Ever Wonder Why Films All Taste the Same These Days?
Guest contributor writer-director Jessica Ellis has the answer
Today’s bonus edition of 5AM StoryTalk comes to you from guest contributor Jessica Ellis (screenwriter-director, WHAT LIES WEST). After she recently went on a viral Twitter rant about people who blame screenwriters for what shows up on the big screen these days, I invited her to put her thoughts into the form of a quick, but damning essay on the subject. I can assure you, from experience, every word she writes is true.
Guys, you have no idea about the scripts I read. It’s my job. Every week I sit down with a pile of eight to ten scripts, some by professionals, some by journeymen. Heart-breaking dramas. Wildly funny comedies. Ground-breaking sci-fi. Diverse voices. Amazing love stories. Biopics of fascinating people I’ve never heard of. Almost none of them get made. Almost none of them ever will.
It’s not the writers.
Almost all truly great movies require a studio to take a risk on a new voice, a new idea, or a new twist that audiences haven’t seen a million times. The very thing that makes a film great is its ability to surprise you, to take you on a journey you didn't expect.
But the way studios work now, that is the exact opposite of what they want. They want predictable. They want popular. And what they really want is a McDonald’s hamburger, every day, every meal. Something that everyone will recognize, no one will question, and most people will consume mindlessly and forget about by the next meal.
It has nothing to do with what’s being written. Every truly great writer I know has at least two scripts in a Dropbox folder that would blow your mind on screen. But, what they can sell is the hamburger – and so what you get is the hamburger, over and over and over.
Even most successful writers hope that their trajectory of success will one day get the studios to see they should be given the room to innovate. But the studios mostly just want to know you're good at making hamburgers, so you can keep making hamburgers.
It’s fine to be sick of the same generic content! It's understandable to be frustrated with the same meal served every day. But blame the right thing.
It’s not the writers.
It’s often not even creative execs’ fault, many of whom fight tooth and nail for good material.
Blame it on a bad business model for art and the MBA millionaires who worship it.
Writers aren’t short-order cooks. We’re artists. And the art you don’t get to see, believe me, it’s worth fighting for.
You can find Jessica Ellis on Twitter.
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'Even most successful writers hope that their trajectory of success will one day get the studios to see they should be given the room to innovate.' I hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you find creative satisfaction in such a system?