Writing for the Whole Family—Meeting Recap

Family films aren‟t just kids‟ stuff.

On that, all four of the panelists who spoke to the Scriptwriters Network April 9 were in agreement.

“In my job,” said Heather Hutt (Freaky Friday), creative executive for Gunn Films located on the Disney Lot, “and for Disney, it‟s the four-quadrant film, with Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister at the movie.” What was a bit surprising, though, is that Disney is not interested in child protagonists; Hutt said a movie like Goonies would not get made today, unless it‟s a franchise or something based on a popular book, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Freaky Friday. And even recently released movies that are “pre-sold” such as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Race to Witch Mountain were reworked to make the adults the protagonists. Today‟s family movies have to be smart enough that adults will enjoy it. Hutt offered up Pirates of the Caribbean as the perfect example.

“An adult isn‟t going to go see a movie about kids,” added Matt Lieberman (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride), a Disney staff writer for the live-action production team. “Concept is key.” Your movie “must appeal to everybody. Write the jokes for yourself; never placate … Nobody wants to be talked down to.”

He mentioned Night at the Museum as another good example of a four-quadrant film.

But Annie DeYoung (The Ron Clark Story), an award-winning writer who works for the Disney Channel, has different requirements. “Our main demographic is seven-to-eleven-year-old girls who actually want to be sixteen to eighteen,” she says. Still, these are not movies for children. She said Disney Channel movies are more accurately described as three- quadrant—boys, girls and moms, though they are always striving for more material that would appeal to boys. The rules about what can and can‟t be shown on TV are very strict, she adds.

DeYoung cautions writers not to approach writing for kids from a nostalgic standpoint. “You have to be that age rather than remembering,” she said. “Writing for kids … get that notion out of your head.”

“Kids don't grow up in a kid world,” Hutt added. “They grow up in an adult world.”

“Cars is about grown-ups,” DeYoung said. “Kids want to be grown up.”

“The Rules” Jayson Rothwell (Snow and the Seven), who sold his first script in 2007 and has been working steadily in Hollywood ever since, gave examples of changes he had to make in his material to please Disney. An arrow through the neck with dripping blood had to be changed to an arrow through the chest, no blood. And he was allowed to do a beheading, but he couldn‟t have anyone talking to the severed head. He also added that a family movie must end optimistically. “Thematically downer endings don‟t do very well,” he said.

But all of the panelists agreed that you don‟t have to worry too much about “the rules” when you write a spec script. If you sell it, “they'll guide you,” Rothwell said.

“If you have a few raunchy jokes that are too suggestive, that's fine,” said Hutt. “They can see how to tone something down, but they can't make something edgier. But if something about the premise is too racy, they won‟t rewrite the whole second act with you.”

“No one breaks into the studio system while writing something safe,” Rothwell said. “You have to take everything to the edge with a spec. Surprise yourself. Only by pushing the limits of what you can do will you get into the area you want to be. Learning to tone things down is not really useful to you at this stage.”

And even if you have a script with a child protagonist, there is no ironclad rule that says you can‟t sell it, according to DeYoung. “If you have an idea, and your writing is out of this world and you have a voice no one has heard before, and it‟s impeccably written-- no typos--and it's professionally formatted and it reads like that—“ She snapped her fingers. “It will get you attention. If it's spectacular, it will get you work. I would never tell someone „Don't write that idea.‟ But if you're thinking, „I want to load my chances,‟ think about that castable adult costar.”

“Do it if you have a passion to write that story,” she added, “but do not ignore the four-quadrant idea.” Agents and producers are looking to cast the widest possible net with material they acquire. “If you're writing a spec that's going to be your calling card,” she said, “you want that to be able to go to every studio in Hollywood.” If you narrow your focus with a story that doesn‟t have wide appeal, you are decreasing your chances of selling. “You want to write for anyone who will pay you to write.".

Hutt is looking for big tent-pole movies (like Pirates) with great characters and stories, in a big world, with real-life stakes.

Although Disney might be looking for something very specific right now, “a lot of specifics float down from whoever is head of the studio,” Rothwell said. “That changes very quickly.” Hutt agreed. “What we‟re looking for right now is Fast and Furious for boys without cars, but by summer, it won‟t be.”

DeYoung admits that advice can sound contradictory and recommends putting all advice “in a stew.” “Don't just shoehorn in something that you think needs to be there [because of advice you hear]. People know when you shoehorn in stuff that doesn't belong.”

