There And Back Again, Pt. 1
Posted by Craig Mazin on 26 Sep 2009 at 12:12 am | Tagged as: The Craft & Trade
Mark Norman and Craig Mazin in Bora Bora
Normally, when WGAw election results are announced, I’m right on top of it. But that wasn’t going to happen this year, because when the ballots were counted, I wasn’t home. I wasn’t in Los Angeles, or Calfornia, or the United States…or even the Northern Hemisphere.
I was in French Polynesia. Not as a tourist, mind you, but as a screenwriter and guest of Film France, the French Film and TV Office of the French Embassy, the Tahiti Film Office, Tahiti Tourism, Air Tahiti Nui and many others.
Why?
For the second year in a row, the French government chose to sponsor a group of screenwriters in order to inspire them. The idea is simple enough. A screenwriter writes a film or even just a scene or two that takes place in Paris or Marseille or Tahiti or French Guyana…and France and its people reap the economic rewards of the resulting film production.
While many might think that inviting producers or studio executives is a better way to go, the French (and I) disagree. I think it’s actually quite brilliant. True, so many of what I call “secondary decisions” are out of the screenwriter’s hands, e.g. who to cast, which building to shoot, is it day or night, short or lengthy, broad or restrained, etc.
But the primary decisions are often made by the screenwriter before anyone realizes it’s happened. We may not determine whether or not Bruce Willis or Denzel Washington is cast, but we’ve written the role for a rugged, masculine, action-oriented man in his 50′s. We may not decide to shoot a sequence in Bora Bora, but we’ve written a script that takes place in a romantic honeymoon getaway resort.
We define the parameters more than most are willing to admit.
The French, to their credit, readily embrace this reality.
And so, I found myself journeying to Tahiti, Bora Bora and the Marquesas with Marc Norman (Shakespeare In Love), Kevin Bisch (Hitch), Nick Schenck (Gran Torino), Jeff Lowell (Hotel For Dogs), David Stem (Shrek 2) and Paul Boardman (The Exorcism of Emily Rose).
Coming up next…a week, the places, people and stories I’ll never forget.
Me. Jealous.
I shouldn’t be jealous, however, because I got to spend much of last week exploring the exotic streets of Inglewood and even made a side excursion to Torrance.
How many times have you heard/said “write what you know”?
Gotta know it first. . . those crafty Frenchies!
Hi, Craig!
Thanks for the blog! I’m starting a website for Russian language screenwriters and wanted to ask for your permission to publish Russian translation of some articles from your blog.
For example, I’d like to translate this one about a Logic Nazi: http://artfulwriter.com/?p=378
Thanks a lot.
Oh, you can write to me directly at this address: slobashev () cinemotion.ru
Sam:
Of course. Translate away. All I ask is that you make sure to attribute the piece to me (and link back to the original).
Looking skinny Mazin!
Is this that program that they mention in the Guild newsletter every year? So it doesn’t have to be a whole screenplay set in France, it can be as little as a scene set in France or a French territory (or somewhere in between)?
Paula:
This is only the second year they’ve done it, I think. No, it doesn’t have to be a whole screenplay…or even anything. It’s entirely hopeful on their part.
I think if one of us writes a week’s worth of shooting in a French-controlled location, they’ll come out ahead financially.
Seems like the hard part isn’t convincing screenwriters to write movies set in Tahiti, but to convince studios to actually shoot there, since I’d imagine it costs a lot more than it would to, say, dress another location up and make it look like Tahiti.