Jumping the Chasm

If you've ever struggled to get a script both true to your vision and into production, you understand the basic problems with 'development'.

Writers are an odd breed. They don't think like most people -- and especially development executives. It's almost as if development developed as a counterweight to the writing process. Good writing is fueled by risk. The development process is intent on removing risk. It's a cliche, but development generally produce a more broadly accessible but less original story. As long as film is an industry this will probably be the rule. It's the same as any other industry. If your market can't identify your product quickly as something they want, you're out of business. It's just the way it is, and no amount of writing brilliance is likely to change that.

So it was with great joy that I read this article by Barbara Schock in Filmmaker magazine. Not only does she lay out the basic genetic divide between writers and the industry, she also prescribe a fairly tremendous solution for the situation. It's an education for all of us.

So read it.