Screenwriting

7 Deadly Mistakes Screenwriters Make – Steve Douglas-Craig

Filmcourage

Published

December 28, 2023

[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]

Film Courage: How do you respond when a screenwriter tells you a screenplay does not need structure?

Steve Douglas-Craig, Owner/Teacher at The New Screenwriter, Financier, Screenwriter and Producer: I disagree. Most of the screenplays that I’ve read or that I’ve had a chance to develop or work on over the years, have a structure (most are of the professional writers). Have I come across a screenplay that doesn’t adhere to structure? No, I don’t remember reading one. At least one that doesn’t adhere to at least two or three of the big beats where you do need some kind of push into the story of a three-act structure.

Television doesn’t work like that. Episodes have five-act structures or seven-act structures, but if you lay a certain structure over a season you can see where the elevations and the rises and falls go and to me that’s structure. I’ve never been told by a writer that you don’t need structure, I will say that Sorry you don’t need structure. I’ve read it and I’ve read people who don’t necessarily adhere structure or people who can sit down and write a screenplay without an outline if they’ve been doing it long enough they probably can and I’m not someone who is going to say No, don’t do that because people do have their own process on how they create.

At the heart of it, it is a creative art form (storytelling) and people will tell it the way they want to tell it. It just happens to be my thing and I’ve seen it work too many times in both in the studio and in movies that I didn’t have anything to do with for it not to be relevant.

Film Courage: How can you tell whether a screenwriter understands the craft of screenwriting?

Steve: I guess it’s all the elements really in the first 10 to 15 pages of reading a screenplay:

-I’ll know if they understand structure.

-I’ll know if they understand the importance of setting and how it impacts a character’s journey or a relationship.

-I’ll know if they understand…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

About:

After graduating from the AFI, Steve Douglas-Craig was recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to work as a Story Editor & Acquisitions Executive for the Worldwide Acquisitions team in Los Angeles where he received an induction into story & business development, feature film packaging, domestic & international distribution, theatrical marketing & product acquisition. He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases – The Tudors, House of Cards). Steve’s tenure at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions was followed with a promotion to Senior Story Editor & Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he was involved in the development & release of theatrical titles like the recent releases of Monster Hunter & the adaptation of James Herbert’s novel – The Unholy. Before that he helped shepherd Black & Blue, The Intruder, Possession of Hannah Grace, Brightburn, & Slender Man. He was also heavily involved in developing content strategies that attracted financiers & talent to specific projects for the studio. Steve is also a professional screenwriter having worked as a freelance staff writer for the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O over a number of seasons & currently has a pilot & several feature films (including a creature feature) going out through his literary managers in Los Angeles.