M. Night Shyamalan Talks About UNBREAKABLE And More...
September 20th, 2000
M. Night Shyamalan's THE SIXTH SENSE was not only a box office hit, but it was a wonderful accomplishment as well. This Thanksgiving he has a new film coming out, UNBREAKABLE. (Read our script review for UNBREAKABLE.)
While talking with the New York Times, Shyamalan said he is excited to have so many people waiting for the release of his next film. He went on to say, "But the same challenges were there on SIXTH SENSE are here again. Hoping that we can tell an exciting, meaningful story in a new way."
But will UNBREAKABLE fall flat? Is it a worthy follow-up? Perhaps the better question is, can any writer/director even hope to come close to previous success on the level of a SIXTH SENSE? "I have a tough time getting up in the morning," said Shyamalan, "coming to work just because its a fun or exciting movie. It really has to have some appeal for me and hopefully the audience. The characters need to learn lessons that have resonance. You know, THE SIXTH SENSE was as much about parenting and balancing your work and your marriage as it was about a kid who sees ghosts. As for UNBREAKABLE, Im now wondering what Im going to be 10 years from now, what my potential vs. my tendency to laziness or whatever."
I think UNBREAKABLE is more than a worthy follow-up, and may even beat out THE SIXTH SENSE at the box office. Not because it's a better film, because it's not, but there is so much anticipation and the film is good enough to bring people to the theater.
All of us creative types have things we're naturally good at, and things we've learned to do, and things we aren't that good at (yet). This creates a creative trap: when approaching a project, we often work on the part we understand best — the part that scares us least. So if you're good at plot, you write the plot first, and then fill in the characters later. If you're good at characters, you write up the characters and then feel your way towards a plot.
Everyone pursuing a screenwriting career will eventually realize this journey is not for the thin of skin or for those who cannot handle the emotional ups and downs this business brings. If you haven’t yet experienced the soul crushing disappointment of finally having written a script that goes into development, but it doesn’t make it to production and sits on a shelf, I don’t envy you. It’s happened to me a handful of times out of my nearly two dozen paid screenwriting assignments. Learn this early — there are no guarantees in the screenwriting game. You take your lumps, heal, and move on to the next screenplay and the next one.
I love Readers! Yes they are the gatekeepers to the Promised Land and like it or not they do have power. But just how much? Well, I’m here to show you. I got my hands on a classified document folks, the holy grail… An actual copy of a real STUDIO MEMO covering GUIDELINES for their READERS.
Scenes must have a reason to exist in your screenplay. Each scene must advance the plot forward through dialogue and/or visual storytelling. Characters’ journeys drive the script’s narrative, and each scene must steer their journey forward. Although some scenes might not even contain any characters, these scenes must still provide information about your plot, as well as your characters’ lives and actions. There is no set rule as to how many lines, paragraphs, or pages constitute a scene.
The following has nothing to do with wet t-shirts. This entry is actually about screenwriting contests - a subject with little marquee value. One of the most popular category of questions that I find in my e-mail box is about screenwriting contests. As I say over and over, I believe that most are a waste of energy and entry fee. Some - like the Nicholl and Disney Fellowships - are very reputable and have launched a few Hollywood careers. Regardless of how reputable any contest might be, the screening process for most seems tenuous. Low fees for contest readers and a bulk of scripts guarantees a sloppy vetting system.
"Lowtide" writer, director and producer Kevin McMullin has sold his short story "Bomb" and is tabbed to write the script for "low seven figures" and "Gladiator" director Ridley Scott is attached to Direct. According to reports, 20th Century beat out studios Apple, Netflix, Sony, and Warner Bros.
Books are the fastest and easiest way you can learn from an expert. In screenwriting, it’s no different. Some of the best screenwriters and those who have mastered the craft, have created countless books trying to encapsulate all they’ve learned in their work. If you’re a new screenwriter and looking to improve or simply to learn how to create better scripts, these three books will help you out.
Everybody has a perspective. Everybody in your scene has a reason. They have their own voice, their own identity, their own history… But if you don’t know who everybody is and why they’re there, why they’re feeling what they’re feeling and why they’re doing what they’re doing, then you’re in trouble.
What is a successful second act? One that keeps the reader engaged, moves the story forward, and successfully delivers it into the falling action; that being the third act climax and the denouement. A bad screenplay has a second act that simply doesn't keep the narrative trajectory in place and thus the spine of the story sags; meaning rising tension and conflict is not taking place.