REVIEW: Crafty Screenwriting, by Alex Epstein
A short while back, I wrote a typically unrestrained essay about all those screenwriting charlatans trying to separate screenwriting wannabees from their money—even though the authors of these “advice” sites and books were hardly legitimate screenwriters themselves.
It is, therefore, with great humility that I must now reverse course somewhat (somewhat! I say!). There actually is one very good book out there that you might not already own.
Alex Epstein is one of the most active members of the scribosphere (his site, Complications Ensue, is linked in our left column under Writing). The only thing that made me wary of Alex (other than his Canadianness, or his somewhat cliched political liberalism, or the fact that he went to Yale, which is an altogether inferior school to Princeton as everyone-who-didn’t-go-to-Yale knows) was that he was hawking his book, “Crafty Screenwriting” on his site.
“Sigh,” I sighed. “Why must everyone have written a book?”
When Alex offered to send me a copy, I accepted, thinking that posting a very frank review on The Artful Writer might serve the same role as a decapitated head on a spike in front of a castle’s walls.
“Ah,” thinks the how-to writer, “I’d better travel around this website. Nothing here but trouble…”
Alas, the book is good.
Actually, it’s very good.
Dammit.
What I like most about the book is that it’s written with a particular philosophy in mind, and it just so happens to be the same philosophy Ted and I espouse here on The Artful Writer.
Screenwriting is a job. A profession. A trade. A vocation.
For those of you who have been reading the essays here, you’ll find a lot in common between my views and Alex’s. He talks about the necessity of outlining (me too), the value of pitching, even if it’s just to your friends (me too), the importance of a good title (yup), the necessity of a good hook (check), and above all….the two most important sentences in the book (and on page 1, natch!):
A screenplay is not a complete work. It is not intended to be appreciated on its own.
Alex’s time as a development executive taught him what so many screenwriters fail to understand. This simple truth is our mantra here at The Artful Writer: the screenwriter’s job is not to write a screenplay, but to write a movie.
In addition to some decent passages on character and dialogue, Alex seeds in a few bits of insight, at least one of which was new to me. He makes a very cool distinction between horror movies and “terror” movies.
In a terror movie, you’re terrified of ending up dead. In a horror movie, you should be so lucky.
That’s a great bit of shorthand for someone like me who occasionally writes horror, but is still somewhat new to the genre.
So, is there anything wrong with this book?
Yes. In fact, there’s something terribly wrong with it, and if there’s ever a volume 2, I’m going to go to Alex’s house and sit on him until he fixes it.
The most important element to screenwriting is theme. I can’t be clearer than that. Theme drives everything. Theme must be an argument, and it must be present. It is a lack of thematic presence and progression that makes screenplays episodic (not a lack of character development, as Alex posits, although he’s at least not making the classic mistake that episodicism derives from poor plotting), and all good movies have a theme.
Alex doesn’t think so. Oh, how I gnashed my teeth and wept when I read this:
You don’t need to have a theme to have a great popcorn movie. Alien is a well-crafted story about a bunch of human beings in danger of being eaten by a monster. While we find out that an evil corporation put them in danger, the movie isn’t really about the danger of evil corporations. It’s about people trying not to get eaten by a giant bug. We come away from the film with just the adrenaline rush.
Arggh. No. The theme of Alien can be expressed in a few related ways. “Humanity’s greed will be its downfall.” Or “Our pride is our greatest weakness”. Or “There are things better left unexplored by man.”
The theme creates the details. Humanity is reaching beyond itself. It’s motivated by pride and greed. It believes it is safe. What it encounters in the form of the Alien is a lesson in humility.
Alien is, in the end, a retelling of the tale of Icarus.
If those elements weren’t there, the movie would be very very scary, but it just wouldn’t be as compelling. It wouldn’t be about anything.
Alex also makes the mistake of presenting themes that aren’t arguments, like “guilt versus redemption”. That’s not a theme, really. It doesn’t take a stand.
That weakness aside, the book is really terrific. Worth owning, especially if you’re an aspirant. Alex does a fine job of presenting a view of screenwriting that simply isn’t articulated often enough, and he does so to the reader’s benefit.
Well done, Alex. Amend that chapter on theme, and you’ve got yourself a gem!
