April 4, 2011

The Five Stages of Production in Making a Movie

1. Development
- an idea is the first part of development
- what job is the first job in this process? The screenwriter is the first person in the process
- Avatar – what do you think James Cameron started with? Specifically?
- he could have started with characters – what if there were blue aliens and they were part of nature?
- he would then have had to say – what happens to them that is bad?
- most movies start with a What If kind of question – the first step is a problem –
A = characters – B = their situation C = the opposition D = some kind of change that occurs
Avatar –
A = blue aliens
B = the paradise planet where they are part of the whole natural process
C = humans show up and we suck
D = we want what they have and attack them, they fight back with their special powers

Another way to look at the original concept is to say –
What do we start with? – Happy Gilmour – hockey player who sucks, gets canned, needs to get money for Grandma
What do we do that’s awesome? – Happy Gilmour – comedy scenes with him being aggressive and trying to play golf in a hockey mode, wacky caddie, blowhard enemy who is an ass, weird cameo with Bob Barker
Putting Asses in Seats
Trailer Moments
Where do we go? – Happy Gilmour – he finds love, he learns to be a good person, he controls his rage, he saves his grandma
The development process is about TWO things working together –
1. coming up with a story that has all the right parts to be a movie (this story is in the form of a screenplay)
2. be obvious that the movie will find an audience and MAKE MONEY
The only way to get out of this stage is by having an idea, and a screenplay that somebody wants to BUY – BUYING costs money and nobody wants to waste money (except for stupid people)