07.18.07
So You Want To Write A Movie Script
Find a formula, a couple of big names and, bingo, you’re rich. The reality is you’re a piece of plasticine with no feelings. And that’s the upside. Louis Nowra: on the joys of writing film scripts.
Written by Louis Nowra. From Saturdays Sydney Morning Herald April 12 2003.
Louis Nowra’s screen credits include Map of the Human Heart, Cosi, Heaven’s Burning, The Matchmaker, Radiance, K-19: the Widowmaker and Black and White.
The food chain
The first lesson is to know where you are on the food chain. Let’s begin with a true story. I wrote the screenplay for Cosi based on my play. On the night of the premiere, I assumed that one of the seats with reserved written on them was for me. I had just sat down when an usher asked me for a slip of paper that entitled me to sit where I was. I didn’t have one. “But I wrote the screenplay,” I protested. The usher smiled condescendingly and said: “These seats are for special people, sir.” I ended up in the front row in a seat so far to the right that I had to twist at an angle to see just some of the screen. I noticed that the people sitting in the reserved seats were a motley collection of producers, actors, B-grade celebrities and others who had nothing to do with the making of the film.