Aaron Sorkin Answers Screenwriting Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

kevin powers uh asks anybody have good recommendations for a story planning app not scripting but a good tool to put story pieces together first of all when they said screenwriter support i thought you were going to be giving me the support i didn't know it was the other way around i've actually never heard of a story planning app that might be showing my age hi this is aaron sorkin and this is screenwriter support [Music] all right holly jack uh people who write stuff how do you approach second drafts blank page and start again amendments to what you've already got any thoughts tips would be appreciated yeah great second drafts are really important friend of mine once uh said about me that uh i don't write scripts i rewrite scripts and here's what he meant in the process of writing the first draft by the time you get to the end you've sort of discovered what the movie is about uh because it may not end up that first draft being about what you thought it was going to be about when you started writing it you plotted a course to go do north but as you were going you started going a little bit east and then a little bit more east and and when you end up you're you're going northeast so you've figured out uh what the script is about it's probably fat it's probably long go back to the beginning of the script start writing it over again peel away the things that don't have anything to do with your story hang a lantern on the things that you need to bring into relief uh in the story you're gonna discover that a problem that you have in the third act isn't really in the third act it's because you didn't set it up properly in the first so second drafts i say re-type the whole thing sharpen up that joke that's kind of clunky sharpen up that's that dialogue that's kind of clunky get it down to its fighting weight that's what i do anyway thanks a lot for the question quentin uh says what's key focusing on creating the plot story world character or etc uh uh when writing a script here's what's key uh in in creating drama intention and obstacle that's what you've got to cling to somebody wants something something standing in their way of getting it they want the money they want the girl they want to get to philadelphia they want to win the big game they want to save someone's life if somebody wants something something formidable is standing in the way of getting it the tactics that your protagonist uses to try to overcome that obstacle or those series of obstacles that is what's going to create your character because you're not going to tell us who this character is you're going to show us what this character wants it doesn't matter if they succeed or fail uh in their quest it matters to you it doesn't matter to story telling it's just a good story if they fail as if they succeed um uh what matters is that the intention be important to them and that we understand why it's important to them and the obstacles have to be real attention and obstacle thanks a lot quinn caitlin greenridge says if you are writing a marginalized character whose identity you do not share can you imagine your way into that character through their joy and not their imagined trauma yes uh uh you can empathy uh right same blood that goes through your body goes through that person we all have as humans the power to empathize with each other uh to understand each other's lives and to put any character we want into a dramatic situation because the most important thing in your story is it going to be someone's sexual orientation their skin color their religion whether they are able-bodied or disabled the most important thing is in your story is going to be intention and obstacle what does this character want and what's standing in their way of getting it and i assume that because you're interested in telling this story you are interested in what the character wants and what's standing in their way of getting it or you think it's a great comic premise with which you can use your sense of humor or you think it's a great premise with wish to tell a murder mystery or a romantic comedy or anything like that but i really think it's important that writers not start to get cautious because they're scared of of being offensive stereotypes should be avoided whether it's as you say someone from a diverse population or someone who looks exactly like you um you want to avoid all kinds of stereotypes not just because of uh racial or ethnic uh sensitivity stereotypes are just bad in uh in writing i can be different in every possible way but if that person is a father i'm a father if that person is also a father i feel like i know everything about them that's important to know that you can know uh as a stranger i can empathize with that person you don't want to judge that person you want to defend that person you want to be able to make that person's case to god why they should be allowed into heaven do not do not do not feel that you are required to write about yourself and your world write about any world you want you're making the world uh sorry i don't mean to be yelling you i'm just i'm passionate about this uh okay you ma'am are not confined by any guard rails thank you for your question caitlyn okay so matthew ward says if you could write an episode for one tv show which one would you choose i'm very curious i'm glad you asked uh matthew because it's a it's a more complicated question than you might think one of my all-time favorite uh tv shows the office i like the bbc office too uh but i am a super fan of the american office the nbc office so you would think i would want to write an episode of that right except i think i'd do badly i i think i'd make the office less good so uh so it would be self-defeating if i could go back in time i think i'd like to write an episode of mash i was late to catch up to shit's creek and just started watching it i totally get all the hype it's fantastic that's another show i would love to write for those actors but would not do the actors or the show any favors by doing so so