On Pitching “The biggest shock to me was having to pitch ideas on assignments,” said Rothwell, who until the last few years lived in England. “I had no idea what that was. Nobody told me I'd just have to come up with worked-out ideas. That was a big learning curve. Learning the language that executives speak, the shorthand, being able to communicate an idea in movie- speak” all were challenges. He recommends you learn the beats of your movie so you can talk it out in five minutes, fast and coherent. “If you can get your idea across and make it zip in four or five minutes, you're halfway there.”

Lieberman agreed. “You become a writer to be alone. Nobody tells you that real pitching is an art … there's writing your movie and selling your movie. There's a way to communicate to an executive that will get you noticed.” Your goal, he said, is to hit every emotional beat so you can move somebody in the room.

“When you pitch,” Hutt said, “communicate the tone.” So if you‟ve written a comedy, be sure to communicate whether it‟s broad or smart or something else. “We want to know how goofy it's gonna be.”

“Don't go to a meeting without doing your homework,” DeYoung said. You can look at what they've produced in last year to get an idea about their current “mandates,” but also look at sneak peeks for upcoming films. And if you can ask someone who knows (like your agent if you have one), even better.

“Homework is really important,” Rothwell agrees. “Get to know what each of the studios does. Lion‟s Gate does thrillers and action movies. I pitched them a contained thriller. Tailor your pitches. You'll have six, eight or ten ideas, but home in on the one or two that have the best chance.”

Hutt added an important caveat: “It's not just what a studio made, it's also the box office first weekend. If a movie does bad, they'll take it off the list of things they want. Don't pitch that. They've lost money, they're in a bad mood.”

Panelists mentioned two websites, www.boxofficemojo.com and www.the-numbers.com, where you can get sales statistics.

On Structure “Good structure will help even a so-so story,” Lieberman said.

All of the panelists recommended Blake Snyder‟s Save the Cat books and workshops, and his method of breaking down a story into fifteen beats.

“The learning curve for me,” said DeYoung, “was to get with the program on story structure.” She compared writing a script to writing haiku, except longer. “You have your idea, you've watched a million movies, taken courses, read books, but you still don't believe there's a structure specific to the form because you want to write what you want to write. But I can tell you that Heather (Hutt) cares if the first act ends where it's supposed to. She cares about those story beats. What's the 'all is lost' moment? What happens on page 75?” She recommends you pick your teacher, whoever works for you, but do learn structure.

“Heather has to read 10-15 scripts over a weekend,” Rothwell added. “If your script isn't good on page one, chances are she won't get to two. It's brutal. If page one doesn't make you want to turn to page two, game over.”

“Beyond that, it's got to be an A script,” Lieberman said. “ B+ scripts just don't sell. If you know your third act isn't there, learn how to edit yourself.” He said to get notes, attend writers groups, hear the brutal stuff first and make changes before Heather sees it. “Own it and fix it.”

Hutt defended herself, saying she usually reads at least 10 pages. But if the first ten aren‟t good, she might skip to page 30, then 60, then 90 to see what‟s happening. But she also said, “If I read your script and it's bad, I won't read your second script … I don't want a studio exec to think my taste is bad.”

On Ideas My strength is coming up with ideas and concepts,” said Lieberman. “I write them down, pages and pages of lists. I just get in a mode and think about things. A project he sold recently, "The Pet," is about a guy who gets abducted by aliens and is forced to be some little girl's pet. The idea came about as a combination of “Alien Zoo” and looking at his dog.

One recent trend is re-imagining fairy tales and other classics, such as “Snow and the Seven,” a spec script which has been floating around for nine years but may finally get made. In a recent version, Snow White is the daughter of an English Merchant and the dwarves are Shaolin monks in 18th Century China. (The monks have since been changed to a mercenary force of international warriors, complete with backstories.)

“If you go back to the original Grimm fairy tales,” said Hutt, “it‟s in the public domain.” She says you can try this if you want, but be forewarned that you aren‟t the only one. Recently she‟s seen four Peter Pans. And with the recent tepid box office performance of Red Riding Hood, the trend may fizzle. “We might even take Snow out of the title (of Snow and the Seven) and make it an adventure movie.”

