Screenwriting: Theory, History, Practice Claus Tieber • claus.tieber@univie.ac.at Timetable Mo, 26 October, 12.30-15.45 12.30-14:00 Unit 1: Screenwriting Research/ Studies, Theory, Field, Definition 14:00-14:30: break 14:30-15:45 Unit 2: History 1: Silent Cinema Tue, 27 0ctober, 12.30-15.45 12.30-14:00 Unit 3: Story Conferences, Classical Hollywood Cinema 14:00-14:30: break 14:30-15:45 Unit 4: Black List Thursday, 29 October, 9.10-12.25 9:10-10:40 Unit 4: Narratology, Screenwriting Manuals 10:40-11:00 Break 11-12:25: Unit 5: Discussion, recent and alternative practices PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Contents Definition of screenwriting studies, fields, approaches, methods Formats and Development of screenplay mode of production working conditions American film history: silent film, classical Hollywood, blacklist Goals filmhistorical knowledge introduction into a new field of film studies new approaches to screenwriting and filmmaking/ analyzing historical practice learn how to deal with archival material, historical documents Methods Lecture Discussion Group works Expectations Screenwriting Studies Narratology Production Culture Film History, Screenwriters as Auteurs Screen Idea Screen Idea Screen Idea Working Group Auteur-Theorie Stephen Crofts: 1. „ Author as expressive individual“ 2. „Author as constructed from film or films“ 2.1. as thematic or stylistic properties impressionistically and unproblematically read off from film to film 2.2. a set of structures identifiable within a body of films by the same author 2.3. as a subject position within the film 3. Author as social and sexual subject 4. Author as author-name, as function of the circulation of the film or films Screenplay: Definitions The script of a movie, including acting instructions and scene directions. Oxford Dictionaries screenplay: definitions „The screenplay, which is sometimes known, also, as the scenario or film script, resembles the blueprint of the architect. It is the verbal design of the finished film.“ Drehbuch: Definitionen A screenplay is the agreement of a group of filmmakers (SIWG) about what to shoot. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Screen Idea Work Group (SIWG) A flexibly constructed group organized around the development and production of a screen idea All those who have some direct connection with the development of the screen idea Ian Macdonald Screenplay: Definitionen The basic art of the motion picture is the screenplay; it is fundamental; without it there is nothing. Raymond Chandler  a factory friendly document David Thomson Ontology literary value intermedial status blueprint document of the production process PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Transition to fictional fim 1886 - 1904: Early Cinema 1904 - 1917: Transitional Period, since 1917: Classical Hollywood Cinema PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Modes of production 1896 – 1907 „Cameraman“ System 1907 – 1909 Director System 1909 – 1914 Director Unit System 1914 – 1931 Central Producer System Edwin S. Porter Jack and the Beanstalk (Juni 1902) Life of an American Fireman (Nov. 1902 - Jan. 1903) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Lenght 50 feet 1900: 250 - 400 feet 1903: 300 - 600 feet 1905: 800 - 1000 feet 1000 feet = 300 meter = one reel PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Biograph Wallace McCutcheon Frank Marion PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Uncle Tom‘s Cabin 1903 Porter first intertitles PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber screenplay formats before 1886: oral 1896 – 1904: other media (newspapers, photo stories, etc.) 1904 – 1912: theater, scenario since 1912: continuity script PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Rip Van Winkle Thomas Jefferson 1896 PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Passion Play of Oberammergau PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Passion Play of Oberammergau PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Passion Play of Oberammergau PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Passion Play of Oberammergau PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Narrator/Lecturer PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Ben Hur Kalem Company Gene Gauntier Lew Wallace PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Gene Gauntier PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Central Producer System „When I had my theatrical company“ (...) I never told a director ‚Go and put on a play’ and trusted to his inventive genius. I selected a manuscript I liked, and he followed it. And I didn’t see any reason why the same course shouldn’t be a success in the motion picture game.“ Lloyd Thanhouser PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Lloyd Lonergan, Thanhouser „When I had my theatrical company“ (...) I never told a director ‚Go and put on a play’ and trusted to his inventive genius. I selected a manuscript I liked, and he followed it. And I didn’t see any reason why the same course shouldn’t be a success in the motion picture game.“ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Scenario Script „the plot of action that is no more than a synopsis of the scenes is being replaced by the full script.“ Eapes Winthrop Sargent PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber D. W. Griffith PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Mack Sennett PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Frank Capra „Here’s the way we slave: Two men work up a story line, then all the others pitch in on gags. Sennett holds story conferences up here or down in his office. Sometimes he takes us to the projection room to see the rushes. You can scribble out your own ideas, but no scripts for the directors. You tell them the story and they shoot from memory. Got it?“ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Mack Sennett „The more money we spent on the script, on writing the story, the less money it cost us to shoot the pictures when we put the actors to work. I thought that over and made motions to get all the work possible out of my writers. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Lasky studio 1918 PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Thomas H. Ince PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Continuity Script PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Ince‘s Autoren C. Gardner Sullivan Monte Katterjohn J.G. Hawkes PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Roy McCardell PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber McCardell‘s Photo-Stories PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Photo-Stories PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Frank E. Woods PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Photoplay 1914 Biograph wanted ‚Problem stories in which effective contrast is made between the rich and the poor. The American Film Manufacturing Company ‚can now use Eastern and Western drama, melodrama, and comedy drama. All sorts of comedy subjects and an occasional costume play are purchased. The Bison Film Company recently, acquired the services of the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Company of Indians and cowboys and is in the market for high class western and cowboy scenarios. The Eclair Company on the other hand did not want westerns, while Edison was more interested in ‚the particular plot than the classification. Kalem at this point wanted material that could be done in Southern California, and suggested writers keep in mind the personalities of their top stars, Alice Joyce and Carlyle Blackwell. Kalem did allow as how ‚an occasional railroad subject might be considered.’ Kinemacolor Company of America, in an early attempt at making color films, wanted ‚open air scenes as far as possible,’ while Majestic wanted ‚rural comedies or dramas of life on the farm.’ The Meliès Film Company was also looking for stories with Southern California settings, and were even more specific about their requirements: ‚The stories must not require military scenes or anything of a spectacular order. There may be a number of riders used in the picture, incidentally, up to the number of fifteen.’ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber A Group of Photo-playwrights PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Scenario Fever PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Scenario Fever PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Scenario Fever PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Professions Story Editor Reader/ Story Analyst Continuity Clerk/ Script Girl PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber John Emerson and Anita Loos PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Anita Loos PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber June Mathis PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber June Mathis - Valentino PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Jeanie Macpherson PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Mary Pickford Frances Marion PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Frances Marion Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) Stella Maris (1918) Pollyanna (1920) The Love Light (1921) Stella Dallas (1925) The Scarlett Letter (1926) The Wind (1928) Anna Christie (1930) The Big House (1930) Min and Bill (1931) The Champ (1931) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Frances Marion Parents - children relations rich - poor, melodramatic vs. classical narration female characters Marion - Pickford PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Goldwyn, Eminent Authors The great trouble with the usual author is that he approaches the camera with some fixed literary ideal and he cannot compromise with the motion picture viewpoint ... This attitude brought many writers whom I had assembled into almost immediate conflict with our scenario department, and I was constantly being called upon to hear the tale of woe regarding some title that had been changed or some awfully important situation which had either been left out entirely or else altered in such a way as to ruin the literary conception.“ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Payment 1909: 10 $ 1914: 50 - 100 $ 1000 - 2500 /weel 10.000 - 25.000 $ original story PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Intertitles PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Intertitles PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Sound Central Producer und Producer Unit System Master Scene Script Dialogue Continuity economic crisis PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Master Scene Script You just write: ‚master scene,’, ‚cut to,’ or ‚close shot’ – which is very easy, just mix it up. The master shots and the individual shots were all shot the same way.“ Julius Epstein PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber New Screenwriters W.R. Burnett Charles Brackett James M. Cain William Faulkner Ben Hecht Clifford Odets Dorothy Parker PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Payment in Hollywood less than 250$: 93 authors = 40,8% 250-499: 52 22,8% 1.750 -1.999: 3 1,3% 2.500: 3 1,3% 3.000 – 3.249: 1 0,4 % PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber vertical integration production distribution exhibition PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Will Hays PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber PCA Seal PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Big 5 and Little 3 Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox Loews/MGM Paramount RKO Little Three Universal United Artists Columbia PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Warner Bros. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber 20th Century Fox PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber MGM PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Story Conference A story isn‘t a story but a conference Stephen Vincent Bénet Hollywood as Destroyer F. Scott Fitzgerald William Faulkner If writers as individuals were rarely destroyed in Hollywood, then the profession of authorship as they knew it certainly was under attack. This was the true significance of the Eastern writer’s experience in Hollywood in the 1930s. Richard Fine PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Irving Thalberg PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Grand Hotel PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Grand Hotel Novel by Vicki Baum Play in Germany (Dir.: Max Reinhardt) Broadway Edmund Goulding PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Story Conference 17.11.1931 Goulding: „We have one hundred and fifty pages and have to cut it down to one hundred and twenty-five or thirty.“ Thalberg: „First we want to get our story and then cut it down. Have you got the play here. To me the play was so far better, Eddie. In my humble opinion.“ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Thalberg: Over my dead body, you’ll cut hat scene. I know what the audiences’ reaction to this scene is – They have applaud. (...) don’t destroy what is right.