i would love to go back to an episode of television i've written and write it all over again thanks a lot i appreciate the question lisa dubois uh real question are tv writing rooms just rp sessions i'm not sure what in our oh role-playing sessions are different writers in charge of different characters on show shows like some kind of sex in the city d d okay that's a great question i i don't think that happens on any show but uh uh the reason i'm not sure what the answer is is because the way most other writers rooms work is that at the beginning of the season several months before production starts the writers uh meet every day and they try to break a whole season arc whether it's 22 on network tv or 13 on uh premium cable that we want to start here and end here so if we're going to end here that means by christmas we need to be here so by thanksgiving we need to be here then they get more granular okay so we need to do this by episode one this by episode two and they'll simply assign you take episode one episode two episode three episode four i want you to turn in uh story pitches in five days and a week after that it's gonna go to outline and a week after that it's gonna go to first draft and then the show runner ultimately runs it through there the writers rooms are the four shows that i've done that's sports night the west wing studio 60 and uh the newsroom work entirely differently than than writers rooms on other shows because i'm writing different episodes while i'm writing an episode i have a leader in the room the person running the room i can come in and say what do you guys are thinking about and they'll say what if josh is subpoenaed to appear in front of a committee and this happens that kind of thing we'll start banging out that story so they're just trying to break stories it was an ordinary day when all of a sudden what makes this night different from all other nights that's how stories and uh and drama go that's how our writers room works my shows were run like not a well-oiled machine thanks a lot for your question riyadh have you been inspired or influenced by the quality of writing of particular tv shows and or movies for me my writing was greatly influenced by breaking bad you say and northern exposure two great shows to be influenced by big fans of both and the answer is yes i've been influenced uh by the writing of a lot of movies and tv shows i'm kind of an accidental screenwriter i'm i'm a playwright who fakes his way through movies and television shows by adding sort of just enough visual stuff uh so that you don't realize what you're really watching as a play and so i've been influenced by all the great playwrights whose plays i've read or sometimes been like enough to see i've been influenced by a lot of uh tv shows pretty much any good television show today i think a show that you would consider good is following in the footprints that larry gelbart left when he created the tv series mash he was the first one to say that sitcoms don't have to be sitcoms you know they don't have to be silly you know just because they're funny they can tell real stories and uh and moving stories so i would say that i was heavily influenced by uh larry gelbart to be sure so thanks a lot for your question jd may asks what are your best tips for writing villain characters okay that's a great question and my best tip is that you jd cannot think of them as a villain you can't judge the character you the writer you can't judge the character you have to be able to empathize with that character find something about that character that is like you too and then you have to write that character like they're making their case to god why they should be allowed into heaven i don't know if you've ever seen the first movie i wrote was based on the first play that i wrote a few good men and you probably know you can't handle the truth uh that whole you can't handle the truth scene from nicholson in the courtroom that is nicholson's character making his case to god he should be allowed into heaven even though he has committed manslaughter okay even though he's responsible for the death of a marine private he's defending it why it was actually a good thing uh to do so whether it's mark zuckerberg the founder of facebook or nicholson and a few good men or anybody else the audience could think of them as a villain but not you the real gavin jt asks what do you need to be successful if there was a real answer to that uh everyone would be successful right okay so um you need talent there are some things about writing that can be taught and learned and there are some things about writing that that can't be and those things that can't be that's usually what we mean uh uh when we talk about talent uh whether it's writing or playing the violin there's stuff that can be taught and there's stuff that can't be you need practice in that regard it's also like playing the violin you need to do it a lot and and keep doing it be a diagnostician uh when you see a movie you don't like or an episode of television you don't like don't be like your friends who don't necessarily want to be writers who are just saying oh god that that sucked man and they're just making jokes about everything go ahead and make jokes and it's okay does it say that suck but then when everyone leaves uh and you're going to sleep try to think about what was wrong same thing when you love something okay so when you're done with the experiential thing think about what was so good about that scene what was so good about that moment was a little pushing that the camera did was the way that the joke uh was set up was it the fact that there it wasn't scored at all it was completely dry or was the whole scene saved by uh uh by score i know when i'm talking about score it doesn't sound like writing things but it is so that a little bit of luck thanks a lot for the question these were great questions thanks a lot and let us know what you thought

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Id: V-ETDTXUnB0

Length: 13min 17sec (797 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 14 2020