Tweeting About It Doesn’t Make It A Good Story
Just thought I would throw this out there today…
I’ve been doing this blog for a few years and I hope by NOW that most of the visitors have gotten what I believe to be the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of what I TRY to talk about here at least most of the time.
STORY.
Plain and SIMPLE. Unfortunately, off and on over the last few years, I’ve given in and read some screenplays by a few readers… Completely AGAINST the advice of my attorney but I like to help if I can when and if I can find the time. One of the things I’ve run into since I became a screenwriter and since way before I ever got into this professionally was the mindset of MOST of the wannabe screenwriters I’ve known.
Let me define WANNABE SCREENWRITER. Somebody who writes screenplays but hasn’t been paid yet.
The mindset I keep running into is this…
IT’S GOOD ENOUGH or the ever popular, IT’S NO DIFFERENT THAN SUCH AND SUCH MOVIE.
Wow.
Kind of reminds me of a few house painters I know… LOL. It’s good enough.
And you know what?
You might have been right…
At one time.
But are you right NOW?
I don’t think so.
Why?
Recently, I stumbled on information that is freely out there for anyone to find about a fairly new movie called KILLERS starring Ashton Kutcher. Let me be up front and qualify this post… I have not seen KILLERS and from reading the many reviews I’ve read about KILLERS before writing this post, I won’t be seeing it anytime soon.
Most of the reviews I’ve read seem to put KILLERS into the DERIVATIVE category i.e., we’ve seen it before… Nothing really new here i.e., don’t waste your money.
Whatever. I’ll never sit here and tell people what to watch or not to watch… That’s up to YOU.
But here’s my observation THUS FAR…
As of this writing, @aplusk has 5,102,296 followers on Twitter… In other words, over 5 MILLION FOLLOWERS yet this movie has only brought in $32,345,995 (domestically) as of 15 June 2010. It even has a rating of PG13 so you can’t blame it BOMBING on an “R” rating. Its foreign boxoffice thus far is: $1,200,000 which brings us to a Worldwide boxoffice total of $33,545,995.
Pretty SHITTY.
What does this tell us?
I’d like to say STORY and I am 99.99999999999% sure that this is true… I would go ahead and say 100% but since I haven’t actually seen KILLERS, I won’t. But from everything I’ve read this morning, KILLERS has a shitty story. Maybe there’s some other problems but again, from what I’ve read, we’ve seen KILLERS before. It’s DERIVATIVE. There’s nothing new here.
Not even Ashton Kutcher himself with his 5 million plus followers could make this film a blockbuster. Sorry, I have to LAUGH now because the budget for KILLERS is reported as being $75 Million! Ahem. Now I’m going to sit back with an even HEARTIER LAUGH because I am picturing all those executives and even Kutcher himself sitting at that big fucking table with plenty of smug looks…
“We got this in the bag…”
“This is going to be a HIT!”
“We’re gonna make bank!”
“This movie can’t miss! Ashton has over 5 million followers on Twitter!”
So… Is there something we can LEARN from all this? Will KILLERS all of a sudden turn around and make $100 Million at the boxoffice?
I doubt it.
Would it have been any better if it contained a GOOD STORY? Probably. Maybe another actor? You be the judge: Ashton Kutcher Movie Box Office Results
I personally believe a better story would have made it become a box office hit because that’s what good stories tend to do at the box office. Of course good stories are subjective… What you like might not be what I like and all that SHIT but overall, MOST OF US LIKE GOOD STORIES and good stories tend to do well at the box office.
All I’m saying is that 5 million followers on Twitter is NEVER GOING TO REPLACE A GOOD STORY.
YAWN
Unk
UPDATE: Ooooh… Nasty emails from Ashton Kutcher fans… LOL. Something tells me you love him more than his movies because apparently, MANY of you haven’t actually seen KILLERS.
One of these fans even shared Mr. Kutcher’s Facebook page with me… Actually solidifying my hypothesis even more since over 3 Million people like Mr. Kutcher’s Facebook page. All I can say is Mr. Kutcher punk’d himself…
Hmmm. Hype or story. Story or hype… Hmmmm.
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28 Responses to “Tweeting About It Doesn’t Make It A Good Story”
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What are five scripts you would hold up as examples of exceptional story? Stuff made after 1980… (i love classic film.. but I have read most all of the essentials already)
Thanks,
C
Hmmm. After 1980?
PULP FICTION
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
GOODFELLAS
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
JERRY MAGUIRE
These are just off the top of my head… If I sat here for another hour, I’m sure there would be A LOT MORE.
Unk
Thanks.. very good. I have read 3 of these, and seen all of them. I will have to read Good Fellas and Jerry McGuire now..
These all seem very male-centric, there are strong female characters in them as well, but what would be a good example of a great story with a strong female lead..