DeYoung works a lot with raw ideas. Sometimes she is given scripts that aren‟t quite professional, not well written, but there‟s the nut of an idea the studio likes. She‟ll be given the directive, “Build us a new building with these bearing walls. Come up with a new story.” “I thrive on that kind of creativity,” she said. “I'm more of a sculptor than an artist. I hate the blank page.” She prefers to “take a big blob and carve away pieces to reveal something underneath it.”

On Influences When asked what influenced them most from a creative standpoint, Both Rothwell and DeYoung mentioned children‟s books. Rothwell has young children and is used to reading them stories. “One of the joys of having kids is rediscovering books, like Treasure Island. You forget how great these stories are … New writers are so depressing; the older writers were a bit more cheery.”

DeYoung remembers Madeline L‟engle‟s A Wrinkle In Time fondly. Even when she read it as a child, she saw it in her head as a movie. She also mentioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as being very cinematic. “The books I read back then planted these ideas in my head that stories have to unfold in a way that is satisfying,” she said.

Lieberman was quick to say that Star Wars had a major impact on him.

Typecasting Whatever you sell first will cause a certain amount of pigeonholing,” Rothwell said. His first sale was a heist movie, and for a while, every assignment he was offered was another heist movie. But he added that the Action genre is a good one to start with.

“The type-casting thing--that's real,” DeYoung said. “If you want to write family films and that is the world you live in and the sandbox you want to play in ... it limits you, and if you're okay with that do it. But if you can come up with an idea that casts a broader net, do that.” She said that if you write five different spec scripts in five different genres, you‟ll be an agent‟s dream, because they can send you out on anything. Whatever genre you want to write in, you first have to prove that you can write it, with a good spec.

Writing “clean” with conflict and drama “It's all about creating situations,” Rothwell said. You must have conflict in every scene.

DeYoung recommended that you dig deeper into your characters. Watch any Jane Austin movie, she said, and you‟ll understand what the buildup is all about. “Not kissing is sexier,” she said.

“I was amazed as a comedy writer to realize how little the studios care about the jokes,” Lieberman said. “They care about the characters.” Comedy will come from your characters, he said, and that will appeal to a broad audience.

Live action vs. animated Hutt will only read animation scripts as samples, to see what your style is. “But don't be afraid to send live action, even if you want to do animation.” She offered the example of Little Miss Sunshine, whose writer went on to pen Toy Story 3.

“Disney animation is only in-house,” Lieberman adds, “but Sony, Fox and Blue Sky do buy it. Animation is becoming cheaper to do; don't shy away from it.”

DeYoung went on to recommend that you write a live-action spec, because you can use it as a sample at animation houses, but then you also have more places you can actually sell it.

Teen Movies “Teen comedies are very hard,” Hutt said. “Sometimes adults can relate to teens and sometimes they can't. Disney is coming out with Prom. But it‟s low budget, low risk.” The moral of that story is to keep the budget low on your teen movie. And she repeated that she is looking for “teen guy action” material.

Teen movies do get made,” DeYoung added. “It‟s not impossible. Look at Easy A. It did well, it‟s a cool movie, low budget. Write what you have a passion to write.”

Rothwell said that with a successful teen movie, he wants to forget he‟s watching teenagers.

Bad movies “Nobody sets out to do a bad script,” Rothwell said. “It's a collaborative business. Hundreds of thousands of people have their input.

“Development is how it usually happens,” Lieberman said. “Studios or producers with money have an agenda, like, „We have to make a movie with Magic 8 Ball or lose 20 million dollars.” Or they could have a deal with a really talented writer who, on one occasion, writes a bad script. The writer might be told something like, "The bar has to explode at the midpoint." Because they have the bar and the explosives already. And whether it serves story or not, the writer has to put it in. “Slowly, slowly, that's how it happens. People are afraid to say no. If the boss is happy, why risk your neck?”

Sometimes the opposite is true, Hutt said. Sometimes a script doesn‟t get enough time in development. “It‟s hard to build something from a seed, with a zillion people's opinions,” she added.

DeYoung likened development to applying stickers to the Mona Lisa. You listen, you take notes, you go home and apply what you‟ve learned. That‟s what happens when you‟re rewriting. “As writers, we have that purity of the spec, this moment where we have all the control. Your job is to make sure that your movie, when Heather reads it, doesn't suck. It‟s all we have control over. Everything else we kiss it goodbye.”