This Is What Many Artists Don't Realize Until They Are Older - Marc Scott Zicree

Marc Scott Zicree, Screenwriter/Author:  As you get older, if you have any   kernel of wisdom you stop competing with  other people and you just realize you're here   to find the truest expression of your  heart that you can share with the world. Film Courage: You say with the fans give them  kind of what they want at the heart of the story   but then open the world wider is that sort of  like the saying I know you better than yourself? Marc: Not exactly because as I said earlier I'm  i the same as my audience. If I'm enthusiastic   about what I'm working on, if I find a story that  interests me, I'll be able to tell a story I think   that my audience will like I never worry first of  all I never talk down to them I never worry about   what will please them I'm just trying to tell a  story that I think is meaningful that meaningful   from a character standpoint for instance and  I'm always writing about things that I'm either   love or frustrated about or want to comment on  but always it's through the characters if the   characters don't work none of it works and I'll  give you an example I came up with this idea   called the show runners network where I'm creating  six science fiction horror and fantasy series   with six major show runners so it's rocknell  bannon who created farscape and defiance and   seaquest and alien nation and cult he's now ep  on evil another partnership I have on another   one of the shows with mark ferguson hawk ostby who  created and we're show runners on the expanse and   also did iron man and children of men and so and  then one of them is a rod sterling project as well   and so so when I started this project I sat down  and I wrote up 200 ideas for tv shows and and so   every day i'd come up with 10 ideas and just  write them down no censorship at all and and   so then rock rock no bannon and I went down that  list and and we saw what sparked for both of us   and something a pet peeve of mine is now  there's certain kinds of black stereotypes   you can't have on tv or latino stereotypes  or misogynistic things right but older actors   either are playing coming down with cancer  coming down with dementia or the funny grandpa   or the funny grandma and the seniors I know in my  life and the seniors that I I'm one of them now   these are vital involved engaged people  they are not those stereotypes and   so I was very frustrated with that so I came  up with an idea for a show called sweet haven   and ironically I came off this before the pandemic  and the basic notion is a a bioengineered disease   gets out of hand and kills everyone in the  world under 60. and so the people 60 and above   have to figure out how to keep humanity going when  they can't reproduce and so it's a very fun idea   so rock and I worked up the plot line and elaine  and I wrote the pilot script from the outline that   rock and I had worked up and then we cast it and  it has robert picardo from star trek voyager and   it's got barbara bain from space 1999 and it's got  gates mcfadden from star trek the next generation   and mike harney from orange is the new black and  on and on is this amazing veronica cartwright from   alien and the birds amazing amazing cast and and  and they play these very interesting and active   characters james hong from blade runners ended  in big trouble little in china but they are not   going to be playing the stereotypes they're going  to be playing fully rounded people in that world   and so we've done two table reads via zoom and  we're going to shoot in the near future so but   again it's just I was excited about that idea and  lovely thing when you can raise money is that you   don't have to worry about oh is this something  the networks would buy I don't care frankly   I mean if they buy it great it makes my life  easier it gives me more money to play with but   I don't at this stage of my life I don't need  approval I need I need to be effective so it's   a very different energy the wonderful thing is as  if you've succeeded as you get older if you have   any kernel of wisdom you stop competing with  other people and you just realize you're here   to find the truest expression of your heart  that you can share with the world and if   people are moved by what you create if they are  made better in some way even entertainment is   not it's not something to to dismiss it's an  important thing you've succeeded I mean every   day I'm just trying to be the best version of  myself and be open to I i love collaboration   I l the actors are my collaborators the  the designers are my collaborators everyone   and and even today when elaine and I I direct with  elaine because elaine is a better director than I   am and she's an actor's director she was a trained  she was an actress and a director off broadway and   I'm an okay director I'm good visually but but  when elaine and I direct together it's better   it's better the work is better the out the what  comes out is better and but what that allows me to   do for instance today we were looking at sets and  getting ready to shoot some scenes we're going to   shoot in a few weeks and elaine was her vision  was different from mine in terms of how many   people we have in this scene or how many  extras or and she wanted it few or fewer   tighter on the focus on the scene and so I  had to step back from what I was attached to   my way of doing it my design in my head I see the  shots in my head and say well let's let's let's   see what she has to say let's see what where she's  going with this let's see if it works and that's a   good healthy creative instinct because it lets  in the possibility of something better and and   because I'm not threatened at all just grateful  I can do that and so when you stop trying to be there's you're not in a race you're not  trying to to beat anybody else you're just   telling a story you're just sharing something  that you love with other people and I was thinking   about an interesting analogy yesterday where I  heard someone talking about quilting they made   a quilt for survivors of the people who died in  9 11 in the family and and I thought it's funny   no one ever talks about pitching a quilt you don't  go and meet with a whole bunch of executives and   say hey I have an idea for a quilt and you spend  years just telling the idea of what you have the   idea you have for a quilt and you never actually  make a quilt people would think you were out of   your mind right the point of quilting is  to make quilts and share them with others   but writers in in tv and film they think that  that's an appropriate way to spend their their   lives to endlessly be pitching and well I  pitched this and it didn't sell I pitched   that and it didn't sell it's like why don't  you just make it make the thing get get people   together make make the work then you're making the  the the quilt you're quilting you're not talking   about a quilt someday you may get to make and it's  it's so much more rewarding and it's I'm I'm just   I've got my feet planted on the ground  and and my head in the clouds it's like   elaine keeps keeps my feet on the ground but but  there's such a lovely feeling of accomplishment   when you do something and it comes out the way  you want it and it goes out into the world and   people love it I mean even on mr scifi we put out  the first hour of space command it's been seen by   millions of people that have got 97 thumbs up well  that's great it's great to have that it means that   the people really liked it and and that that helps  make me eager for the next day and eager for the   next script were you always this way where you  just wanted to do something that meant something   to you that you were excited by and you were  staying in your own metaphorical lane no no I   i was at the beginning of my career I was very I  i there was no no certainty that I would make it   and there was always this I mean I was very lucky  because I i started working writing my first book   at 21 I sold my first short story at 19 and I  was running for tv by the time I was 22 or 23   and over the next 20 years the longest period in  that entire 20 years that I was out of work was   three months and so I earned millions of dollars  I worked for all the major studios and networks   but but there was always sense that it could stop  abruptly and it actually did at one point and I   had to figure out a way of reinventing and re a  way of getting things going again and fortunately   I was open to new ways of doing things I i was  very open to that and so that's allowed me to   be where I am now but but I was not secure by any  means I was I was driven by a creative vision and   I loved writing other characters I loved writing  whether it was spock kirk mccoy or whether it was   the characters in friday the 13th series or even  the smurfs whomever it was really fun to write   through those characters right write what I wanted  to say through those those characters you have to   be if I can hear the voice of a character I can  write him I have to be able to hear the voice   but but I i was never that secure I was never that  certain that everything was just gonna cost along   so I never felt like I could just like take my  hands off the wheel going back what I probably   would have done some things differently my  my priority was always I always felt that my   obligation cr my creative obligation was to my  audience but I often didn't take care of my bosses   as well as I might have I wasn't I wasn't a worker  among workers in a way that I should have been   and it's fortunately I still was able to create  a body of work but if I if I could go back and   change one thing I would be much more taking  care of people in that way and I've never been   a political animal I don't care about those  things and I have worked with people who were   and I've also lost jobs to people who were  like one friend of mine was recommending me   to be a producer on this show that he was creating  and the producer who was running the show didn't   hire me and ultimately found out what he was doing  was he was only hiring people who were his troops   so he could even eventually fire my friend because  he was political animal and and but at the time I   thought oh I somehow said something wrong in the  interview no there was no way I was going to get   that job but and my friend ended up out on his ass  and and that's when we realized what it was all   about but but I think I could have taken care of  people better and I don't regret in terms of the   work I don't regret any of the work I've done but  but that's a lesson that would have been good to   have learned sooner yeah some people aren't good  at playing to politics no and I don't like kissing   the ass of people who are mediocre I mean my the  one thing that really I was very open to people's   humanity but I could never stand anyone who just  said well it doesn't have to be great it doesn't   have to be good it's like we're just here to make  sausage I could I could never never never stand   that it's like well you may be but I'm not I'm  here to make something wonderful that'll last the   test of time you either stand the test of time  I I'm I remember one time on sliders we were   someone pitched a clone story and I said to my  boss that story has been done on every other show   every other science fiction show and I was  saying we shouldn't buy it and he said well   no but it hasn't been done on our show and I said  yes but the audience isn't just watching our show   and the irony was that they bought that script  and I had to rewrite it I rewrote and made it   as good as I could and but the thing was it's  like had I been making the choice of what we   bought or what we didn't buy I wouldn't bought  that because it was cliche already then it was   cliche and I had to fight that cliche when  I rewrote it to find some meaning in it but   but it was a radically different philosophy of  how to make television because I know from my   own experience that a single hour of television  can change someone's life forever for the better   it's a huge responsibility and I never never duck  that responsibility I'm very cognizant of it. What did   you like about this video?

Channel: Film Courage

Views: 139,082

Keywords: Screenwriting tips, screenwriting 101, screenwriting for beginners, screenwriting techniques, screenwriting advice, writing a screenplay, how to write a movie, writing advice, writing tips, TV writing, marc zicree, elaine zicree, marc scott zicree, space command, star trek, sliders, the twilight zone, the twilight zone companion, science fiction, mr sci-fi, sci-fi, film courage, filmcourage, interview, filmmaking

Id: arWQV6f0lJk

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 01 2021