March on script writers! | 編劇罷工!

It is about time for those ignorant producers to revaluate the significance of us scrīpt writers. Without us, there would be no chat shows, no drama series, not even the Golden Globe. And ppl used to think the hosts just improvised the speeches! Correction: the fundamental problem scrīpt writers is that our efforts are not recognised for too long, huge sum of money is flushing into the industry yet so many of us are still working without pay. Consider the continuous long hours, unstable life style and constant 'modification' from producers, such a job is hardly desirable. The situation here is simple, how can the scrīpts be amusing when the writers themselves are not amused at all?  scrīpt writers are the primary creator of movies and television shows; without a scrīpt the act is just an empty shell. I am sure you guys have been feeling a lot like that lately walking out of the theatre, psyched by the cgi, but empty-headed. Why? Probably bcos there is something wrong with the dialog or plot or story, and they are all part of a scrīpt, in other words, a good scrīpt is everything. Many ppl, even diectors get confused with the fact that anyone can write a scrīpt, with the latter kept making feeble attempts of producing one of their own. The result, of course, is disastrous. Trust me, i have been there, many times.

Consider how little time ppl spend on reading these days, on the other hand the huge amount of time spent on television and motion pictures, you should realise how influencial these scrīpt writers can be. I am sure they have been suppressed harshly in the past for a very good reason (actors managed to get away because they are recognised, naturally), but then again, it is about time for us to put a stop to that endless negligence. March on, scrīpt writers! Even though it would be a real shame to cancel the Oscars for 08 as well, at least history should remember us scrīpt writers, who stood up for a change.

In response to the comment: first of all i m not going to waste time naming all the posts in movie making and preach on their equal importance and how they should cooperate as a team; get out of here, this is all BS! They are not equal, they never were, and never will be. scrīpt writers have been undermined for so long, this is exactly why they are going on strike to get noticed, to get the wage they deserve! Secondly, the scrīpt is the essence of a movie i assure you, i cannot stress further on how much difference a good or bad scrīpt can make. Actors, extras, props, animation, visual effects, sound effects, artworks, directors and producers, etc, honestly, without a solid scrīpt as back bone, there would be no story, the whole production becomes unconvincing. Consider this long going regression: if you spend all the budget on actors, effects, promotion etc but landed with a crappy scrīpt, u get a badly reviewed commercial movie; if u spend all the time on the scrīpt and left no time on other stuff, u probably get a relatively good review but crappy ticket office; what would u choose to do if u r the producer? Many chose to be the former. How about some where in between u ask? Can do, but some where along the process, for some really specific reasons, modifications always occur, turning good scrīpts into bad scrīpts, and there is nothing the writers can do but follow orders.

Here is a little true story, just to give you a rough idea. During the making of a tv drama series in shanghai few years back, i was thrilled to finally meet a couple of the scrīpt writer, knowing i happened to be the leading actor, they stopped by just to have a chat. I asked a simple question, that if the scrīpt was written by the both of them, guess they had to say? 'Thats hard to define, we were indeed the 1st draftsman, but then they drafted the scrīpt so many times, so many writers have been hired and swiftly replaced, by the time the scrīpt is returned back to us many months later, the story is completely different from original, in fact, i wouldnt like to call this piece our work at all.' She said it with a nice polite smile on her face, her voice so vividly gentle, while i just stood there thinking, she must have taken this long enough to be immuned from slitting her throat open, having to bring up the ordeal. Before then I was hoping to go into further of the creative work of 'hers', but having heard that, what else could be said? My, how i envy your job, to have so many drafters assisting u individually to complete your so called master piece? The changes made to the scrīpt, mostly budget related, that i understand, cos our production company had limited resources. What about hollywood? They dont have the same excuse! Their budget is exponantial, why cant they spend the slightest time on developing the scrīpt? May be good scrīpts are hard to find? Could be. Anyways, there are a lot more i can expand on this, but i must call it a halt for today, got an exam tomorrow, hang on there writers!

| 是時候讓那些無知的制片人重新評估我們編劇的重要性了。沒有我們，就不會有聊天節目，沒有連續劇，甚至沒有金球獎。人們甚至還以為主持人是即興演講!更正：編劇長期以來遇到的最基礎的問題是貢獻不被認可，為這個行業賺取大量金錢，但我們許多編劇都還在沒有報酬的工作著。連續的長時間工作、不穩定的生活狀態和制作人不停的修改，這樣的工作很難讓人身心愉悅。目前的情形很簡單，如果作家本身不開心又怎麽能寫出開心的劇本?編劇是電影和電視節目的最初創作者，如果沒有劇本，這些戲就只剩空殼。我肯定你們走出影院時有同感，尤其是最近，被電腦特技震撼，但頭腦空空。為什麽?也許因為對話或劇情或故事有問題，它們都是劇本的一部分。換句話說，一個好劇本就是一切。很多人甚至導演都很奇怪的認為每個人都能寫劇本，粗制濫造劇本，結果當然是場災難。相信我，我許多次見過這種情況。

想想人們花這麽少的時間讀書，而花費大量的時間看電視和動作片，你就知道編劇能有多大的影響力了。我肯定之前他們因為很好的理由被嚴格壓制(很自然的，演員因為被認可而排除在外)，但，現在是時候終止對我們無休止的欺壓了。繼續加油，編劇們!連08年的奧斯卡也不得不難堪的取消，至少歷史會記得我們這些編劇，我們站起來要求改變。

回復留言：首先我不想浪費時間點出在電影制作過程中有多少重要的因素，鼓吹他們同樣的重要性和象團隊一樣合作無間；忘了這些，全都是狗屎!他們不平等，從來都沒有，永遠也不會。編劇已經被忽略太長時間，所以他們才會罷工以贏得註意，爭取應得的報酬!第二，劇本是一部電影的根本，我向你保證，我不再復述一個好劇本和壞劇本造成的差異有多大。演員、臨時演員、特技、動作、視覺特效、音效、美工、導演和制片人等等等等，但誠實的說，如果沒有一個好劇本支撐，就不會有故事，整個作品也不足以令人信服。考慮長時間持續的衰退：如果你所有經費都花在演員、特效和推廣上，放任劇本不管，你得到的是一部影評很差的商業電影。如果你花所有時間在劇本上，沒時間關註其他事務，你可能得到一個相對好的影評但是票房差。如果你是制片人會選擇哪個?許多人選擇前者。你問有折衷嗎?可以做得到，但在拍攝過程中，為了一些非常具體的理由，對劇本的修改總是在發生，把好劇本變成壞劇本，作者卻無能為力，只能聽命。

這就是一點點真實的故事，只想給你個大概印象。幾年前我在上海制作電視劇時，很開心遇到了兩個編劇。他們知道我恰好又是主演，路過時進來跟我聊了聊。我問了他們一個簡單的問題，如果這個劇本是他們倆一起寫的，他們會怎麽說? ‘很難說，我們的確是劇本的第一個勾勒者，但後來他們改了劇本很多次，找了好多編劇並幾經更叠，幾個月後當劇本回到我們手中，故事跟開始時完全不同，事實上，我都不想承認這是我們的作品’。她說這話時臉上還掛著禮貌的微笑，聲音非常溫柔。但我站在那兒思索著，她必定經過了很長時間的磨礪才能如此平靜地開口描述這些。本來我還想多了解’她的’作品，但聽了這些之後，我還能說什麽?我，多麽羨慕你的工作，有那麽多人幫助你獨立完成被稱之為的”偉大作品”?對劇本的修改大部分是資金問題，這我能理解，因為制片公司的資源有限。那好萊塢呢?他們沒有同樣的借口!他們資金充裕，為什麽不能花一點點時間改善劇本?也許好劇本很難找?也許吧。我還想寫很多，但今天只能到這兒，明天還有測驗。編劇們加油!