Why I Like Screenwriting
Many screenwriters have written about why they are attracted to the story form of the screenplay.
Now, it is my treat to bring you my thoughts on why I am attracted to this form of storytelling.
It’s the Architecture for a Film
It’s a blueprint. It’s the “architecture” for a film. Essentially, the screenplay is the framework that will support the creation of the film. Without the story, in the structure of a screenplay, there’d be no film. This is counter to the auteur theory, but it’s a simple fact. The screenwriter creates the foundation that a film is built upon; the screenplay, or to bring it to its essential form, the “story.”
It’s Collaborative
I previously noted that the screenplay is a blueprint. It’s not the final product that will be created. I’m used to working in a collaborative environment. My experience as a project manager in the IT world has granted me multiple opportunities to work in a collaborative environment with individuals and groups with varying backgrounds, stances and personalities. I’m comfortable with working in this milieu where concessions and negotiations are often required. It’s not easy to do, and I recognize that aspect of collaboration, but that is fine if the group is working toward the same goal.
It is Structure-focused
Architect Christopher Alexander created the idea of design patterns for building architects and designers in “A Pattern Language.” It’s a seminal book in architecture, and in film we have a similar structure to work with that starts with Aristotle and continues through the Monomyth of Joseph Campbell.
A well-known and proven “pattern” is established for screenplays. This is not to say that the pattern cannot be modified, it’s infinitely flexible. But it starts with a basic form that the writer must work within. And working within known constraints does not stifle creativity. On the contrary, constraints can be used by the screenwriter to stretch their creative muscle by forcing one to squeeze water from a rock. I see the constraints as a mechanism to focus creativity through a tightly-focused lens. Thereby allowing the screenwriter to get to the fundamental elements of the beat, scene, sequence, act, and finally the feature film.
It’s Succinct
I come from a journalism background. I was a member of my high school newspaper and went to a community college on a journalism scholarship. I primarily performed duties as a graphic designer, comics artist and photographer, but I my duties also required me to write news and feature stories.
From journalist training I learned to write concise stories that effectively covered the five “W’s” and “H” at the heart of a story. I like concise writing. There’s a true mastery of the craft of writing when a writer is able to convey feelings, exposition and character development as succinctly as possible.
Don’t get me wrong. I do like sweeping prose and can appreciate novelistic forms that allow the writer to be unfettered with the strictures of grammar and style. William Faulkner comes to mind as an example of a great writer that was extremely capable of generating evocative prose within the constraints of English grammar rules.
It’s the Kernel of a Film
Being a lover of film, no, an obsessed maniac for film, and also a creative personality, it goes without saying that I’d be attracted to the screenplay form.
I’m a visual thinker, extremely adept at visual communication in it’s many forms, especially, photography and visual arts.
Film is the unification of the visual arts with the element of time. It’s visual, yet has as many similarities with works of art that are influenced by time: dance, music.
Essentially, the screenplay is the “kernel” of the film. And, the screenplay is a series of descriptions that will be instantiated in a visual medium; a medium that also integrates the element of time.
Final Thoughts
These are the reasons I am attracted to the screenplay form. I also write in other forms, and they each have their purposes, but I like the challenge of working within the strictures of the screenplay. It’s a form of writing that gets little or not respect from the writing community. The virtues of screenplay writing have never been recognized, and that’s a simple fact.
Beyond all of the challenges that screenwriting entails, I’m still attracted to the form, the method, the structure and thoroughly excited by the film that is finally produced.
There’s my answer. It probably wasn’t what you were expecting, or maybe I’m too self-centered, as most writers are, and it was exactly what you expected. Regardless of your reaction, it’s my answer and it matters to me.
Postscript
I’m particularly interested in reading Faulkner’s screenplays to compare their style with his novels and stories. Wouldn’t it be great if the Library of America published a volume of Faulkner’s complete screenplays as a sixth volume in their collection of Faulkner’s writings?