I agree with you about the quality of this book. I don’t buy screenwriting books any more because, after a point, I think they are just an excuse not to write (like actors who take too many acting classes). Alex’s book was different in opinion and flavor to me. I like his opinions and his plain talk- explanations.
I’m looking forward to his book on TV writing later next year.
JDC
Alex E. needs to respond to Craig’s criticism on this site, right here, in the comments section.
Ben LA
Epstein responds to Craig’s criticism on his site:
http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com
Ben LA
This was an early purchase of mine, but now that I have weeded through most of them, maybe it is time to dig it out of the closet for a second go round
I agree that even popcorn movies should have themes, but I think that if you’re breaking it out in three very different ways — Lovecraftian, anti-corporate, or pride, then you’re not really talking about theme but about some notions that are explored.
What makes Alien hold together is that it sustains itself around the single driving element of sexual predation — but in this world men can get raped too. That makes it memorable, and, for the writer, director, and production designer, it’s a motif that one can keep mining for ideas on how to execute the next scene, or film the next shot, or articulate the next set.
What I think is important about this distinction is that theme is not always the moral of the fable — it can often (and best) simply be the driving concept one wants to explore in the short amount of time you have to tell a film’s story.
When I was an actor, we’d discuss the themes of various classic plays. The more powerful the piece, the broader the range of debate on what the theme actually was.
That lead me to believe that theme, being interpereted through the viewers POV, wasn’t something you aimed for group agreement on. But — if the writer doesn’t know what he’s trying to say, well then you’ll get a superficial blob with no resonance. The power of the piece comes from the writer’s clarity on what he’s saying.
I liked Alex’s book very much. I read it a while ago, and I took it more as an exec’s POV. So I just discounted the ‘no theme’ parts. I’d been told that most execs don’t care about theme, don’t want to hear the word, don’t really know what it means, and that chapter kind of confirmed that.
Don’t know if that’s actually true of most execs though. A teacher told me. ;)
Craig, just curious…what’s the theme of “Scary Movie 3” :)
Why, it’s a theme expressed best by someone no less brilliant than Alexander Pope:
“To err is human; to forgive is divine.”
In theory I agree with you, Craig, but my biggest problem with theme is that it’s always expressed in some hackneyed phrase, like “beauty is only skin deep” or “money is the root of all evil.” Is that really all the movie is “about”?
If that’s truly the writer’s point, couldn’t he’ve just slapped it on a greeting card instead of taking two hours to show how it’s mean to make fun of people because they have feelings too?
As I think I’ve said before, I couldn’t tell you what the theme is to anything I’ve written. It’s just not something I think about. Other people could undoubtedly tell me, and I guess that’s part of my point: theme feels like reverse engineering to me.
It’s always interesting to hear how different writers approach the task, since so many writers approach it differently. For me, I wouldn’t know how to organize a story except around a very intentionally developed theme. Theme is both the glue for the story and the part that makes it such a difficult, hair-pulling puzzle.
I’ve read Alex’s book, too, some time ago and give it a big thumb’s up. It cuts through a lot of crap. For me, it doesn’t seem to be a how-to-write book as much as a reality check on what distributors/studios require from a story to make it work for them.
Michael…
Here’s another hackneyed phrase for you: The journey is the destination. Sure you could put it on the movie poster, but you can’t just boil down life to once sentence. You have to experience it. Writers are charged with building the emotional construct of experience for the audience… if it works, then the message resonates in deeper places than the sentence on the note, because it’s grounded in an experience.
Having said that. If you plan on thaking the audience somewhere, you as the writer, better have a darn good idea of where you’re headed.
Michael:
What’s more prosaic than “There’s no place like home”?
I prefer the movie to the greeting card. :)
Theme is vital. Though sometimes (or some people) don’t isolate it until after you’ve finished a first draft.
For myself, I don’t write anything to convey a theme. But when I’m done, if I can’t extrapolate at least one theme from what I’ve written, then I know it’s garbage. (Same thing for those big trailer moments, I guess.)
What is the theme of this post?
:)
How important is “theme” if your theme is utterly banal? My favorite movies have themes that are too difficult to categorize by cliche, ie “pride goeth…”
Waited to post until after had read the book.
