Reader Question: How do cultural whims affect a screenwriter’s career?
What happens to writers when the audience’s interests change?
What happens to writers when the audience’s interests change?
From Pliny the Elder:
To what degree is a screenwriter’s career determined by fashion, in terms of a style of writing, genre or feel that resonates with an audience at a specific point in time? It seems to me, that in this respect, a screenwriter’s life is very much like a professional musician’s, and many of the same forces apply.
Some writers like Robert Mark Kamen or Steve Zaillian have careers similar to U2 or the Stones where many movies are released over the span of decades.
Others like Bill Goldman or Walter Hill, had their heyday years ago, and now make a great living behind the scenes; Shane Black who was the overwhelming voice of a decade only to vanish except for the occasional production; or Woody Allen, who was huge back in the 70′s, but now makes movies for his smaller but select and loyal audience.
This is a big subject and I’m not sure I did the best job in summing it up in the subject line, but if I understand the question correctly, Pliny, it’s about the inevitable shifts in cultural tastes and how those may impact a screenwriter’s ability to make a living.
We can all point to musicians who were hot in one decade, then faded from view the next. Indeed contemporary culture, bound together globally by the Web, seems to flit from trend to trend even more quickly than ever, so someone can be a star this month and gone the next.
In terms of screenwriting, it’s a tricky subject. For example, what if a writer named Sammy Glick focuses on one sub-genre, let’s say contained thrillers. That’s all Sammy writes. Hollywood has him pigeonholed, his agents and managers know that’s the easiest way to sell their client, and as long as the studios feast on contained thrillers, Sammy makes a terrific living.
But then the movie-going audience gets sick of contained thrillers, the market over-saturated with them. What now for Sammy? What used to be a winning tag — “We gotta have Glick, the contained thriller guy!” — now becomes a scarlet letter — “We can’t hire Glick, he’s all wrong for this, he’s the contained thriller guy.”
Thus in the case of a writer who (A) is known for one specific sub-genre and (B) hasn’t demonstrated the ability to write outside that sub-genre, they could be in trouble depending upon cultural whims.
But let’s take a look at two writers you mention: Robert Mark Kamen and Steve Zaillian. Here are just a few of the movies they have been involved with as writers:
Robert Mark Kamen
Taps (1981)
The Karate Kid (1984)
Gladiator (1992)
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Taken (2008)
Steve Zaillian
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Searching for Bobby Fisher (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Gang’s of New York (2002)
Moneyball (2011)
Notice anything about those lists? How about this: The titles cover a lot of ground: action, drama, science fiction, period pieces, family dramas, epics, etc.
It’s like these writers have employed the mutual fund approach to projects — taking on a variety of genres and subject areas — while Sammy Glick invested everything he had in one stock.
You tell me which is a smarter approach.
Now there are numerous variables:
- An agent or manager will encourage a writer to focus in one area to start their career so they can develop a reputation in one genre.
- A writer may only have passion for one genre.
- A writer may only have talent to write one genre.
- One genre may have a ton of competition in terms of other writers where another genre might not.
Each of these and other factors can influence a writer’s choice re where to put their energy. But let me add two points:
(1) One of the values of a spec script is it enables an established writer to demonstrate to Hollywood they can write in a genre different than the one for which they are known. As long as you can write a spec script, you are never fully tied to a specific genre.
(2) Whatever you do, write from passion. At the end of the day, cultural whims ebb and flow, we have no control over them. But a story written from passion wherein that emotion shows up on the page, those are the kind of projects that rise to the top and garner attention no matter what is happening in the cultural Zeitgeist.