Breaking it Down with Screenwriter Rob Edwards

On my first day working on The Princess and the Frog I asked to watch every Disney princess movie ever made. The next day, I watched all of the direct to DVD princess movies. Then I tackled romantic comedies in general. First I watched my favorites, and then I dove into the black & white classics. Lastly, I watched and broke down all of the Pixar movies and shorts. And, by the way, I watched everything at least twice.

So why did I bother going through all of that trouble? Because I wanted to immerse myself in the world I'd be living in for the next four years. In fact, at Disney / Pixar, I was surprised to find out that all of the other in-house writers had done their own version of the same thing. And, more than that, we all had just about the same notes!

This is something professional writers are often asked to do so, if you don't, now's a good time to start. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to write something Spielberg-esque. Or write a modern-day Hitchcock movie. Or to combine a John Ford western with an Agatha Christie thriller. Or come up with a story for a science fiction movie with the tone of a WWII propaganda piece. Every time that happens, I leap into the method I'm about to share with you.

For any writers who take themselves seriously, resistance is futile. You can start renting movies and get to work… or throw up our hands and let the producer move on to somebody who takes their craft seriously.

My method is a version of the survival skills I learned after 15 years of writing television. I had to break down styles every time I started on a new show. I was often hired as a Co-Executive producer. That means I ran the room on a lot of shows. To do this well, I had to "teach the show" to the rest of the writing staff. In other words I had to break down the Creator or Executive Producer's style and then make sure all of the writing was somewhere in the ballpark before it got to the actors, the studio and the network. Television is confusing enough without every episode feeling like it's written in an entirely different style.

So, here's my method…

1) Read and watch everything twice

People often ask if I ever get to enjoy movies because I spend so much time analyzing them. Here's the answer. Hails yeah! The first time I watch anything I'm just a kid from Detroit watching a movie with his buds. If it's great, I sit up in my chair chomping my popcorn. If it sucks, I slump in my chair and mope just like everybody else.

Now, the SECOND time I watch a movie, I get out my notebook and go to town. I've even learned how to write in the dark because it's less obnoxious. I write down everything that happens along with the elapsed time of the movie. I'm going to be combing over this data later, so nothing is too insignificant. Fortunately, I've already seen the movie so I don't miss much during that second view.

Remember, I'm a big fan of movies. Huge! I lerve them!! That's why I've spent every day for the past 15 years writing them. But I'm not watching these movies as a fan or a critic. I'm watching as a craftsman trying to get into the heads of other craftsmen.

If I was a painter trying to break down Rembrandt's style I'd look at–

— what types of subjects he chooses.

— how he uses light.

— the composition of the canvases.

— what types of paint, brushes, canvases he uses.

— how he physically paints (is he left or right handed… I'd want to know!)

— what were his influences?

I'm trying to get into his head so I can do a descent recreation of what he does. Leave the fanboy stuff (those signature quirks or "winks at the audience") for somebody else.

Similarly, if I was breaking down the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince, because I want to write music like him, I'd look at–

— what types of subjects he chooses.

— how he uses harmony, meter and rhythm.

— what types of instruments he favors.

— what types of studios does he prefer. What times of day does he record (I'm looking for all the quirks here.)

— what were his influences?

Are you seeing a pattern? I hope so. Now, what if I wanted to learn how to play basketball like Michael Jordan?

— what types of plays he likes to run.

— how he uses tempo.

— what types of shoes.

— any quirks.

— any influences…

Now let's try Peyton Manning… just kidding…

2) Try to find the best 4 – 8 movies

I'm working the 80 – 20 rule here. That 20% of the movies will have 80% of the information I'll need. I find that I can go deeply into the 4 best movies and find what I need. For you, more is better until you get comfortable with the techniques.

I'm going to watch those 4 movies more than twice. I'll watch the first 15 minutes of all four. I'll watch the last 20 minutes of all of them. I might even compare midpoints, inciting incidents, ends of second act. After the first time, I'll rarely watch one at a time. I'll always have all 4 cued up and then I'll go back and forth. If I only have the screenplays, I'll do the same with page numbers. I'm looking for patterns, similarities and notable dissimilarities. I'm a detective and I'm not going to stop until I've found my clues, patterns, tendencies and habits.

3) Try to find the worst 2 movies

We all have those ones that got away. Those bad movie days. The thing is, most great artists will dump the same bag of tricks on their failures and their successes. The "worst ones" give us an unvarnished look at that bag of tricks. Kinda like seeing people in a bar when they turn on the florescent lights. Here they are. Stripped of the magic that usually hides them.

As a side benefit, you'll also get a feel for which tools actually work and which are just window dressing.

Again, I watch the bad ones at least twice. Once to boo and throw popcorn at the screen. A second time to take notes and start to analyze when I booed and why.

4) Sift through the clues

Now that I have all of my data, I sit down and go through it all. A movie can take 2 hours or more to watch, but notes only take a few moments to read. Most notably, I get to pin minutes 30 through 45 of 10 different movies to my wall and stare at them for hours. Believe me, this brings me more joy than you can imagine. If I'm a fan of the work, you can't drag me away. I'll put the first 6 minutes side-by-side. Then the 20s. The protagonist intros. Antagonist intros. I look at everything. Every thing. If I can find a matching pair, that's money in the bank! Three of anything is golden. Four or more is probably obvious and already noted, but what the hey. I'll take it.

Of course, sometimes you don't have countless hours to get at these patterns. As any good detective or journalist will tell you, it's always best to give yourself a few key questions to help focus your search. Questions that will help you see The Matrix. To cut though the stack of data and give you the answers you're looking for. Questions like– Aww. I hear the school bell ringing. We're out of time. I'll see you back here next week and we'll go over all of them. And then, the week after that, I'll share my notes on Quentin Tarantino with you. How's that for a tease? Class dismissed!