CoreyTess,
Here’s some others I would certainly recommend:
MEMENTO
THE VERDICT
FIELD OF DREAMS
WITNESS
THELMA & LOUISE
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
GRAN TORINO
Unk
I’ve got to agree. I’ve been kind of “not writing” lately as I’m finished the “technical” part. My next thing is new STORIES. Story is first, then screenplay, then movie.
Story will cover situations and characters.
As far as Killers, what I heard about the story was that it’s about a hitman who decides to retire and get married but of course, that doesn’t quite work out. I guess if I thought about I could figure out the best antag for that but….not.
Anyway, that synopsis gives you no goal or antag directly. Stay married and save the wife? SUCKS.
I would have linked the antag to the wife somehow and made it more personal. But I haven’t read the script so I can’t say what they didn’t do. I did see some previews and it didn’t seem like it.
Thanks.. I think what seems to happen a lot is that people see crappy movies and think “I can do that!”
Just because crap gets made, doesn’t mean that people outside the thirty mile zone can write crap and get in with it.. usually it is people who have long been in the business already who get on board with crappy scripts/ideas/un-titled packaged deals because they have made it and they can..
I don’t think anyone who doesn’t already get paid to write or do anything in film can afford to turn out crap and expect to get “in” aka “paid”.
I’ve been a bit of a spoil sport over the social networking fad and I can’t help but feel a bit smug right now over the mention that this film didn’t do so well despite the star having +5 milliong tweety fans.
I read the script for this and it actually started off pretty good and had a good idea, but then it turned to total crap. The reason behind the whole thing was just ludicrous.
Hey Unk:
Who’s a girl gotta blow to get you to answer her emails?
Three sent, none answered.
CoreyTess,
Agreed… And to be honest, I don’t have a problem at all with people seeing a movie like KILLERS and saying to themselves, “I CAN DO THAT!”
Anything that gets someone to take ACTION is good in my book. I would just like to stress that when someone who knows what they’re talking about takes a look at the completed work and offers some heartfelt criticism that was in fact solicited BEFOREHAND, it’s probably BEST to at least consider the criticism before simply replying that it’s just like this movie or that movie or just as good as this movie or that movie because much of the SHIT that you do actually see up on the screen didn’t actually start out as SHIT.
Lots of other assholes got involved to make that shit which is why it’s shit.
Linda,
I happen to know that there are actors right now who of course will never read this but are scrambling to build their Twitter followers THINKING that it will be the key to their acting success.
They might as well sell their tweets for $10K a tweet like many of them already do because millions of followers does not make a great movie. Web 2.0 just ain’t that strong. But who the fuck am I?
emily,
I don’t even think I could bring myself to read it after reading about it.
Mary Jane,
Send me another email via my contact page and I’ll be happy to send you a list. LOL. Actually, I reply to all my emails. Always have — always will. I’ll check my contact page since I had to recently move to a new server but I am getting emails so I doubt that’s the problem. It’s possible that your emails could have been put in my spam filter but even if that did happen I manually check all those before emptying.
Unk
Oh Yea, I always tell people (and follow my own advice) if someone is good enough to give you feedback (especially if the someone is a working writer) take the feedback and use it.. it is like they gave you free MONEY!
People don’t realize how valuable feedback is.
CoreyTess – how about The Green Mile and A Few Good Men and Speed
Sometimes, it’s about the ride and if a story has a flaw here and there, it’s okay, we had a good time on the ride. But a film with no story is like a roller coaster on a straight rail.
Unk, I watched KILLERS and it was pretty weak. It seemed very formulaic, derivative of a million other movies, namely, MR. & MRS SMITH, but not as well-done or witty, and it got so outlandish that it lost the ounce of credibility it had at the start.
I like both the stars of it — but they need better agents to steer them to better projects pronto.
Thanks, great blog!
http://thescreenwritinglife.blogspot.com/
Doesn’t matter how many Twitter followers a star has. Doesn’t matter how much the budget of a movie is.Doesn’t matter how much the studio promotes it. At the end of the film, it boils down to the quality of the writing in the screenplay.
First thing I learned from reading Syd Field’s Screenplay years ago: You can’t make a good movie from a bad script.
Good stories sell themselves to the audience; they don’t need to be sold through hype. A derivative story only leads to a forgettable moviegoing experience.
My top five scripts post 1980:
Training Day
Empire Strikes Back
Thelma & Louise
Do The Right Thing
The Dark Knight
As soon as I saw the first commercial for this film, I though “well, they remade True Lies.”
Unk, WITNESS is a very solid script.
I don’t know why the list has to be post 1980, since that leaves out a whack of amazing stuff, (like all the Truffaut films I love), but I would mention:
THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (Rourke’s best)
THIEF (Michael Mann’s first, and probably best film)
RAGING BULL (just makes the cut-released in ‘80)
SEXY BEAST (Ray Winstone is awesome)
BLADERUNNER (classic – director’s cut is best)
I have read pretty much everything made before 1980 is why I picked that, so i wanted recommendations for newer scripts I should read. ;)
This makes me think of two points that LA doesn’t seem to have figured out yet.
