you, either from Stark, production, or writing programs, what percentage in your estimation have gone on to success in the industry? What traits defined those who did from those who didn’t?

And if you post this question, please sign me as…

— Rosebud
Los Angeles

“Success” is a pretty hard term to define when looking at a career.

What’s the measure? Money, credits, awards — or some sort of internal satisfaction index? And perhaps more importantly, what’s the time frame? While some grads are directing $100 million blockbusters within years of graduating, most are happy to keep continuously employed.

Probably the best measure of “making it” is to look at people five years after graduation and see if they’re still working in the industry. Yes, Kathy may have arrived at USC looking to direct, but if she’s now an editor on 24, I’d say she’s doing well. Likewise, Dan may have applied to the Stark program hoping to produce the next Schindler’s List, but now he’s an executive at Warner Bros. So he might still make big Oscar-winning movies, but they won’t have his name on them.

By this metric, from my Stark class of 25 students, more than half are still working in the industry. Some run studios; some run TV shows; some run interference for directors. We were unusally successful right out of the gate,Michael Cieply wrote a lengthy piece about our class (1994) for the New York Times. but I think there are some general lessons to distill:

  1. You’re not entitled to anything. A film degree is basically worthless. You won’t get recruited, and no one will ever ask to see it.I have no idea where my degree is at this moment. An MBA from USC gets you a $100,000 starting salary. A film degree from USC might get you an unpaid internship. All you get out of it is the education, so make sure you’re learning every second of the day.
  2. It’s about the story. No matter whether it’s film, TV, or a 30-second spot, the ability to convey a compelling story in whatever medium is crucial. A director’s reel can have the slickest shots imaginable, but funny comedy or compelling drama is more likely to get him his next job.
  3. Everyone climbs the ladder together. A common misconception is that you need to make friends with people a few steps ahead of you. No. You need a lot of friends doing what you’re doing, and you need to help each other out — with information, with advice, and with manpower while they’re making their sixth short film.
  4. Ask questions. Film school isn’t like other schools. There aren’t many textbooks or exams. Instead, you have smart people who know things, and it’s your job to get the answers you need. Stark has dozens of guest speakers each semester. At first, we’d just ask polite questions about their jobs and the industry. But soon we were asking, “So, what is your life really like? Do you ever see your family? Is it worth it?”
  5. Make your own luck. Sometimes, magic happens and Spielberg likes your wacky short film. But that can’t happen if you didn’t make it in the first place, and the seven others no one saw. You never know which script, which lunch, which random idea is going to be important. So treat them all as important.
  6. It’s not Wall Street. While it seems glamorous and lucrative, if you’re coming to the film industry looking to get rich, you’re wasting your time. While you can get rich, the odds are a lot slimmer than almost any other industry a smart person could choose to work in.

Pushed for a number, I’d guess 30-40% of USC film school grads are actively working in the industry. The people from my program who aren’t are by no means unsuccessful. They each found other careers which suited them — though sometimes, that wasn’t by choice. Hollywood isn’t a perfect meritocracy. Really great people get overlooked, or find their stepping stones sinking into bankruptcy just as everything seems to be coming together. It sucks. Success and circumstance are deeply entangled.

But if you, Rosebud, find your own criteria for what you want to do, and better yet, plan for how you’re going to do it, I don’t think those percentages really apply. If you start each day of school and life with the question, “How am I going to get closer to my goal of…” then you’re unlikely to end up outside looking in.

TV in movies

How-To, Words on the page

I just finished writing a scene where a television news report was playing in the background and it reminded me how hard it is to get these moments right. Unless you’re literally having the characters stare at the TV set, you’re basically dividing the audience’s attention between two planes of information. If you don’t do it carefully, the audience won’t know where to look, and the scene will be a disaster.

Off the top of my head, here are four (hopefully) helpful guidelines:

  1. The TV can only tell you one thing. It can say the big snowstorm is coming, but it can’t also say that mobster Carmine DeSomethingorother has escaped from custody.
  2. Use the naturally empty moments of the scene. If there’s information that’s important for the audience, but not necessarily the characters, start on the TV and let the characters enter the scene where it’s playing. If a character’s waiting on hold, or is looking for dijon mustard in the fridge, that’s another moment you could cut to the TV.
  3. Get the rhythm right. TV news in particular has a cadence, and you can’t just shove your exposition in to make it fit. Always think how the reporter would actually report the story and balance his goals with your goals.
  4. Don’t make it too convenient. Don’t have a character flip on the TV, only to find exactly the story about them — unless it really is reasonable that there’s 24-hour coverage about the situation. Perhaps the only thing worse than this cliché is when a character rushes in, saying, “You’ve got to see this!” before grabbing the remote.

On the whole though, it’s amazing how little television people watch in movies as opposed to real life.