If when writing a screenplay, you use a quote from a live person that you saw in a magazine article, do you need to get the rights from either the person or magazine?

--Russell

I should always preface these answers with: "I'm not a lawyer, so I could be wrong..." But I don't.

I can imagine two different instances where this might come up. The first is when you're using the quoted material in reference to the speaker himself. So if your scene has dialogue like:

TOM

Why sell yourself short? As Donald Trump says, "As long as you're going to think anyway, think big."

In this case, you're attributing the quote to its creator. In my personal, non-lawyer opinion, you're pretty well protected without getting any additional permissions from anyone. The only thing to watch out for is that the comment couldn't be seen as defamatory in the context you're using it. For instance, an otherwise innocuous quote used as a racist insult should set off red flags.

Another scenario might be using a quote without attributing its source. Here it gets a little stickier. For instance:

UNCLE PHIL

You can put wings on a pig, but you don't make it an eagle.

It's a somewhat funny line. It's also a direct quote from former president Bill Clinton. While someone of his stature probably wouldn't have the inclination to hunt down a screenwriter who stole his line, another man with more time on his hands just might. The question of fair use certainly has some merit here, though it's hard to say exactly how you'd go about documenting your legitimate usage. An on-screen footnote? A bibliography printed on the back of the ticket?

Honestly, it doesn't come up that much. While we're all familiar with ugly cases of plagiarism in which book authors have lost a lot of esteem, that's just not the movie business. My advice — which tends to be my advice for most of the rights-oriented questions I get — is to do whatever you need for your script. At the time anyone expresses interest in making a real movie out of it, bring up these concerns with whomever is handling the legal affairs on the film. Let lawyers handle the law. You have plenty to worry about as a mere screenwriter.

I'm in a catch 22 dilemma. After reading your posts I agree 100% with you that people need to get into filmmaking and directing to say something important and should go to Wall Street to make money.

I am a student and enjoy making films. Something that I find unbearable is the presenting of my films. I always enjoy them and am proud of them. But I find that if I am with a group of people and I am showing them my film, I cannot help but think "They must hate this" or "why aren't they laughing at the comedy?"

The strange thing is I look forward to a good audience reaction and like the idea of people watching my films but I get so uncomfortable it seems to ruin it. I find that if I am not there when they watch it, then I don’t know how they reacted; or they might react differently because I am not there. Is this a common thing? How do you act when/ during presenting your work?

--Trevor

Trevor, methinks you think too much. You ask “how do I act when presenting my work”? I don’t act at all, I show the film and depending on which kind of screening it is I learn different things from the experience.

During the process of making a film there are different kinds of screenings which should take place. Early on, it is a good idea to have a screening for just yourself and your editors, a run-through of the cut to check pacing and over-all flow, etc. Be sure to keep all producers, financiers, and execs away at this early stage as they inevitably seem to cause trouble when they see early cuts. Then once you have a decent rough cut with some temp music, you might want to set up a small screening (20-30 people that you know) in a screening room to get some feedback on such questions as: Is the story flowing? Is anything confusing, hard to understand? Are you getting the emotional impact you are after? How is the music, editing, cuts, etc. working? If they are not laughing at the comedy, you better figure out how to make them laugh. Then you head back to the editing room to incorporate what you have learned. The next screening in the process would be that of the director’s cut for a larger audience. This is a most important screening and should be in a theater setting if at all possible. It is imperative that you put your best foot forward here and make sure the presentation is as excellent as it can be. One of the many good reasons to join the Director’s Guild is that for a feature you are guaranteed to have ten weeks to deliver the director’s cut. I usually try to set up an audio or video recording of the audience reaction. That way if there is a question as to whether or not a certain joke got a laugh or any certain moment got a reaction, you can check it. Another good idea is to use a questionnaire at this stage so that you might learn more. There is a company which conducts these kinds of screenings for the studios and the more high profile independents: The National Research Group is part of Nielsen Entertainment which also encompasses Nielson Media Research that conducts the TV ratings. They have it down to a science. They recruit a theater full of people (age, gender, etc. suited to your target audience), show the film, and tape the reaction. Afterwards, everyone fills out an in-depth questionnaire and an energetic host supervises a dialogue with a focus group of about 30 people. A full report is made up and a lot of marketing, distribution, and publicity decisions are made based upon this information.

Part of your job as director is to make the most out of each of the screenings, to learn as much as you can and to use it to not only make the film better, but to make yourself a better director. The fact of the matter is that screenings are nerve-racking and you are sensing this but don’t transfer your anxiety and insecurity into worrying about how you feel. It’s not about how YOU feel; it’s about how the audience feels. We are making movies to affect peoples’ lives and their emotions. Preview screenings are the best place to learn if you have accomplished that. Once you have your final answer print, enjoy your opening night screening and feel confident that the research you have done in previous screenings has paid off.

What is the most unique aspect of cinematography? What is the cinematographer trying to achieve through color? Is it just for conveying esthetics, or is color symbolic of something?

-Christa

Yikes! Not sure how to deal with this without writing a book… What is the most unique aspect of cinematography? I guess it is capturing movement at 24fps and then re-creating that movement on a screen so that it appears to be “real”. This was what impressed people when the Lumiere brothers showed a train coming towards an audience and everyone dived for cover. I had a 3 year old daughter who said to me “Are they real” when I was showing some rushes and she was sitting on my lap. So re-creating reality is perhaps the single most powerful aspect of cinematography: it certainly outdoes still photos and painting for reminding us of what a person or place looked like at a certain time. Whilst Lumiere went around shooting real places, Meliere invented the idea of the “fantastic” in the cinema, so these two strands have continued right through to today.

What is the cinematographer trying to achieve through color? The color is both the challenge and the problem of cinematography. To answer the question it might be useful to “subtract” what cinematography is when it is black and white. On a certain level it is less realistic since we see the world in colour. Since it is less realistic it is more symbolic and leaves more to the imagination – a bit like the leap between radio and cinema. A teamster who was driving me around recently told me he only watches black and white films because “colour films are boring”. I questioned him quite closely on this as I found it rather fascinating since a Teamster is not the most likely person to see any kind of film, let alone be obsessed with black and white films. I was trying to figure out whether it was the films themselves that he liked (Bogart, Bacall etc) or whether it was because they were in black and white. I concluded it was a bit of both...nostalgia and abstraction in equal measures!

So the challenge of colour is to make it mean something. This is much easier in a period film because all of the elements are controlled, so the Cinematographer, Director, Production Designer etc can get together and decide on an esthetic for the film which does not just rely on Cinematography. There is a colour esthetic put forward by Vittorio Storaro which I find pedantic. However, he is worth reading as a lot of what he has to say about cinematography is very apposite:

"All great films are a resolution of a conflict between darkness and light," Storaro says. "There is no single right way to express yourself. There are infinite possibilities for the use of light with shadows and colors. The decisions you make about composition, movement and the countless combinations of these and other variables is what makes it an art."

There’s a great deal to learn about colour by studying painting: but remember that painting and cinema are quite different in form so for me it just as interesting to study and listen to music in relation to Cinematography. Generally the problem with colour is that there is simply “too much” both in terms of saturation and range. Restricting both these elements is a good start to finding an esthetic for a particular movie.

John August's screenwriting credits include Go, Big Fish, Titan A.E. and both Charlie's Angels movies. His current projects include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tarzan, and Corpse Bride. He also maintains a screenwriting-oriented website at johnaugust.com.

Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, John earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa, and an MFA in film production from the Peter Stark program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

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