The Movies Issue: 14 Screenwriters Writing

Screenwriters famously get no respect. It probably doesn't help that one of the most famous quotes about the trade boils down to money, competition and idiots. Herman J. Mankiewicz, in an often-cited telegram sent from Hollywood to his fellow writer Ben Hecht, promised: "Millions are to be grabbed out here, and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around."

So in the starry constellation of literary pursuits, screenwriters have always existed, reputationally if not financially, somewhere due south of novelists and maybe southeast of poets and playwrights. With their riches and big-screen credits, people who wrote for the movies used to be able to at least lord over lowly TV writers, but even that dynamic has reversed in recent years. TV writers are now routinely lauded as auteurs. Screenwriters are still screenwriters, i.e., the people who write the scripts that the directors and actors will eventually rewrite, mangle or ignore.

But, oh, what scripts: 2013 was an excellent year for the written word as spoken on-screen. "Before Midnight," written by its stars (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) and its director (Richard Linklater), is basically the third installment in a captivating conversation that has been going on for 18 years. At the other end of the loquaciousness spectrum, there's "All Is Lost," written by J. C. Chandor, a screenplay that includes fewer lines of dialogue than there are sentences in this introduction. Sarah Polley brought her storytelling powers to bear on a quasi documentary, "Stories We Tell," while Nicole Holofcener, with "Enough Said," continued her streak as the patron saint of literate neurotics (both on-screen and off). Greta Gerwig (along with the director Noah Baumbach) wrote lines, then gave them voice, as the title character in "Frances Ha." Andrew Bujalski somehow made a computer chess tournament exciting. Spike Jonze wrote a classic love story, a tale of boy meets operating system.

It's notable that many of these writers — most, in fact — also directed their own scripts (Bell, Bujalski, Chandor, Holofcener, Jonze, Linklater, Polley), and several also star in the films they wrote (Bell, Delpy, Gerwig, Hawke, Seth Rogen). Here, though, we simply want to focus on their work as writers and highlight the written word — that part of the process that makes the rest of the process possible.

We asked each of these writers to provide a single line of original dialogue, which were then used as inspiration for 11 short films. We also asked a few of them to pass on a writing tip or two, which you can find below. (Aspiring screenwriters, take note: There are still millions to be made in Hollywood, but the competition is much more daunting.) Mostly, though, we want to celebrate the part of a film that starts on the page and ends up, in the best cases, inscribed onto our memories. In other words, the words.

GRETA GERWIG

Notable writing credits: "Frances Ha" (2013)

What screenplay inspired you to become a screenwriter? I think "Another Year," by Mike Leigh, is a great screenplay.

What are your three best screenwriting tips? Whenever you have an "idea," as in a concept that you could explain to someone, like a hook or at worst a gimmick, that is a bad thing. It feels good, but it's not good. The best ideas reveal themselves, you don't "have" them. For me, anyway.

Let your characters talk to each other and do things. Spend time with them — they'll tell you who they are and what they're up to.

I have gotten into baseball recently, and whenever I have trouble writing, I think about the pace of baseball. It's slow. You strike out a lot, even if you're great. It's mostly individual, but when you have to work together, it must be perfect. My desktop picture is of the Red Sox during the World Series. They aren't winning; they're just grinding out another play. This, for me, is very helpful to have in my mind while writing.

ANDREW BUJALSKI

Notable writing credits: "Computer Chess" (2013); "Funny Ha Ha" (2002); "Hannah Takes the Stairs" (2007)

Illustrations by Melinda Josie

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