Talking about screenwriting: BAFTA Sessions 2019

Dreaming of writing a story and watching it play out on the big screen? Here’s an opportunity to learn from the writers who made that into their reality.

Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite), David Rabinowitz and Charlie Wachtel (BlacKkKlansman), and Will Fetters (A Star Is Born) talked to BAFTA about their writing process and why it’s so important to write about a subject that resonates with you…

Both Rabinowitz and Wachtel were new to screenwriting when working on BlacKkKlansman. Part of the challenge for them was figuring out how to work effectively together. With this in mind they explain how their writing process developed: “We do detailed outlines together, we sit down together and write a detailed outline… Then we divide it up; one person gets act two, the other person gets act one and three, and we keep swapping until the voice is consistent.”

They also share they had to get used to working with directors and producers who also have a creative vision and ideas about the story. Fortunately, they’ve been able to collaborate with creatives including Spike Lee who they respect and trust.

Warchtel jokes: “As we always say, if you’re going to get rewritten by anyone, let it be Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott.” Rabinowitz echoes this, demonstrating how much faith they had in the BAFTA-winning director: “One of the negative things about being a writer in Hollywood is being rewritten, but it’s not negative when it’s Spike doing it.”

The duo also share they were very pleased with how the shooting script ended up: “What Spike and Kevin did, they took some of the things we were going for and just pushed it all the way.”

What is Davis’ key piece of advice to budding writers?

He says: “Be contrary and be flexible. By that I mean: just do your own thing, and every time anyone says ‘no that’s not right’, don’t listen to them.”

Davis admits he first wrote the screenplay for The Favourite in 1998, but experienced plenty of apprehension because of its three female protagonists. Until working with director Yorgos Lanthimos, she found it challenging to convince people that it was a story worth telling as a screenplay. She recalls: “he was actually the first director who wanted to play to the strengths of the female characters. He wanted to take their vulnerabilities and explore them, not hide them.” By holding her ground, she was able to agree key principles with the director, such as not including any scenes “where one of the women wasn’t present.”

Like Davis’ insistence on spotlighting all three female protagonists, the writers agreed it’s important to write the story you believe in. McNamara explained the most important thing is working on a project that you enjoy: “make a film that you want to watch.”

Similarly, Fetters stresses the importance of writing for yourself, rather than predicting what will be a hit: “Nobody knows anything, so all you have to offer in this business, this world… stay true to the stories you want to tell. You might not end up rich and famous but you will end up satisfied by your work.”

He also explains, as a writer, he acknowledges that everything he writes may not be successful: “Ultimately I’m a storyteller and not every movie or script that I write is going to get made, but I ultimately have to write them the way I see them and that’s it – the rest I can’t control.”

But don’t let that put you off! As Rabinowitz says: “It only takes one – the right project at the right time.” And Wachtel adds: “Have the hope that if you write something that’s well done and well crafted, that it can find its way into the hands of the right people. In our case, Jordan Peele, Spike Lee, Blumhouse, QC Entertainment, Focus Features: it did just that.”