Writers’ Rights

I’m not one for ranting, but there are a few things on which I feel strongly. One of those is respect.

Lack of respect is the fundamental reason for prejudice and discrimination throughout the world. In filmmaking, a lack of respect between the people involved in making the film sours the experience for all involved. And it’s just plain rude.

A director recently told me they were planning to rewrite a script and wondered if I wanted to be involved. I then discovered this was a script they did not originally write. Where then, I asked, is the original writer? (It turned out to be all above board, so I was pacified).

If I’d found out that someone – anyone – had rewritten my script without my knowledge, I would be livid.

I’m not talking about the process by which a script becomes a film, where the odd word sits more naturally in the actor’s mouth than the one you wrote or the sun was setting too quickly to make the shot “afternoon”, but mucking about with a script at SCRIPT STAGE is unacceptable.

Why don’t you just ask the writer to do it for you? That is, after all, their job. And, if you don’t work well with the writer or don’t like their style, hire another one – but tell the first fracking writer and give them their due!

Pat Higgins showcases this perfectly, heart-breakingly in this post. Phill Barron calls to the Heavens to address directors in general on this topic here.

But is this a symptom of the larger film problem? Writers are largely unrecognised in film. Directors are the powerhouses of cinema. In television, the writer is king – and the recognised writers in cinema are largely those who have made the jump: Aaron Sorkin, Joss Whedon.

I dug out this example from Dale Launer (via Scott at GITS) about credit in films. The actors are amazing, the direction perfect – but what of the writing?

The BAFTA and Oscar coverage every year, especially on the news channels, focuses almost exclusively on the Best Actor and Actress, Best Director and Best Film. Even when Aaron Sorkin won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network, he wasn’t mentioned on BBC News.

If I go to a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth, the conductor may be excellent, the musicians sublime, but Beethoven has to take some credit, right? Without the orchestra, the sheet music is meaningless, but without the score, the performance can’t exist.

I’m not saying we should all march down the Boulevard and demand everyone give us some recognition (though the Writers’ Strike did demonstrate the role of the writer pretty effectively). However, we need to command respect for our work. And we need to get angry when our friends, our fellow writers, are screwed over.

Equal opportunity writing

I’m a fan of the BBC.

I enjoy the principle that you pay up front and receive a rich bounty of content delivered to your door. For less than 40p per day. PER HOUSEHOLD. That’s insane. For that, you get an international news website, with full sporting and political coverage. Also, food and drink, hobbycraft, children’s entertainment, and, oh, commercial-quality video games.

And that’s just the website.

Today, Michelle Lipton posted BBC drama stats (garnered from the WGGB/BBC podcasts). They provide a fascinating look at the scale of the BBC, and how much we creators bombard them with submissions!

But this line in particular caught my eye:

“At the moment there are 194 men and 136 women writing across CDS, series and serials”

That would be 59% men and 41% women.

I think it only fair, at this point, to give a comparison. According to UK Labour Force Survey (2009), employed women make up:

36% managers;
43% professionals;
79% administrative and secretarial staff;
8% skilled tradespeople, and:
84% personal service staff (including nurses and childminders)

And Hollywood? 8% of screenwriters.

I’m a fan of the BBC.

NOW ASYLUM IF YOU’RE GAY

Unsurprisingly, I have hatred for the Daily Express. This is largely because it hates me, so I think I’m allowed. Via Enemies of Reason, I found out about today’s headline:

Today’s headline reads: NOW ASYLUM IF YOU’RE GAY

With the adorable tag: They must be free to go to Kylie concerts and drink multi-coloured cocktails, said judge.

Putting aside whether I believe a court of law came out with such bigoted drivel, this is one of those things where the audience of hate is pretty wide. Gays and asylum seekers in one fell swoop – it’s a gift to the right.

My own mother, by most accounts a sensible woman, came out with this gem: but then they might all pretend to be gay so that they can stay here!

My life. The complete ignorance of that statement.

One, it’s not exactly massive numbers. Say 10% of the population is gay (a plucked-out figure) and then how many would be out in an environment like that? 1-2%? And then how many would be investigated and hounded and have to means and guts to flee their country and everything they know? Yeah, exactly.

Two, even if asylum seekers were to wish to pretend homosexuality, the ostracism they would face from their communities, even in exile, would be tremendous. You lose both your culture and your sense of identity.

You’d think that people would be happier that we’re not letting people be flogged and executed in the 21st century, but then this is the same group of people who believe in a reinstatement of capital punishment. Probably for the exact “crimes” described.

Damn, I need a drink.

Space Exploitation

My love affair with Space Precinct is already cooling – at episode three.

This episode features what appears to be a twelve-year-old girl in a short skirt and what amounts to a bikini top. This child is being used by the villain to kill people.

Oh yes.

The other point of major irritation is the species ridicule. The team of Brogan and Haldane spend all their time mocking any different species they encounter, while this is all played for laughs and oh-aren’t-their-ways-and-appearances-so-different-and-comical! They even had an East Asian man who started every sentence with his name and terrible “engrish”.

Nineties sci fi – I am so done with you.

Gender-blind casting

I’ve been collecting screenwriting blogs for my Google Reader, and came across John August’s blog post about The Bechdel Test..

I already had some familiarity with the test (and its various criticisms), but for those still in the dark:

Anyway, I then made the mistake of reading the blog comments. I should know by now that reading comments on the internet is bad for my health and I end up wanting to smack someone.

The usual arguments came through: “more women should write then”, “but all women do is talk about men”, “women want to have discussions instead of fight”, “maybe men AND women just don’t want to see women talk”, etc. etc. ad nauseam.

I then read a persuasive argument from Overthinking It that Hollywood clearly had no idea what Strong Female Character meant, and that we could articulate it more clearly: Strong Character, Female.

Which led me to consider one of my favourite things: colourblind casting. For those unfamiliar, it is the casting of an actor without a predefined racial criterion. This is particularly interesting in period costume dramas, where one can argue that “realism” is sacrificed for diversity, and plays well in TV shows like Merlin, where Guinevere is mixed race and it doesn’t matter at all.

I then went on the consider gender-blind casting. I confess that my first thought was: that would never work. I then went on to think about my current pilot project and substituted characters with equivalents of their reverse genders. Sure, there may be difficulty with the nearing-retirement army colonel being a woman but the character wouldn’t really play any differently.

There was also an issue of chemistry and UST between various characters, but Torchwood has proven well enough that making your entire ensemble bisexual can work pretty well without making the whole thing about sexuality.

Therefore, while it may be true that women are different from men and that “representatives” of various ethnic, sexual and religious groups may be expected to act in certain ways, I call BS and say that people are people are people.

One of my filmy friends says that he imagines when I write, I have “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves” playing in my head. I say I like Strong Characters, Female and Male. I wish other people did too.

Fiction to escape the world, and still change it

When I woke up this morning, I was pretty convinced it was 2009. Now I’m thinking we’re somewhere in 1953.

Daily Mail columnist decides that Stephen Gately = gay = death

US Justice of the Peace refuses to marry mixed-race couples

I believe in escape fiction. I love immersing myself in a fantasy world and finding something better than what the world has to offer. But writers have great power, and that power can be used to shape the future.

“Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because — what with trolls and dwarfs and so on — speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green.”
—Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad