Killing Your Babies: Why $$ Beats Pride

As a development exec and producer, I always tell writers that when it comes to taking notes, if you aren’t willing to kill their babies and make whatever changes I suggest, which are always in the efforts to make the script the best and most commercial and sellable version of itself, than I don’t need to work with you.  And writers often hate execs for this. But what writers don’t usually realize is that we take your scripts very personally. As someone who does not work for a studio, I find projects and develop them, sometimes from scratch, with writers. And after going through numerous meetings and calls and rewrites and notes, because so many of my own ideas, lines and/or jokes are implemented and used, the script becomes partly mine – in my heart. I’m not saying I take credit or ask to put my name on it, but these scripts become my babies the same way they are the writers’. Development execs do get attached, emotionally, to certain projects.

 

So once we have developed it, and we send it into studios, and studios tell us “we like it but…this has to change, and this has to be cut, and this storyline should go, etc.” - basically completely change everything, I am left in the same position as the writer who brought his or her first draft to me…Do I suck it up and kill my babies in efforts to get it set up, or do I stick to my story instincts and look elsewhere for a place that won’t change my vision.  And while I know the ultimate answer is almost always CHANGE THE SCRIPT, the project I am currently working on has made me question my own policy.

 

I can’t give too many specifics as it might affect both my anonymity and the project I’m about to talk about, but I would love to hear some comments or stories from writers or other execs in the same boat.  

 

Here’s the deal. I set up a larger budget project at a studio about a year and a half ago. It was a script I found, developed with the writer, did numerous rewrites with him, and got it to a place where I was confident it could be sent out. Was it perfect? No, not nearly. But it was solid, it was commercial and it had brand recognition of sorts as it was based on a book. I was proud of it and was very excited when I got it set up myself.

 

The studio was incredibly excited about the project. We didn’t have a green light, as there was no package, but they were fast tracking it and it was going to be a big project for them. We did another draft with the writer based on their notes, many of which we (the producers) actually agreed with. It was a hard re-write that changed many of the story beats and the writer wasn’t thrilled about it, but he sucked it up and made them because quite frankly – he was making more money than he had made before and this project would be huge for his career (this was when he made the decision of money over pride, a smart decision by the way).

 

The draft was done, and it was good enough to go out to directors with, though we all knew it wouldn’t be the final draft or the final writer to work on it. Then, some shit happened. I can’t say what, because that would give away both the studio and the project’s identity, but whatever shit happened caused the project to be put on hold for a while. It basically sat there for a year. And by the way – the writer got paid for the option and the rewrite, while us producers got jack squat for our efforts.

 

Then, just as that pesky option period was winding down, the studio miraculously decided to hire a new writer (an often used tactic to delay giving back the project) and move forward with the project. Good news, right? Perhaps. There are some other issues that I can’t discuss, however here’s the issue I bring to you today…the new writer and the studio want to go in a completely different direction with the project. Basically, the whole entire script will be rewritten from page 1 and the story will be about 90% different.  Oh - and the original writer…has no idea…yet. Most of the basic concept and the main protagonists and antagonists will be the same, but the hook, some of the characters, the setting, and almost all of the storyline, will be different. Not to mention some of the great lines I — I mean, our original writer — wrote.

 

And while I don’t think our script is perfect by any means, I really liked the hook we created that is now being completely re-tooled. So, much like the writer, I have to decide…do I suck it up because getting the movie made (and making some real money and getting a real credit) is my first priority, or do I tell the Studio head that I hate their ideas and don’t think the new writer is going in the right direction, possibly forcing the project back on the shelf? Well, the answer, as I said, is obvious…I suck it up for the benefit of the project…and my bank account. I will state my opinion in my notes and in the new writers’ pitch meetings, trying to keep the parts of the script I truly love (the cute babies), and explain why certain things should stay, but at the end of the day, just like our original writer, I have to roll over and take it. 

 

But here’s two tips for writers. First off, your producers/development execs (not the studio execs but the producer who worked with you to develop the script) do have you and your vision in mind. While we may not be able to win the fight, we will fight the battles for you in the room. And we are your best allies.  The second tip is - unless you are a super A-list writer, you are going to get re-written and no matter who you are, you are going to get notes. Lots of them. And while you should always write from your own instincts, always know that your instincts as a writer are not the same as the instincts of a studio executive, and quite frankly, their instincts come with a signed check, so theirs win. Not that theirs are better than yours – which is pretty clear by the amount of shit that is released that was originally a great script – but this is Hollywood, where writing is a three step process – write, edit, and bend over. Because in the end, money always takes precedence over pride.