Overall, I agree on theme, but case by case. A theme does tie things together, makes for a better grasp of the story at hand, and provides actors with a good basis upon which to character develop. But a good story, doesn’t always need a theme, sometimes life is just random. Not everything has a theme or a meaning, sometimes it just is. Hard-wiring a theme into someplace it doesn’t belong, can boil things down to the generic simplistic sitcom level, when real life (and literature and great movies) are full of conflicting themes, complexities and absurdities. And then sometimes, the theme itself can be no theme. Also theme’s end up preachy, when moviegoers just want to be entertained. Theme is good glue, but it’s not the all. I fall in the middle.
And you are wrong on Alien…
The ‘theme’ (if you can call it that) of Alien, is merely that the ‘mysterious and unexpected can happen’. Greed as downfall, is preachy, what, humble self and let Aliens take over? No. Pride greatest weakness? Maybe, but then pride is also the greatest strength, the will to live, to fight back. Things better left unexplored by man? Then why even DO the film? Playing it safe, is not a theme. A better take is going into space, the eternal yearning, to know what is there, that’s the human condition. To wrap a theme around ‘better left unexplored’ would be a dull movie. And even if better left alone, you have to live the experience to know, and that is what movie fun is all about.
I think a number of you (or, at least one of you) are confusing “theme” with “lesson”.
The above post argues against certain themes, but not against the need for theme.
Theme, in the form of an assertion, is the cornerstone of drama.
Craig:
A mediocre commentator (me) once posted:
For that suggestion, I caught a fair amount of flack. If, as you say, theme is the cornerstone of drama (a concept with which I wholeheartedly agree), how do you account for the success and popularity of certain writers who largely ignore theme? For example, Stephen King, who describes theme roughly the way Alex does, as something you can use if you feel like it?
I don’t really like the idea of the obligatory “theme” thing, it reminds me of Lajos Egri’s book, which i found appalling.
Some questions: Can’t you find “theme” in every each story written, even the bad ones? I truly can’t think of a movie (and i’ve seen some horrible movies) from which i couldn’t extrapolate a “theme”. Isn’t this simply he analytic mind, which likes to categorize and therefore always finds some global theme in everything? Whenever a story’s written, isn’t a theme automatically added, simply by writing the thing? In post-modern times we can even say that having no theme is definitely a theme, from which the logical conclusion can be made that everything has a theme.
I agree 100 percent, Camille. If you look at King Kong and Ape, you’ll come up with the same theme. Theme doesn’t have anything to do with quality in that case. It’s embedded in the genre.
If I say that 5x = 15, everybody knows on sight what x is. You don’t have to go through the step that says 15/5 = x. We do it anyway. You only do that sort of thing when you’re working with something more complex.
And I think you only need to recognize theme when you’re trying do something more complex, outside the rules of the genre.
In From Hell, for instance, Alan Moore’s overall point is that the major achievements/horrors of the twentieth century had taken root by 1888. He deals with this idea all over the place, but one of the neatest is when Gull, deep in the hallucinatory aura phase of serial killers, looks through a window and sees a twentieth-century family eating dinner and watching television. From Hell works contrary to the traditional serial-killer story, so theme is crucial. But in Scream? Nah, I don’t think so.
Having a theme doesn’t necessarily mean your movie will be good, Michael. However, a King Kong without “twas Beauty that killed the Beast” (or something to substitute for that) would necessarily stink.
Absolutely. I think we agree about the stuff matters. It’s the terminology, maybe, that’s different.
agree. theme must be there. ‘story’ w/o theme is just plot - a sequence of events. also agree, alien has a universal theme. however, disagree that alien is a ‘popcorn’ movie. a better example would be ‘tremors’ - which, despite being a pure popcorn flick, also has a universal theme.
no good story is without theme. theme informs plot and supports character. without it, you got schlock. 120 pages-o-schlock. trust me. you’re holding a stack of schlock
Was that a challenge, Camille? Both Clerks and Napoleon Dynamite are movies that all of my friends just loved, but that I’ve realized I don’t like because they aren’t about anything. In other words, there’s no theme. At least, not one that I can discern. They’re just a collection of 90 minutes worth of unrelated scenes with a few funny bits scattered haphazardly throughout.
