You have to defeat your fear of taking risks.

“To make a great film, you need three things — the script, the script, and the script”. Alfred Hitchcock said that, and he definitely knows a thing or two about movies. But you can’t make a great movie from a bad script. That’s a fact. So what makes a script bad? What stops a wannabe screenwriter from becoming a working one?

The answer is both simple and complex. Not mastering the structure is the main issue, while the script’s lack of uniqueness is the second. You can learn the first one: Blake Snyder, Syd Field, William Goldman are ready to give you a helping hand. But the lack of uniqueness is on you; that’s your responsibility. Defeat your fear of taking risks.

Many times, the screenwriters have the tendency to protect their protagonists at all costs. They treat them like precious snowflakes. Gradually, the story becomes dull and the main character fails to complete his or her arc. Why? Because he/she doesn’t have to take action. The screenwriter acts like a responsible parent — but you’re not a parent! Be your protagonist’s greatest enemy; take the risk of becoming an antagonist. Hit your protagonist from all sides, hurt them, make them suffer. This will add suspense to your script — and suspense means conflict, the backbone of any great script.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan podcast, Quentin Tarantino once mentioned how difficult was for him to get “Reservoir Dogs” made. People refused to invest in the film because it was a violent movie for the times. Various producers asked him to make some revisions, maybe cut some scenes, but Tarantino refused; he had a vision. He finally found an investor who loved his stubbornness — and the rest is history. Later, he took another risk and offered John Travolta the main role in “Pulp Fiction”, resurrecting his career… and he won again.

Taking risks makes you stand out from the crowd. It showcases your personality. But here’s the thing. There’s a limit to this. In “Save the Cat”, Blake Snyder tells us that Hollywood asks the screenwriters to offer them the same thing, but slightly different. Although everyone’s open for change and diversity, the box-office rules the film industry. Money is everything, because you can’t make movies without it.

Nobody will sail into uncharted waters. Let’s take “Avatar” for example. In essence, it’s “Titanic” in space. Using his previous success, James Cameron was able to convince 20th Century Fox to invest over $200 million into a daring project. Of course, if your target is the independent market, the risks are smaller, but they do exist. So you have to find a balance between the risks you’re taking and the producers’ desire to make profit. But don’t let this hinder you.

In order to grab Hollywood’s attention, you must have a unique script. And the only way you can write a unique script is by taking risks.

Article by Gabriel Molnar