First, the fact that someone is popular in some areas (tabloid covers, paparazzi photos, twitter, etc) doesn’t translate into ticket sales. Just because people look at paparazzi pics or follow someone on twitter doesn’t mean they’re going to go see a movie they’re in.
Second, I don’t think the public will go see a movie just because of a certain actor. If the current movie sounds like crap, then they’ll just watch a DVD of an old movie the actor did that they actually LIKED rather than waste money on a new one.
So I agree, if the story isn’t any good, and there aren’t tons of special effects, then the movie won’t do well. Although, in an effort to be fair to Ashton Kutcher, I think Katherine Heigl was supposed to be the star who carried this movie.
UNK, I’ve been following your blog since the beginning. One of the things I like most about it/you, besides the invaluable screenwriting advice, is your rebel edge (or “yell”, if you prefer. So, I did a little yelling of my own last week and got a letter to the editor published in the local paper. We all know how difficult it is to make a living in this trade. Try doing it in Canada/Quebec (the banana republic of Canadian provinces). Anyway, thought I’d share my little “Burn the Bastille!” cry with you and your readers. Visit my blog to read the letter. Best!
lol… I totally agree. Story is the most important than any other factors as far as films are concerned. You can have a Grade-A actor/actress but if the movie doesn’t have a great story to go with it, then it’s most likely not going to do very well at the box office. People who first see it would spread their disappointments to their peers, which would make their peers not want to see it.
One thing that social networking sites offer is peer pressure profitability (as evidenced by games such a Farmville). But that’s among peers. Having 5000000 followers means they are not peers but rather two-faced minions; they can love you but hate your movie at the same time.
Maybe they should make movies upgradable. For instance, star upgrades: Watch LA Confidential starring Nathan Lane as Jack Vincennes, Ron Jeremy as Bud White, and Ashton Kutchner as Ed Exley for $0.50. But intercut it with clips from LA Confidential starring Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe, and Guy Pearce and the offer Wouldn’t your rather see cops than dicks? Watch what your friend Dougy Druckus say RULES DUDE! for just 6 bucks more! A better ending too.
A good story? That’s why he HAS 5 million followers – his personal Prince Charming marrying the Hot Queen is a better story for his followers than anything fictional. He’s in Paris Hilton territory. And what if Ashy’s movies are only to subsidize the money he makes hocking products on Twitter? If so, then he’s got you ALL faked out!! Okay, Punk’d (don’t you just hate that word?!).
Unk, in my opinion great characters are the most important aspect of a screenplay. They drive the story.
I’m pretty sure I can list some great french movies who don’t have great stories but are classics because these otherwise dull stories are carried by great characters.
And as of now Kutcher’s movie made 55Mio. worldwide. That’s about the average a Kutcher movie does. So if I were a studio exec I would only produce 25mio. dollar movies with AshtonK.
I would love to agree with you. I would love it if STORY was what got people into the cinema, what made the box office tick. But that’s not what I see happening at all. It’s a lot more cynical, it’s that the movie wasn’t marketed right, that there wasn’t enough awareness around it, that people like me saw a poster for it and just said “meh, that’s shit,” without even analysing it (all the pink in the poster made me not want to see the film..)
Story is AN element, and for people like YOU and ME, it’s the most important element, but I find it unlikely that the reason Killers fucked up at the box office is because it has a crap story.
I have a copy of the script if you’d like to take a look Unk.
STORY, yes…. but RELATIONSHIPS too. I always tell my students that the film industry is built on relationships; films happen because of relationships. So YES focus on story but BUILD useful relationships too!!
jana /www.wordsmythe.ca
Yeah.
I saw this movie (at the two dollar theatre, okay!?) and it certainly was bad. And your assumption about story was spot on.
I haven’t seen a movie with spottier story in…possibly in ever. Things happened randomly, with no setup. As I’m sure you can imagine, there was hardly any payoff either.
Character motivations were muddled, the directing was bad, the acting sub par – and this is all largely because of a bad story.
Story is where it all begins, and if you don’t start with a solid story, nothing else will come through either.
Nice blog post, crummy movie. Blog post enriched movie experience significantly. Thanks!
Best,
Script Quack
If your just selling your script the obvious answer is good story. But what’s a good story Hollywood formula? Or something new that not a soul has heard before? It starts with the idea right, as long as the idea is strong then you have a good foundation. I believe everything is about foundation and having a solid business plan. If you don’t build a solid foundation the house falls. Reason many Film-makers, writers are struggling is due to no knowledge of the business, and not wanting to setup goals, and plans.