Chapter 615

In Hollywood's film making industry, script is the most basic and simple link. It only needs a typewriter and a creator, which is almost a zero cost creative link, and it also attracts a large number of creators.

According to statistics, 50000 plays can be produced in Hollywood every year, not including the works of unregistered students, amateurs and amateur screenwriters. However, among these plays, less than 2000 works can be approved every year, and in the end, less than 300 works can be actually put into shooting. As for those who are finally released in cinemas, The proportion is less than 0.3%.

On the other hand, for film companies, they have to screen the scripts and select the scripts that are suitable for making movies and can make money. This is a very difficult process, which can only be done manually. Therefore, every film company has set up a film and television pre development manager, Their daily work is to select projects worthy of investment from a large number of scripts. They need to read dozens or even hundreds of scripts a day.

In addition to the fierce competition, the film companies will stay away from those new screenwriters who have no agent. Because they have no official channel to confirm whether these scripts involve plagiarism or plagiarism. As a result, this also makes the channel for film and television pre development managers to obtain new scripts old and difficult to break through and innovate.

On the one hand, Hollywood production companies have a headache because they can't find excellent scripts; On the other hand, talented screenwriters are distressed because their works are not appreciated.

"Script blacklist" was born in this context. In 2005, Franklin Leonard, a film and television pre development manager, finally couldn't stand the low work efficiency any more. They not only need to read a lot, but also read repeatedly. Many scripts are circulated among major production companies. After coming and going, they can't bear the low work efficiency any more, Rereading plays is a high probability event, which not only consumes a lot of energy, but also has little effect. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. This year's Christmas, Franklin absolutely took the initiative to attack.

At that time, Franklin sent an e-mail to 80 of his colleagues, hoping that they could list the best scripts they had seen in those years but had not been put into shooting for the time being. In exchange, he would also provide them with lists submitted by others. Among these lists, Franklin made a "blacklist" according to everyone's recommendation. A few days later, the list spread all over Hollywood and became the most fashionable Christmas gift in the industry.

After years of development, the "blacklist" has gradually formed a system, with more and more people participating in the selection. This year's blacklist has reached 500 people in the industry, which is enough to represent the aesthetic taste of the whole Hollywood. These 500 people will provide Franklin with the best scripts he has seen in the year before Christmas. Franklin will select 70 to 100 scripts according to the number of votes, sort out the author's contact information, brokerage company and other information, and form the so-called blacklist document.

This blacklist is very popular in the industry. First of all, it is selected by professionals in the industry, with sufficient quality assurance; Secondly, the entire list does not involve commercial interests, and it does not care about the reputation and status of the screenwriter. The only requirement for the list is to get at least six recommendations from the industry.

So far, the excellent scripts on the blacklist include "Queen", "Juno", "love of inflatable doll", "King's speech", "Slumdog Millionaire", "social network", "Sunshine beauty", "in the cloud" and "fighter"; In the near future, there will be "fleeing from Teheran", "fantasy drifting of youth", "crackdrum", "Nebraska", "Fox Hunter", "American sniper" and so on.

It is worth mentioning that the "rescued Jango" that Andy submitted to Langley last time is also a work on the blacklist.

From this, we can see the value of the blacklist works. Although the quality of the finished products remains to be discussed, it is undeniable that as the basis of the script, this has been enough protection, especially for the Oscar series art films which pay attention to the script.

If you look at the blacklist carefully, you can see that most of the scripts above are not large-scale movies, but scripts with the inner feelings of the characters as the core. In other words, scripts with small cost, small investment, small production and small pattern account for the majority.

The main reason is that the script of a commercial film has a fixed routine, a three-stage structure, a starting and ending, a climax preparation, and even the brewing of a small climax.

Marvel series films, led by the "Avengers alliance", are typical examples. They are even as strict as shaking a burden in three minutes, promoting a plot in five minutes, and turning a corner in 15 minutes. Their script is the most representative business model.

A closer look shows that Marvel series films prefer to use anonymous directors, new directors and second-line directors, and it's even more common to change directors for each sequel, because what they need is not a director full of creativity and style, but a director who is regular, step-by-step and complete the task, and complete the shooting in strict accordance with the framework of the script.

