The Screenplay Formula and Why Movies are so Homogenized

You might hear a lot of people question why so many movies have such a similar tone; as if they're all of the same genre, or made by a few filmmakers with exactly the same tastes.  You may have noticed this yourself and added your voice to the plethora of bloggers, vloggers, and other fans who have expressed their frustrations at how all movies seem alike now.

This might seem a bit like the old man going, "it' ain't like the good ol' days," but there's a strong truth to it, and a reason for it.  As an example, when Star Wars and Star Trek movies came out in the late '70s and early '80s, there was a strong distinction between them.  You went to Star Wars and got an action packed adventure.  You went to Star Trek and got an intriguing mystery.  Even the action scenes were completely different.  In Star Wars you got fast cuts with small ships or individuals shooting rapid fire shots at one another.  In Star Trek you had longer wide shots of large ships laboriously turning on one another while their crews discussed the best way to win.

Neither style was better.  It was like going to a restaurant.  No one wants the same food every day.  If you want Mexican food, you go to a Mexican restaurant.  If you want Italian food, you go to an Italian restaurant.  You switch it up to have a variety.  Hell, even films made by the same director had very different feels.  Take for instance Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark versus Jaws.  Their tone and style was so different that they seem like they're made by completely different filmmakers.

But now you could replace the title of one film with another and hardly anyone would notice.  In computer gaming terms, it's like changing the skins.  So what caused this?  Well, there are numerous theories, and I'm sure many of them have truth as any subject of this magnitude will naturally have a lot of answers.  But I've come to believe there's one overall reason.

Screenplay formulas.

For decades, filmmakers and theorists have been trying to narrow down what makes a film "work."  Understanding this will cause filmmaking to be less risky, and solve psychological mysteries of taste.  So people set about writing books on screenwriting, observing what has been respected and loved in movies, and trying to capture the reason for the magic in them.  The result of all this research was a multitude of formulas.  Books from Adventures in the Screen Trade to The Foundations of Screenwriting to Story to the Writer's Journey all try to identify the genie in the bottle.

These books do provide a basis for good practices in screenwriting.  For instance, they remind a writer to not linger too long in their introduction of the characters and the situation.  They provide guidance on moving the plot forward, and ideas for creating dynamic story beats.  These are positive guidelines to follow.

Why Watching Online Movie Critics Makes Me Feel Better

Some of the most popular channels on Youtube are movie critics.  Their rise has come because of how much a producer could get with the smaller investment.  A content creator can tape him or herself in a room, or even just record their voice, and let the clips of the movies provide the higher production value.  Since these movies have their own marketing departments, audiences already know what they are.  And since Youtube worked out a fair use clause to utilize movie footage, they could air their reviews and even monetize them.

In some ways I feel guilty for watching so many of these shows rather than searching harder for more original content by people who are willing to take the risk and not ride on the coattails of premade products.  However, I've found that there's something very cathartic about watching the critics slam on bad movies.  There were obvious reasons for this, but as I got to thinking about it, there were more reasons for me that go beyond the usual viewer.

When my own scripts and projects got rejected, I was willing to accept that there could be something better.  Whatever they did choose would probably be a better film, something that I would aspire to with my own writing.  Whenever a film got accepted into a festival mine didn't get into, I thought the same thing.  Then I would watch them...

My discouragement came from the fact that there was nothing to look up to; nothing to aspire to.  What I had presented may not have been perfect, but it was certainly better than what they were choosing.  Added to my frustration was the fact that I was then told that no, I was wrong.  The production companies, studios, and film festivals were right in their choices.  After all, they were the ones in power.  They made more money than me.  Their careers were going great.  They're right and I'm wrong.

Channels like Nostalgia Critic, Lindsay Ellis, Red Letter Media, and Your Movie Sucks beg to differ.  In fact, they've specifically taken on some of the movies that I got rejected in favor of.  Being outside of the industry, they feel no need to conform, or kiss the ass of anyone "important."  They actually scoff at Hollywood's self-importance.

THAT is cathartic.  It may not give me a career or change Hollywood, but it definitely makes me feel better to see movies that are objectively bad and producers who believe they're right about everything get called out on their bullshit.

