Creative Practice Theoryand

Feature Film Screenwriting

JT VelikovskyDoctoral candidate:

Doctorate of Creative Arts (Film/Screenwriting/Transmedia)Supervisor: Assoc Prof Hart Cohen

School of Humanities and Communication ArtsUniversity of Western Sydney

THIS PRESENTATION:

(1) RESEARCH PRACTICE

(2) METHODOLOGY

(3) FINDINGS

3http://storyality.wordpress.com/

DOCTORAL RESEARCH BLOG:

THESIS (Title):“UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN: CREATIVITY; THEORIES OF NARRATOLOGY; SCREENWRITING; AND NARRATIVE FICTION FEATURE FILM-MAKING PRACTICES.”

30,000-WORD EXEGESIS20,000-WORD

FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY(90 PAGES = 90 MINUTES)

+

THESIS (Output):

THESIS TITLE (EXPLANATION)

“UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN:

CREATIVITY;

THEORIES OF NARRATOLOGY;

SCREENWRITING;

AND

NARRATIVE FICTION FEATURE FILM-MAKING PRACTICES.”

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE - JT Velikovsky

• 91-94 – Newcastle Uni (B.A. Comms - Screenwriting)

• 95-96 – Screenwriting & Filmmaking - AFTRS, 2 years

• 98 – Story Analyst (Fox, Polygram, Screen NSW, etc)

• 2000 - Inform P/L – National Games Market Analyst

• 2000-2002 - Game Writer/Designer @ Ratbag Games

• 2004-5 - Director/Game Designer, A-Rage/UniSA

• 2005-7 - Game Designer/Writer – Red Tribe Games

• 2008 – Transmedia Consulting, Film, TV, Comix, ARGS

Writing Feature Film Scripts (30)

• 2010-2013

• XCOM (Game) – 2K Games - screenwriter

• CAUGHT INSIDE (2011) – film screenwriter

• THE JUNGLE (2013) – script editor, directing attach

• Script Assessor & Judge - Australian Writer’s Guild

THE QUESTION:

HOW TO CREATE… A FEATURE FILM… THAT REACHES ITS INTENDED AUDIENCE?

AS A SCREEN STORYTELLER:

AND, DOES IT MATTER:A) WHAT STORY YOU TELLB) HOW YOU TELL IT?

OR, CAN YOU JUST MAKE ANYTHING…DO WE HAVE: FREE WILL?

(SEE: `AGENCY & STRUCTURE’)

LITERATURE REVIEW:(1)There are 2500+ Screenwriting books on Amazon.com(2) Also, 18 years ago @ AFTRS – I did a Lit Review… (4 Edns)

Velikovsky, JT(2011), 4th Edn., The Feature Film

Screenwriter's Workbook

(Free: Google)Aristotle, Poetics (c 335 BCE)

FINDING: 3-ACT COMPARISON

123See also: Truby, J (2009), “Why 3-Act Will Kill Your Writing”, www.Raindance.co.uk

ARISTOTLE…

Aristotle (1996) Poetics, Penguin, London.The School of Athens, Raphael, c1510

THE 3 HARD PROBLEMS

IN FILM…

THE PROBLEM(S):(1)7 IN 10 FILMS LOSE MONEY

“…of any ten major theatrical films produced, on the average, six or seven may be broadly characterized as unprofitable and one might break even.”

(Vogel 2011, p. 71), Entertainment Industry Economics, (8th Ed., 2011) Cambridge University Press, New York.

Also: (Vogel 1990, p. 70), Entertainment Industry Economics (2nd Ed., 1990) Cambridge University Press, New York.

THE PROBLEM(S):(2) 98% OF SCREENPLAYS GO UNMADE

`Less than 2% of scripts and proposals for screen ideas received go into production’ (Macdonald, 2003 p.31).

Macdonald, I.W. (2004), 'The Presentation of the Screen Idea in Narrative Film-making',

PhD Thesis, Leeds Metropolitan University.

THE PROBLEM(S):(3) “NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING”

`Nobody knows anything...... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.’

(Goldman 1983, p. 39)

2011 – INTERESTING:

Simonton, DK (2011), Great Flicks: Scientific Studies

of Cinematic Creativity and Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, New York; Oxford.

Distinguished Professor Dean Keith Simonton

Department of Psychology University of California, Davis

CRITICAL vs RoI SUCCESS

• There is little overlap in critical and commercial success (virality)• Writer-Directors are over-represented

Simonton, Great Flicks (2011)

THE 3 HARD PROBLEMS:

(1) >2% OF SCREENPLAYS GET MADE

(2) 7 IN 10 FILMS LOSE MONEY

(3) “NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING”

A POSSIBLE SOLUTION (?)

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (RoI)

1. Story2. Screenplay3. Film4. Film-making5. Creative Individuals

COMMON PATTERNS?

THE DATA SOURCE:

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php

• Box Office Mojo (?)• IMDb (?)• The Numbers

(Nash Information Services 1997-2012)

THE TOP 20 RoI FILMS

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php

FINDING #16All the 20 key creatives are writer-hyphenates:• Writer-Director; or Writer-Producer; or Writer-Actor,• (and/or, all 3)

What does it mean? It pays to stay involved in production.

FINDING #21: …A System?

FREQUENCY OF TOP 20 RoI FILMS = 2.05 YEARS (R2=96%)

EVIDENCE: A FILM SYSTEM…?