“ „this is the scene that sells her to the audience „ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Goulding: „... there is no ground wire, no reason for it“ Thalberg: „But the reaction I got from the play was marvelous. ... it was funny to the audience.“ PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Thalberg I miss the increasing tempo in these damn scenes – I’m a great believer in curtains. Work it up to a point – bang – look – fade out before an audience is up to you – while they are still wondering, „What did he mean?“ Fade out. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Thalberg To me this is a lousy play that only succeeded because it is lousy. It’s full of life – a painted carpet upon which the figures walk – audiences love those damn things, if they are properly done. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Thalberg Eliminate her saying: ‚I’m so tired.’ Have her say ‚I’m so tired.’ Very simply. There are certain things that can not be over-played and be sincere. And one of them is a person feeling sorry for herself. It should be played with an understanding. PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber David O. Selznick PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Criteria length of a scene, pace of the film Motivation Starsystem Dialogue Inter-titles, Voice-over etc. Ideology Budget PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Darryl F. Zanuck PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Criteria Movement, Development Dramatic vs. Narrative The storyline Personal story literary source Ending PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Criteria cont. Planting characters verisimilitude Dialogue Stars Visual Devices practical aspects Ideology audience success of comparable films PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Ben Hecht PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Ben Hecht Scarface (1932) Nothing Sacred (1937) Kiss of Death (1947) Spellbound (1945) Notorious (1945) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Ben Hecht self-conscious screenplays Humour male friendship Dialogue PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Hollywood in the 1940s Organization Anti-trust law suit Independent Production Opinion Research, Audience Research Office of War Information PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Hyphenates Producer-Director, Writer-Producer screenwriters as producers: Nunnally Johnson PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber MGM • back to Central Producer System • Dore Schary PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Paramount Case 1938 Anti-Trust law-suit Blockbooking Consent Decrees PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Independent Productions Independent Cinemas Independent Productions consequences for film production and screenwriting blacklist Production code PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Audience Research Gallup 1940 Audience Research Institute (ARI) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber OWI Office of War Information 1942 - 45 PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Unions Screen Writers Guild (SWG) seperation approval Credits American Author‘s Authority (AAA) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber HUAC House Un-American Activities Committee Committee for the First Amendement Waldorf statement Clearance PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Committee for the 1 st Amendment PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The Hollywood Ten originally 19 then 11 B. Brecht leaves the USA PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Dalton Trumbo PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber the Greylist PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Clearance PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Black Market Front Pseudonym (pen-name, alias) since 1951 (2. wave of hearings) no chance to work for the studios independent production television PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Trumbo last screenplay before the blacklist: 75.000 $ first offer an day of HUAC hearing: 3.750 $ (Gun Crazy, King Brothers) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber The End of the Blacklist 1957: Friendly Persuasion Michael Wilson Nomination 1957: The Brave One wins Oscar (Robert Rich = Dalton Trumbo) 1958 Bridge Over River Kwai Nomination (Carl Forman, Michael Wilson) 1959: Defiant Ones Nomination (Nathan E. Douglas = Ned Young) PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber End of the blacklist Problems with the Academy Awards War in Korea is over Vice President Nixon tells Kirk Douglas that the blacklist is an issue to be solved by Hollywood, not by the White House Payment for (some) blacklisted screenwriters is nearly at pare-huac level PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Spartacus and Exodus PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Trumbo Before 1947: Kitty Foyle, Tender Comrade, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Blacklist: Gun Crazy, Roman Holiday, The Brave One, Terror in a Texas Town After the list: Spartacus, Exodus, Lonely Are the Brave, Sandpiper, Hawaii, Johnny Got His Gun, Papillion PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber HUAC Conclusion Why screenwriters? Consequences Films before 1947: „russian“ film (Mission to Moscow, Song of Russia) Social Consciousness Filme: Crossfire, Grapes of Wrath, PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Cont. Films after 1947: anti-communist films different content: different representation of women, working class and Afro-Americans PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber 1950s television modification of the production code MCA, Lew Wasserman PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Development Exposé Treatment First Draft Final Draft Shooting Script Spec Script Hyphenates writer-producer director-producer writer-director other models European Art Cinema, Auteur cinema Television series: Head writer, writers’ room Manuals Syd Field: Screenplay Robert McKee: Story Christopher Vogler: The Writer’s Journey Influence of the Manuals Film Schools commissioning editors (TV) dramaturgs Narratological Models Todorov: Equilibrium Propp: Morphology of the Fairy Tale Lottman: semantic fields Altman: single, dual, multiple focus PD Mag. Dr. Claus Tieber Conclusion screenplay = a means of communication screenplay = a document of communication more than one author process institutions, „doxa“ and the author Thank you! Thank you!