Screenwriting in a Digital Era

241 Pages·2014·1.611 MB·English

by  Kathryn Millard (auth.)

Screenwriting in
a Digital Era
Kathryn Millard
Screenwriting in a Digital Era
PalgraveStudiesinScreenwriting
PalgraveStudiesinScreenwriting isthefirstbookseriestofocusontheacademic
studyofscreenwriting.Itseekstopromoteaninformedandcriticalaccountof
screenwritingandofthescreenplay,lookingattheconnectionsbetweenwhatis
producedandhowitisproduced,withaviewtounderstandingmoreaboutthe
diversityofscreenwritingpracticeanditstexts.Thescopeoftheseriesencom-
passesarangeofstudyfromthecreationandrecordingofthescreenidea,tothe
processesofproduction,tothestructuresthatformandinformthoseprocesses,
totheagents,theirbeliefsandthediscoursesthatcreatethosetexts.
KathrynMillard
SCREENWRITINGINADIGITALERA
IanW.Macdonald
SCREENWRITINGPOETICSANDTHESCREENIDEA
EvaNovrupRedvall
WRITINGANDPRODUCINGTELEVISIONDRAMAINDENMARK
FromTheKingdomtoTheKilling
Screenwriting in
a Digital Era
Kathryn Millard
MacquarieUniversity,Australia
©KathrynMillard2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-0-230-34328-3
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Firstpublished2014by
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ISBN 978-1-349-34465-9 ISBN 978-1-137-31910-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137319104
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Contents
ListofFigures vi
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1 ThePictureStorytellers:FromPadtoiPad 9
2 PostCourier12 28
3 TheNewThreeRsofDigitalWriting:Record,Reenact
andRemix 42
4 14LessonsonScreenwritingfromErrolMorris 63
5 Adaptation:WritingasRewritingandTheLostThing 77
6 DegreesofImprovisation 97
7 ImprovisingReality 118
8 ComposingtheDigitalScreenplay 136
9 Collaboration:WritingthePossible 158
Conclusion:SustainableScreenwriting 178
Notes 186
SelectBibliography 212
Index 224
v
Figures
0.1 Parklands,1996,Toi-ToiPictures 2
1.1 TheBootCake,2008,CharlieProductions 10
2.1 TravellingLight,2003,Toi-ToiPictures 30
2.2 District9,2009,Tri-StarPictures 39
3.1 Patience(AfterSebald),2012,IlluminationFilms 54
3.2 Keyholecollage,GuyMaddin 59
5.1 Parklands,1996,Toi-Toipictures 78
5.2 TheLostThing (storyboardsketch),PassionPictures 86
6.1 PuttyHill,2010,HamiltonFilmGroup 112
6.2 PushManCart,2005,NoruzFilms 114
7.1 Ajami,2009,InosanProductions 119
8.1 TheGleanersandI,2000,CineTamaris 139
8.2 JourneytotheEndofCoal,2008,SamuelBollendorff 152
8.3 JourneytotheEndofCoal,2008,SamuelBollendorff 153
8.4 JourneytotheEndofCoal,2008,SamuelBollendorff 153
8.5 JourneytotheEndofCoal,2008,SamuelBollendorff 155
9.1 BeastsoftheSouthernWild,2012,Court13Pictures 164
9.2 MadDetective,2009,MilkyWayImageCompany 169
vi
Acknowledgements
Iamgratefultomanyforsupport,encouragementandadviceoverthe
last three years. To my colleagues Iqbal Barkat, Maree Delofski, Peter
Doyle, Marcus Eckermann, Gill Ellis, Mark Evans, Pat Grant, Bridget
Griffith-Foley, Julian Knowles, Tom Murray, John Potts and Kate Ross-
manith in the Department of Media, Music, Communications and
Cultural Studies at Macquarie University; to Alex Munt at the Univer-
sity of Technology, Sydney; to Paul Wells at Loughborough University;
to Adam Ganz at Royal Holloway, University of London and to David
Carlin and Leo Berkeley at RMIT, Melbourne. Special thanks to Adrian
Martin – whose presentation at the ‘Cinematic Scriptwriting’ Sympo-
siumweorganisedattheMuseumofSydneyprovedinspirational–and
to screenwriter Keith Thompson from whom I have learnt much over
theyearsinhisroleasscripteditoronsomeofmyprojects.
