Friday, Aug. 13

More Writers Equals Bad Story

Eilis Mernagh ponders the method of throwing more writers at a bad story:

I always get worried if there are more than three writers. Even three is pushing it, and may not even reflect the true number of writers involved. As Nikki Finke pointed out, the recent A-Team movie had 11 writers working on various drafts of the script, from experienced screenwriter Bruce Feirstein to a spec-script rookie called Jayson Rothwell. In the end, the only credited writers were Skip Woods, Brian Bloom and Joe Carnahan. As in, the movie’s director Joe Carnahan. It’s actually surprising that the finished movie makes any sense at all (it does, barely).

The problem with multiple screenwriters is that each comes to the project with their preconceptions and thematic issues that they wish to explore. In trying to force their personal perspective on a work-in-progress, the meaning that hopefully existed in the first place becomes clouded and obfuscated with disharmonious thematics. Stories should come from ONE writer, one mind (not including the rare team of two writers who basically exist as one).

If the story doesn’t work, toss it out and take a look at the next.