Therefore, it is difficult to dig out a script that meets the standards of commercial blockbusters on the blacklist that stresses script structure, character emotion and ideological innovation. Most of the commercial scripts are tailor-made. Although the "rescued Jango" has invested 100 million US dollars, it can not be called a commercial script. Weinstein film is willing to make such a big investment because of Quentin Tarantino's face.

In my impression, even in 2017, there are only a few commercial movie scripts on the blacklist.

Now, "tomorrow's edge" has not only been shortlisted, but also ranked the third in the list, which has been unanimously recognized by professionals in the industry, with guaranteed quality; What's more, it's a sci-fi script that meets the standards of commercial blockbusters. Naturally, Andy is overjoyed. Such a script is not only available, but also rare. For Lan Li, every aspect is perfect.

However, for top companies like Warner Bros., they don't like the script very much. They always firmly believe that the scripts of commercial films need templates. For example, those scripts on the blacklist that are unrestrained and win by quality will cause them more worries. All people in the industry know that good scripts are important but not necessary for commercial films——

Rhythm control, style positioning, climax setting, visual effects, narrative techniques and so on are the decisive links.

Don't say Warner Brothers, even Andy himself, words are full of uncertainty. Commercial film and art film are different after all.

When an excellent art film has an excellent art script, it is half successful; An excellent commercial film, with an excellent commercial script, is just in its infancy.

After the script is put on the blacklist, it is only the first draft. Before it is put into official shooting, the script will go through layer upon layer modification and be determined as the final shooting version. After the final draft, the face, plot, characters and theme of the script will change greatly.

Take "the fantasy drift of the youth school" as an example. Among the blacklists, the script was written by Jean Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurent, two famous French filmmakers. However, when "the fantasy drift of the youth school" was really released, the screenwriter was David Magee, He wrote the screenwriter of "looking for Neverland".

This involves the right of signature of Hollywood screenwriters. According to the official regulations of the writers' Union, a screenwriter must contribute more than 30% to the final script before he is qualified to sign. If the contribution is less than 30%, he has no right to sign. Therefore, there are generally no more than three screenwriters for a script.

Under such circumstances, the script of the earliest version of Jean Pierre and Guillaume was widely rewritten and revised by David. It can even be considered that David created a new script based on the original novel, which also made Jean Pierre and Guillaume not appear in the final cast.

At the beginning, 20th century fox was going to give "the fantasy drifting of youth school" to Jean Pierre Genet. At that time, he had already made a storyboard for the film. However, the $80 million cost budget he proposed scared 20th Century Fox away.

Later, after readjustment, 20th Century Fox handed over to Ang Lee. Although Ang Lee proposed a production cost of 120 million yuan, which is even higher, Ang Lee's appeal is obviously higher than that of Jean Pierre.

As I mentioned before, Twentieth Century Fox is a company that has blind trust in big name directors. In the end, Ang Lee was given the "fantasy drifting of youth school".

Andy also mentioned just now that the script in hand is only the first draft. At present, Warner Brothers has not determined the producer or director. Naturally, the final version of the script can not be determined. It is enough to use the current version; We need to rewrite the script according to the director's style; Or is it in line with the style of visual effects to leave the story frame and completely overthrow the script?

The same script, Johnny Depp's version, Brad Pitt's version and Tom Cruise's version, will present very different effects. Even the popcorn commercial film is no exception, and the box office results brought by different versions are bound to be very different.

The blacklist plays are famous, but there are too many uncertain factors. Even the old timers like Andy and Warner Bros. can't help hesitating.

This is the second time that lanli has come into contact with the script of the blacklist - "Jiang Ge rescued" for the first time. He can't help but wonder: what is sacred about this commercial film included in the blacklist? Compared with the works of "alien battlefield", "super warship" and "shadow", what are the advantages? Are these advantages enough to transform into a good work?

After opening the script, Lan Li read it carefully. Unexpectedly, it was this book. Has the butterfly effect begun to work?