Tales from the Script

Tales from the Script is a long series of short clips from interviews with successful screenwriters who reveal what most every artist already knew: if you want to be true to your vision, you must stick to noncollaborative art, and if you are looking to be paid for your art, you had better be ready to compromise.

Screenwriters are writers, but they can earn potentially much more money than solo writers. So the price they pay is having to deal with all of the people in the industry whose only reason for being there is to earn money. They also have to deal with the big egos of directors, producers, and actors. Judging by the anecdotes described in this film, screenwriters are a rather masochistic lot, who despite being psychologically abused by people who have no idea how to write, continue on because, on balance, they have decided that the alternative would be worse.

In addition to all of the interview excerpts with a wide range of screenwriters, short scenes from a variety of films which self-referentially treat the topic are also included. I had no idea that there were so many Hollywood movies with screenwriting as a theme!

Filmmakers who neglect producing a good script rarely produce a good movie. Sure, film's a visual medium (but, then, so are comic books)- but all the beautiful imagery in the world is meaningless without a coherent background story. TALES FROM THE SCRIPT is a cautionary tale and, like the documentary THE HECK WITH Hollywood!, it offers some possible solutions for aspiring screenwriters. (Although the solution in THE HECK WITH Hollywood! is to go out and make your OWN movie, without regard to geography, which is probably the BEST advice: as mavericks like George Romero have shown, it IS possible to go out and do it yourself and be successful. With the kind of video technology that exists now, I'm frankly amazed that there aren't MORE independent filmmakers making waves out there...) Posting unproduced scripts online is one way to try to interest potential investors (I may do it myself). The options these days are many. Settling for Hollywood should no longer be the only option.

Thought this was a great movie and by far the most comprehensive thing i've seen on the subject. For us struggling writers out here in LA, it gives us hope, but also shows us that its not that easy and reminds us that it takes a lot of work and a lot of rejection.

A great film for any of those out there with an interest in Hollywood, screen writing, the industry, or just people chasing a dream.

I really enjoyed the amount of personal accounts from so many of the screenwriters, just documenting how the process literally casts a shadow over the writer and gives them very little credit.

I'm sure it will at least be self-distributed, but I am going to guess that this will be picked up soon. What a gem!

I've been very lucky in finding these strangely structured documentaries.

Here is a film about writing films. We luckily encounter a large number of screenwriters, some of whom I admire a great deal.

We have a quick shuffle among them, with the assembly being quite a bit more coherent and engaging than staying. This by itself is a remarkable effect. Almost all of these people are master storytellers and they are speaking about something they have examined thoroughly. Each has their own narrative they have created about who they are and how they fit into the machinery of this collaborative art. They assume that what they have honed will be fascinating to us.

But it isn't. It simply isn't. We learn that writing is hard, the business is brutal. You and your art get no respect. It is often unbearable and some accomplished writers simply graduate out of the role. None of these storytellers do much other than decorate these complaints. It becomes obvious early in the game that this is still interesting to watch because the filmmaker jumps around, composing his own narrative out of these interviews. No one bit is kept longer than a minute or so. It is a masterpiece of composition, editing and just plain deep listening.

It is a folded story that says in two ways that the writer is the beginning of the adventure, the generator of first ideas, but is not the filmmaker.

So that's all good. Don't expect a single phrase about writing itself. This is all about the business, the selling and the commerce. There are some people here that I really would like to know better. I did not and this will frustrate you too.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Tales From The Script is an essential documentary for aspiring screenwriters. It doesn't break down how to write a script or how to tell a story but it goes over what to expect in a career in screen writing and what they value. It's a very basic doc with interviews shot on DV, but it has access to so many top class writers that I didn't think much about the production of the doc itself. It's fascinating to pick up on the common behaviour of a writer based on their attitudes. It's a doc that both confirms my fears and validates what I want out of screen writing in my life. It finishes with a story from the writer of Ghost talking about a flop he made shortly afterwards where he felt it was finally worth it because it saved the relationship between a mother and son. That's what it's all about.

8/10