I hated CLERKS too. As I recall (saw it ages ago) my reason was it was just a bunch of people talking, and not about anything worth hearing.
To me, it didn’t have the, What’s it about? Or the, What’s it really about? NAPOLEON DYNAMITE I think did have a theme. Couldn’t tell you what it was, though.
Just got through reading the screenplay of Alien.
We live, as we dream — alone. Joseph Conrad
Quote at the beginning of screenplay. Another strong theme in the movie — loneliness. But Alien is multilayered in its thematic structure. Probably why it’s such a great movie.
Matt:
THANK YOU for that! Very good find. Obviously O’Bannon and Shusett understood the value of a good theme, and Matt’s correct—a movie may be multifaceted, with any of number of themes elicitable.
The most important thing is that there is a theme. There’s a spark of dramatic inspiration. An argument.
Stephen King (in On Writing) talks about themes. He says he rarely sets out to express a theme in his writing. Rather, he goes back after he’s written a first draft, finds the theme, and strengthens it in revision.
As a writer, I start with an idea, but when I find the theme, it can help me to keep the story on track. I usually have new ideas about my story as I write, and it helps me to return to my theme, ask if the new ideas help or detract, and then decide if I want to include them.
I think any good story has a theme, whether the writer planned it or not. Theme happens.
Re: CLERKS and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.
Speaking only for this fella right ‘chere, CLERKS and every other film I’ve seen by Kevin Smith is a pile of trash. Sometimes funny trash, but trash, nonetheless… and no themes in sight.
(And his cinematography sucks, too.)
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, on the other hand, has a pretty obvious theme:
To Thine Own Self Be True.
Again, just one fella’s opinion.
RP
The idea of theme as an argument or thesis is both classic and often rejected. While theme is clearly an organizing factor and a focal point for the issues the story will explore (and, to me, a necessary one), must the author seek to prove some point through theme? I don’t think so.
For example, in “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid”, the theme was something around “adapt to changing times or be destroyed.” At the same time, I don’t think William Goldman was trying to prove either that you should adapt or that you should refuse to adapt. Rather, he was using that conflict in the face of imaginative and driven characters as a point of exploration of the human experience.
To borrow from David Howard, former founding director of USC Graduate Screenwriting Program (yes, an academic), was Shakespeare really trying to prove something about jealousy in Othello? Did he need to prove that “jealousy can destroy”? Isn’t that thesis so pedantic that it’s not worth mentioning? Rather, isn’t the theme really simply a focal point to help us stay involved in and feel a part of the human experience we are watching unfold?
Jon:
I think that’s very correct. Movies aren’t meant to be theses; that’s why “message” films generally bore.
Your last point says it quite well. Like I’ve said before, the inclusion of the argumentative theme is what makes the movie about something, but the purpose of the film is to entertain.
Just when I thought we had something to fight about….
Wow, great discussion. Ironically, even considering the contradictionary nature, I simultaneously agree with both Craig and Camille. A script without a theme, can feel like warm fizzless Coke, pointless and going nowhere, a house on sand. But then, certain movies to which the theme is more the subjective art — a matter of interpretation, if there at all. Too heavy of a theme, and it reads like the panned voice-over in Bladerunner.
For example, what exactly is the theme of Zombie’s Devil’s Rejects? Reap what sow? Maybe ever so slightly, but it seemed just a straight-shot backwoods slasher gone 70s cult. Rejects didn’t preach, didn’t get wrapped up in the Natural Born Killer melodrama — just a story, judgement neutral and basically themeless. If anything the ‘theme’ seems a mere slap in the direction of pulp and film noir. Maybe Joe Bob Briggs can extract something universally thematic, but I am hard pressed.
And to spin the logical conclusion, anti-theme is a theme unto itself, but untheme, well, that’s just themeless; just as anti-fashion is a fashion unto itself, but unfashsion isn’t exactly anything in particular. Anti is, un isn’t.
Taking shots at Egri. Can’t you get burned at the stake for that?
For my sanity I have to believe that people are talking around the same ideas with different words. Stories need to be centered around a central idea, and they need to say something (anything) about the human condition.
