Film Courage: From what you’ve seen with
the screenplay competition, what would you
say most new writers (baby writers) have trouble
with?
Poor opening or a weak ending?
Gordy Hoffman, Founder/Judge of the Bluecat
Screenplay Competition: Well I think writers
in general struggle with endings.
I think that’s why there are a lot of television
shows that have been developed or pilots because
it’s like “Well I don’t know where this
is going so let’s just write a television
show.
Let me just write a pilot and then I’ll
figure out the ending later.”
Because the ending is probably the hardest
thing, it’s probably the most elusive thing
for even films that have won best picture
to not be able to wrap things up in a truly
classic way with some sort of magical, imaginative,
powerful, cathartic surprising, revelatory
ending.
I think that in general endings are always
tougher so I imagine probably people starting
off I think they are able to get started more
easily than finish something absolutely.
Film Courage: For yourself which of the two
in the beginning did you think was one of
your traits?
Gordy: I think that I have the ending and
that I know what the ending is and I have
an idea what the ending is and I don’t really
know other things and I don’t know what
the ending is and I struggle with like “How
is this going to end?”
And then you are still trying to solve that.
So it goes project-to-project and I don’t
think it’s an automatic “I could never
have an ending.”
With LOVE LIZA I always had an idea what the
ending was but with the short that I made
called DOG BOY I didn’t know where it was
going and the two projects that I’m working
on right now that I want to direct that probably
one or the other is going to happen in 2019,
one has an ending, the other one doesn’t.
So there is not set pattern to that it’s
just some time you have a vision and you go
“Ooohh, there’s an ending.
Awesome!”
And then other ones it’s like you don’t
really know what the kind of clicker at the
end is.
I have not found that writer-to-writer people
are good at one thing versus the other.
I have found that writers tend to struggle
with endings.
It’s obvious that when you watch movies
that great first act, great second act (sort
of) and then what?
Where’d this go in the third act.
So you definitely have some problems with
that so the ending is very difficult and I
think that writers need to embrace that.
It’s good to be like “It’s really hard
and that endings are difficult.”
And again that’s that humility to hang in
there and be like “Okay, it’s difficult
but I’m not going to settle for less and
I’m going to hang in there until I have
a good ending.
I’m not just going to sign off because this
is too uncomfortable.
Because I don’t know how to solve this and
I want this to be over.
I’m sick of this script so I’m just going
to use this ending.”
That’s not how you move forward and the
audience is going to know what happened.
There are countless movies that have come
out (best pictures) that don’t know how
to end a movie and you clearly understand
as a writer for me and for someone who has
judged a screenplay competition for 20 years,
who has taught on the University level (blah,
blah, blah, blah), who has advised people
on screenwriting, I can look at a movie that
just won best picture and be like “They
didn’t have the ending.
The did not have an ending.”
And I’m not going to…I don’t want to
throw anybody under the bus but like SHAPE
OF WATER which just won (I don’t know when
somebody is watching this video)…but it
had an ending didn’t it?
It had sort of a revelatory ending.
I did not expect the ending.
Maybe some people guessed the ending (maybe)?
But there was an ending and it was sort of
a surprise and it brought things to a close.
It was an actual proper ending to a movie
that was actually kind of a ascended and nice
but that often doesn’t happen.
It’s very difficult.
Film Courage: Why screenwriting versus novel
writing?
When you talked about getting bored with something
it reminds me of a book I was reading about
[the late author] David Foster Wallace and
how he did not like the screenplay format
but he loved novel writing.
So why choose one over the other?
Gordy: I don’t know?
It just happened that way.
I think it’s because I wrote theatrically
as a young person and then going forward it
went into screenwriting because I loved movies
and stuff and maybe it was because I was an
actor for awhile.
I never thought about writing a book ever.
And I understand that writing a novel I guess
you can just write anything you want?
It’s a very different form of writing.
Screenwriting is very difficult.
So I imagine somebody that is a novelist would
feel a little challenged by that and would
rather write a novel where you just explain
every thought and feeling of every single
person and explain everything.
But a screenwriter has to describe only what
a camera can shoot and some how that’s going
to be used as a document with a bunch of other
collaborators to create a motion picture.
But I’ve never had impulses to write a novel
but I can understand why.
And there’s not a lot of transfer.
Stephen King doesn’t write screenplays and
not because he can’t, he probably has no
interest.
I don’t know what he wants to do.
But it’s not like “Oh you can write a
novel.”
Or because I’m a screenwriter and have been
writing screenplays for more than 20 years,
that I can sit down and write a novel or a
short story or whatever.
It’s not easy.
It’s not easy to just sit down and even
write a play if you’re a screenwriter.
It’s very different.
All these things are very different.
