perfecting the craft

germans are known all over the world for craftsmanship. but i gotta say that the german screenwriters are definitely taking it to the next level. when i recently translated a screenwriting student's script, the issue of formatting came up and she mentioned that they're being taught at film school to decorate their works with pictures or tissue that give off the feel of the story. which is actually quite a nice idea.

nowadays so many LA screenwriters are disillusioned by the development process, when the producers and director come in and turn their "little miss sunshine" into a 120 million $ bonanza with an alien on board of the VW bus which wont be a VW bus anymore, but a pink hummer instead which then threatens to be blown up at the end of the second act if it wasn't for the chubby little girl who now won't be so chubby anymore since that's a bad role model for kids out there who then will save her family by finally releasing her mutant super powers.

so the idea of giving the screenwriter something to be creative about and call their own and above all stay distracted while other people disfigure their work, should be seriously taken into consideration in hollywood. there can also be no doubt about the heightened artistic merits of a "lord of the rings"-script adorned with hairy hobbit feet.

the only problem i see, is that you can get so easily indulgent with it. i mean, wouldn't have billy wilder gotten a little suspicious of the writer, had he gotten the script for "the lost weekend" with alcohol stains all over the pages? and worse, if james cameron had soaked his "titanic"-script completely in water, nobody would even have been able to read the dialogue - which actually might not have been such a bad thing after all. but i especially see trouble ahead for the young wannabe screenwriter who lines up his holocaust-script with miniature swastikas. NOT GOOD :(

so while i think there's definitely potential there, it might not be a bad idea to keep an eye on the writer's doing. just in case he gets too creative. or even better to just let the director or producers do the handiworks.