“The fanciest state-of-art cameras, the latest high-tech editing suite, the finest actors, the most highly respected producers, the whole host of paraphernalia required of a film are useless until a writer writes a plan. That plan is the screenplay.”
Richard Walter
Essentials of Screenwriting
(Richard Walter, Chairman of UCLA Screenwriting Program, Interview Part 4)
SS: How have you seen the film industry change since you were coming up in the ’60s and ’70s?
Richard Walter: Well, essentiality it hasn’t really changed. It’s still all about story; it’s always been about writing. There’s a popular notion that it’s really about directing, but it isn’t. It’s first of all about writing.
What has changed in the mainstream commercial world of Hollywood is the death of originality. Everything is a prequel; everything is a sequel or a remake—or an adaptation from one medium or another.
At our program at UCLA we don’t tolerate adaptations, we insist that all the students write original material. It’s a film school, make up your own stories, invent your own characters. And some say, “But all Hollywood is doing is adaptations. And if you want to fit in in the industry do adaptations.” My answer to that is we’re not training students to fit into the industry, we’re trying to do what my generation of students did—most notably George Lucas—and that’s to change the industry. Make the industry fit us.
But mainstream Hollywood’s refusal to do original work today doesn’t change what writers should be doing, especially new writers wanting to break in. For example, I just ran into a writer Dan Mazeau who graduated from our program not even two years ago. He’s had some good success. What’s he doing now I asked him, and he said he had signed on to write Clash of the Titan 2. Now I never saw Clash of the Titans, but I know it’s a big successful picture or they wouldn’t be doing a sequel.
And I’m proud of Dan and I think it’s a great job. I’m sure he’s getting a phenomenal salary for it. But how did he become qualified to do that? That answer is by establishing his reputation by writing original work and that’s what writers should be doing.
So nothing’s really changed from the standpoint of the writer. The industry’s changed at least temporarily—I hope only temporarily— in that there is a vastly reduced opportunity for the original screenplay.
[…] (Richard Walter, Chairman of UCLA Screenwriting Program, Interview Part 4) SS: How have you seen the film industry change since you were coming up in the ’60s and ’70s? Richard Walter: Well, essentiality it hasn’t really changed. It’s still all about story; it’s always been about writing. There’s a popular notion that it’s really about directing, […] Original Source… […]
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