Movies are so compact and focused that they can really only effectively deal with one idea at a time. You’ve got a 110 pages (give or take) to develop characters and drive a story forward. You need something to unify them.
The shorter the medium the more focused it must be by nature. A novel can deal with a gammet of ideas and human emotions. A screenplay can generally deal with one (maybe two if you are dealing in opposites). A haiku can deal with a single feeling or image. The fewer words you have to work with, the narrower the focus.
thomas
ah, yes. that is correct. and, i never thought of that. theme does indeed unite all the characters. i’ve always worked to have my characters supported by theme (individually), but never realized that they also are united by theme. all the characters actions must fall under the same thematic umbrella (sorry, best i could come up with off top of head)
good call. how’s the popcorn?
z
Hey Craig,
How would you compare this to Vogler’s “The Writer’s Journey?” Is this a more nuts and bolts kinda thing?
MJ
MJ:
Yup. Vogler is really just Joseph Campbell “lite” as it were. He distills Campbell’s theories down and specifically applies them to screenwriting. There’s almost no nuts and bolts in Vogler.
Wasn?t Campbell own work basically derivative, sort of a Cliff?s Notes version of Jung?s ideas about archtypes and the collective unconscious? So if Vogler?s book is just Campbell ?Lite? doesn?t that really make it Jung ?Lite, Lite? ?
P. Garrett:
The easiest answer to your question is “no”. :)
ANOTHER GREAT BOOK
However, this one is NOT for feature length writers, it’s for those interested in writing for television, bit of a different animal, and one with all too few even decent books written on the subject.
TELEVISION WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT Your Channel to Success by Larry Brody
Things I like about this book…
1) Larry knows what the hell he’s talking about. His writing credits stretch from 2002 (writing for “Ace Lightning”) allllll the way back to 1967 [!] (writing for the old TV series “Ironside” starring Raymond Burr). He’s also been a showrunner (and therefore knows what showrunners look for and need in a staff writer), and he’s been just about every flavor of producer there is in television at one time or another.
2) He doesn’t use a “one size fits all” approach. He breaks things down, separating and explaining the difference, and different needs of writing for daytime serials (soaps), vs. prime time drama, vs. prime time sitcoms, vs. Saturday morning cartoons, M.O.W.’s (Movie of the Week) for cable vs. broadcast, etc.
3) He gets into the hard core nuts and bolts of writing for TV from logline to leave behind or beat sheet, to first draft, through revisions, and through production, even providing online supplemental material to the book like examples of TV eps moving from first draft through the various revisions accompanied by the “notes” driving the changes, as well as the reasoning behind the notes.
4) If the book leaves you with any questions it’s easy to get answers out of him by posting questions about what ain’t quite clear to you on the BBS of his website.
5) ;-) He’s a Silver Surfer fan.
Should a screenplay have a theme?
The concept of the theme is misleading. Many successful stories are based on a theme but, then again, many are not or only vaguely so.
Better to focus on the Ideal and the Seizure of the Sword and the Apotheosis. The theme comes through as a result of that.
The theme can come across as the Ideal that forces the hero to Seize the Sword. For example, it is loyalty that drives Carlito to help Kleinfeld break Tony T out of jail in Carlitos Way (1993).
The theme can also come across in the apotheosis. For example, In Casablanca, Rick’s insight is that if you love someone, you sacrifice yourself for their happiness. That sacrifice can include selling your most prized material possessions (he sells his bar), allowing your love to find happiness in another’s arms (he ultimately allows Ilsa to be with Victor), physical suffering (it is likely that his ultimate actions will see him to a concentration camp), leaving dear friends (he will have to leave Sam behind) and forced exile from home and heart (he will have to leave Casablanca). He learns this insight from both Ilsa and Victor, who are prepared to do the same for each other.
Hey, it’s 2007 (two years later), but I found this page looking for the subtitle of The Writer’s Journey (in process mostly of seeking to debunk it) The Writer’s Journey is interesting but not critical. Two books at least which I find much more valuable are often expressly at philosophical variance with it. Among them, and I recommend these for any writer:
IF YOU WANT TO WRITE, by Brenda Ueland ZEN AND THE ART OF SCREENWRITING, by William Froug THE ARTIST’S WAY, by Julia Cameron.