Thanks to research assistant Mikael Peck for all his patient work
in helping to prepare the manuscript and to Tom Roberts who also
contributedtothisstage.
ThankstotheFacultyoftheArtsatMacquarieUniversityforfunding
forsupportformanuscriptpreparation.
Many thanks to my fellow Series Editors Steven Maras and Ian
Macdonald for their support and advice. My sincere thanks to Com-
missioning Editor Felicity Plester for all her support and advice and to
Chris Penfoldfrom Palgrave for his work in helpingbring this book to
print.
I am especially grateful to Samuel Bollendorff, Guy Maddin, Yaron
Shani, Shaun Tan and Au Kin Ye for providing insights into their
respectiveworkviaemailandSkypeinterviews.
SpecialthankstoJ.J.Murphy,whonotonlyprovidedexcellentadvice
aseditorofthisbook,butwithwhomIhavemaintainedadialogueon
‘all things independent screenwriting’ since we first encountered each
other’sworkviatheScreenwritingResearchNetworkin2007.
Lastly, special thanks to my partner and fellow writer, Noëlle
Janaczewska, for her insightful comments and suggestions on drafts
throughouttheproject.
vii
viii Acknowledgements
An earlier version of Chapter 2 ‘Post Courier 12’ was published
as ‘After the Typewriter: Screenwriting in a Digital Era’, Journal of
Screenwriting,Volume1,Number1,1January2010,pp.11–25.
Permissions
3.2CollagebyGuyMaddinforhisfilmKeyhole(2012)reproducedwith
kindpermissionofGuyMaddin.
5.2ShaunTan’sstoryboardsketchforTheLostThing (2010)reproduced
bykindpermissionofSophieByrneandPassionPictures.
6.1 Sophie Toporkoff’s production still of the cast of Putty Hill (2010)
reproducedbykindpermissionofMatthewPorterfieldandtheHamilton
FilmGroup.
8.1,8.2,8.3,8.4PhotographsfromJourneytotheEndofCoal(2008)pho-
tographedbySamuelBollendorffandreproducedbykindpermissionof
SamuelBollendorff.
Introduction
Oneofmyfavouritepartsoffilmmakingiscarryingoutlocation‘recces’.
Some begin as a door knock in a targeted neighbourhood. That is
how the producer and I found the main location for our short feature
Parklands(1996),1setinthesuburbsofAdelaideinthemid-1990s.Asthe
thermometer topped 30 degrees Celsius, we walked down street after
streetinSemaphore,aworking-classsuburbbythebeach,andpersuaded
peopletoinviteusinandshowusthroughtheirhomes.Eventually,we
foundabungalowconstructedfromredbrickintheperiodofausterity
that followed World War Two. Renovated with a layer of pink stucco
in the 1970s, it was a perfect fit for one of the film’s central characters
(Figure0.1).
Flash-forwardnearlyadecade.AproductiondesignerandIspentday
afterdaydrivingthroughexpansesofsemi-desertsaltbushontheedge
of Adelaide, looking for a key location for my feature Travelling Light
(2003).2Aswedroveintothestate’sscorching,dryinterior,thesunlight
created a heat haze in the distance. It added to the sense of moving
through a timeless, ever-shifting landscape. We eventually settled on a
small town called Wild Horse Plains. Although it was close to our pro-
ductionbaseattheSouthAustralianFilmCorporation,itappearedtobe
intheproverbial‘middleofnowhere’.
Ithasoftenbeenobservedthatmakingafilmislikegoingtowar,and
filmmakers initially borrowed the notion of ‘recceing’ or reconnoitring
from their military counterparts. When wars were fought by troops on
theground,smallunitsweresentaheadtocheckoutthelieoftheland.
Theirtaskwastogatherasmuchinformationaspossibleabouttheter-
rain ahead and identify any potential obstacles. Smaller units had the
advantageofbeingflexibleandfastmoving.Ifthereconnaissancereport
wasfavourable,thenthemilitary’smainforcescouldbemobilised.
1