The Hypocrisy of the Academy Award Popular Film Category

This year the Academy Awards tried to add the popular film category; an attempt to appease viewers that ultimately got mocked and failed.  This category is widely seen to have been added because of two things: the popularity of Black Panther, a bandwagon upon which the Academy wanted to jump without actually considering it for best picture, and lower ratings of the show in general.

I'm actually not going to talk about whether or not Black Panther deserves to win, or even a nomination.  It was a very good movie, and it also had some glaring flaws.  Most of all, though, the whole subject of its merit brings out the absurdity of what a "best picture" is.  Can we really declare a single movie to be the best when there are so many genres and styles?  Isn't it like comparing apples and oranges to a degree?

But what I find particularly ludicrous is the hypocrisy that created this apparent need for a popular category.  The idea that something popular needs a separate category from best implies that if something makes a lot of money, it is inherently inferior to something that doesn't make a lot of money.  While certainly the motivation for wealth can be separate from the motivation for art, the idea that something that is popular can't be great is the very wrongful thinking that caused Hitchcock to never win a regular award, and why one eluded Spielberg for so long.

But what of you, Academy Awards?  Isn't the major reason why you're doing this so you keep your audience?  We all hear you every time you complain that the audience numbers are shrinking.  If the Academy Awards really believed that art and commerce are so separate, why are they so concerned with their own ratings?  It seems to me that if you're going to frown upon popular films that make money and smugly hold films that don't on a pedestal, then you shouldn't be so concerned about your own wealth.

But if ratings are so important, maybe stop looking down on those producers who are literally doing the exact same thing as you.

Avengers: Endgame is at the Top, and Fairly Won

Avengers: Endgame has come at last, and its accolades and success are fairly won.  This series deserves nothing short of absolute praise.

For 11 years they've not only entertained us, but they've surprised us.  They could have just told cliché stories of superheroes and fed the comic book fandom with what they'd already seen; but they determined to do more.  They had an ongoing story that broke into multiple paths of films and TV shows, and each one had its own unique feel to it.  You had the obvious action stories, like the first Avengers movie, you had dramas like Jessica Jones, you had wild comedies like Thor: Ragnarok, you had team stories, like Agents of Shield, you had political intrigue in Captain America, you had social commentary in Luke Cage, and on and on and on.  And through it all, they had an ongoing story-line that everything led toward in addition to their own individual story-lines and character arcs.

There were also more subtle unique elements to each story, as well as subtle references to one another.  Some might call this nostalgic fan service, but in my view, these references were like glue holding it all together and reminding us that this was one large universe where everything connected.

Others have been trying to emulate Marvel, but like Hollywood so often does, they missed the one most important aspect: Marvel succeeded because it took a risk on treading new ground.  One cannot, by definition, follow this formula.  The only way to emulate the Marvel formula to success is by taking those same risks in a new direction.  It was that originality that we've all respected.  To be clear, yes, these were based off of comic books with a fan base and a long history.  However, the filmmakers researched these books thoroughly to have a complete understanding of them, and they took the characters and stories in new directions.

I watched many of the MCU movies with a comic book crowd, the ones at Emerald Knights.  They knew the stories, but they were still surprised and pleased with the way these stories were altered because it was respectful to the source material, and it added to it rather than rebuilt it.  The new Star Wars films have completely missed this concept, with Force Awakens being a copy of the originals, and Last Jedi being empty undermining of expectations without reason.

The MUC movies were daring in the way they portrayed these characters and situations in ways that honored the source material, but still found new ways to tell them.  THAT'S how they were original.

I personally watched all the movies and shows as they came out.  I've never been much of a superhero fan; definitely not of these characters.  But they did such a great job of making us care about them that I had to see how their journeys weaved through each other.  The characters altered as they went.  The filmmakers weren't afraid to change them from their iconic looks and make massive changes to their environments.  And they weren't afraid to swap the characters in and out of the stories of other characters, thus making the world more complete.

But the accomplishment is even more than that.  Anyone who has tried to get a film made knows how espically difficult it is.  Most films never get made.  In this case, they made 22 films over 11 years... with a new company.  That accomplishment is unheard of.  I'm sure the Academy Awards and other awards shows will ignore this while honoring other films that accomplished far, far less.  But those who realize what they did, and how difficult it was to do it successfully, will always know how monumental this achievement was.  They deserve every penny of what they've made.

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