Know Movies

You hear this a lot in script meetings: “It’s like that scene in…”

When you write a screenplay, there is the world of our room. Whether a home office, a kitchen table, the coffee shop down the block, wherever you set up shop to write is a pretty private experience. Just you, your computer (or pad of paper and pen), your characters, and your story.

However, a screenplay is in essence a pre-movie. In order to go from a 100 page or so PDF into actual production, there are numerous stages along the way. One is script notes meetings. This is where the theoretical ‘rubber’ of your words on page meet the real world ‘road’ of the filmmaking business.

Depending upon who you are meeting with and what stage of development your project is in shapes the type of notes you have to deal with. For example, if it’s pretty late in the pre-production process, there may be notes about locations which need to be swapped out… switching scenes from night to day… character name changes due to legal considerations.

If, on the other hand, you find yourself in a notes meeting that is closer to the infancy of the project’s development, the conversation is more likely to be about the story itself. Characters. Subplots. Plot Points.

One common subject in notes meetings is scenes, especially those which for some reason aren’t working. Or they basically work, but don’t really pack a punch. Maybe it feels like there’s something missing. I don’t know, it just needs to be 30% funnier.

In situations like this if you’re dealing with producers, development executives, even talent like directors or actors, you will hear this comment over and over again:

It’s like that scene from [movie].

Someone tries to get across a point and the best way to do it is to reference a scene from an existing movie.

This is one of countless reasons why you need to watch movies. You need to have at your mental disposal hundreds, if not thousands of films, and from that ‘library’ of memories, a ton of scenes.

Let’s say you’re meeting with a producer and they make this comment:

This scene is okay. I get it. Father and son, a bonding moment. You’ve got all this dialogue when I think you can accomplish the point of the scene in a more visual way, a quieter way. It’s like that scene in Jaws, you know, the dinner table scene.

You get it. A scene with the use of gestures. Two characters with silent communication. The value of this kind of cinematic reference script note is it’s not only a shorthand way of making a point, it gives you and the producer a point of reference to brainstorm ways to improve the scene in question.

I have been hired by a production company to be a creative consultant on a film project, a remake of a beloved 80s family movie. The ending involves a dramatic scene in which one character has to make an appeal to another character, essentially a confession of their deepest feelings. These are tough scenes to write:

• The story has to build up to this big moment.
• The actions and reactions of the principal characters has to come across as ‘earned’ and authentic to each character.
• The dialogue has to be written to express honest emotions, but also avoid being on the nose, and be entertaining.

Plus, there’s this: There have been so many of these confession type scenes, there’s the challenge of coming up with a fresh angle.

In my discussions with the writer, I came up with three movie scenes as points of reference. First, the ending scene from When Harry Met Sally:

The next was the ending from another romantic comedy Man Up:

Finally, the climactic scene from Jerry Maguire:

Each is effective in its own way.

• In When Harry Met Sally, Harry’s confession draws no one’s attention but Sally, whereas the other two involve the confessor making their proclamation in front of a bunch of strangers.
• Both Man Up and When Harry Met Sally involve the confessor providing a kind of laundry list of qualities in the person they’re appealing to, a way of suggesting, “I really see you, I get you.” In Jerry Maguire, the focus of his monologue is more about the realization Jerry makes about his own feelings for Dorothy.
• As an extension of this dynamic, the confessors in Man Up and When Harry Met Sally basically blurt out their thoughts and feelings, reflecting how their heart is bursting with emotion. By contrast, Jerry Maguire is a much quieter, reflective confession, coming across as a guy working out exactly what it is he’s trying to say, sorting through his emotions.

In my notes meeting with the writer of this particular project, we hashed out the scene in their script in light of these three “It’s like that scene in…” moments. In the process, an interesting angle emerged which perfectly fit the characters ending up with what promises to be an entertaining and emotionally satisfying resolution to the story.

Here’s the thing: The writer I’m working with knew all three of those scenes, even Man Up which, while a fine film, didn’t make a big theatrical impact. It speaks to the fact that this is a writer who knows how important it is to watch movies. One of the benefits: In a script notes meeting when someone says, “It’s like that scene in…,” you know what they’re talking about.

People sometimes ask me, “How should I know which movies to watch,” I respond, “Watch all of them.” Obviously, that isn’t possible, but it makes the point: If you’re serious about learning the craft of screenwriting and working in the business, you must have a deep immersion in watching movies. You’ve got to have a passion for film, for cinematic storytelling. I mean, it’s like that scene in Cinema Paradiso:

Real World Screenwriting, my friends: Know Movies!