CREATIVE PRACTICE THEORY – AGENT-BASED MODEL OF THE FILM SYSTEM (Velikovsky 2013)

http://storyality.wordpress.com/creative-practice-theory/

Figure 5 2 - The increasingly large concentric circles in this simplified schematic represent the ‑major levels at which creativity forces operate. (Hennessey & Amabile 2010, p. 571)

CREATIVITY: SYSTEMS THEORIES

`What we need now are all encompassing systems theories of creativity designed to tie together and make sense of the diversity of perspectives found in the literature - from the innermost neurological level to the outermost cultural level.’ (Hennessey & Amabile 2010)

Annual Review of Psychology, 2010

CREATIVITY: SYSTEMS MODEL

Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1st ed.) New York: HarperCollins, 1996.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s systems model of creativity (1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2006)

A systems model of Creativity (Csikszentmihalyi in Henry, 2006: 4)

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`For creativity to occur, a set of rules and practices must be transmitted from the domain to the individual. The individual must then produce a novel variation in the content of the domain. The variation then must be selected by the field for inclusion in the domain’ (Csikszentmihalyi 1999: p 315)

THE SYSTEMS MODEL OF CREATIVITY

Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiDistinguished Professor of

Psychology and Management,

Claremont Graduate University

Dean Keith SimontonDistinguished Professor of Psychology,

University of California

Creativity: something that is “Novel and Appropriate”

• Idea• Process• Product

2 MAJOR CREATIVITY SCHOLARS:

2004 2011

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi(Psychology)

FieldIndividual (c.f.: `agent’)DomainInternalizing the

Domain (10 years)Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s DIFi systems model of creativity (1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2006)

A systems model of Creativity (Csikszentmihalyi in Henry 2006: 4)

CREATIVITY: THE SYSTEMS MODEL

Pierre Bourdieu(Sociology)

The FieldAgents (Individuals)The field of works (Domain)Habitus (practical sense)4 forms of capital:

Economic, Social, Cultural, and Symbolic

Pierre Bourdieu’s practice theory (1977, 1984, 1990, 1993, 1996)

Figure 1 Diagram from "Art Rules; Pierre Bourdieu and the Visual Arts" by Michael Grenfell and Cheryl Hardy. 2007. Berg Press. New York. :

PRACTICE THEORY

The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation… Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.

Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene – (1976) & 2006, p. 196

MEMETICS

Meme = Idea, Process, Product

e.g.: A Film. A Story. An Idea.

GENES = MEMES

Creativity, Genes and Biological EvolutionFigure 1: Model of Biological Evolution (M. Csikszentmihalyi and Wolfe 2000: 83)

`Creativity is the engine that drives cultural evolution.’

(M. Csikszentmihalyi and Wolfe 2000: 84)

Creativity, Memes and Cultural EvolutionFigure 2: The Systems Model of Creativity

(M. Csikszentmihalyi and Wolfe 2000: 84)

(Velikovsky 2012)

http://storyality.wordpress.com/creative-practice-theory/

CREATIVE PRACTICE THEORY

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1. Bio-Psycho-Socio-Cultural background / `talents’2. Develop a habitus (a `feel for the game’- of Film)3. Absorb the Domain/s (films, books, courses, the web, etc.)4. Internalize the Domain/s (e.g. Feature Films, Writing, Story)5. Practise their craft skills (the `10-Year Rule’…)6. Navigate the Field, and assume a position within it7. Acquire 3 forms of Capital (economic, social, cultural)8. Implement a `creative’ work (a Feature Film)9. The work is judged `creative’ by The Field…10. Acquire symbolic capital (e.g. awards)

11. Continue the cycle from # 1) above – AND/OR:12. Retire / Die

Velikovsky (2013)

CREATIVE PRACTICE THEORYAs per the Top 20 RoI writer-hyphenates:

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Consilience: Science & Humanities 30+ Guidelines…

NEXT:

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS:

For common elements in their: Story; Screenplay; Film…

METHOD / FINDINGS

Inverse Agonistic structure: Hero (antag-) vs Villain (protag-)

FINDINGS #1-10

In the Top 20 RoI Films: STORY / SCREENPLAY / FILM

1. All are `Villain Triumphant’ stories2. These films have no `character arcs’3. All same Themes: Survival, Family/Community, Justice4. 2 parts: Before the `tragedy’ strikes - and, After5. None are adaptations – all are `original screen stories’6. Set in Present Day (except: Mad Max, American Graffiti)7. Temporally linear (no `alternate’ structures)8. 90 screenplay pages / 90 minutes of screen time9. Settings: US, Australia, Ireland, UK, Mexico10. 19/20 are spoken English-language (one is in Spanish)

FINDINGS #11-17

PRODUCTION:

11. 17 / 20 are independent films12. Budget Range: $7k - $11m (Avg. Budget = $1.9m)13. None have stars14. None have big marketing budgets15. 13/20 had sequels

THE CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS:

16. All Writer-hyphenates (Writer- Director/Producer/Actor)17. 19 / 20 are male, and 1 is female

GENRE in the Top 20 RoI

FINDING #18: There are no “Drama” genre films in the Top 20But - there are several Dramas in the `Bottom 20 ROI’ films

FINDING #19 (DURATION)HIGH RoI - TRENDING TOWARDS 90 PAGES / 90 MINUTES

FINDING #20: THE STORYTHE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE / THE GOLDEN SPIRAL

FINDING #21: On Frequency

FREQUENCY OF TOP 20 RoI FILMS = 2.05 YEARS (R2=96%)

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

STORYALITY PREDICTIONS:StoryAlity Theory predicts - a Top 20 RoI Film:

CRITERIA PROBABILITY

• Will arrive in 2014 (every 2.05 yrs) 96% chance

• Will be by a writer-hyphenate 100% chance• Will follow StoryAlity structure 100% chance

• Will be 90 mins/ 90 scenes 80% chance

• Will be a Horror genre film 50% chance • Will be `found footage’ 15% chance• Will be a Drama genre 0% chance

• Will be a `monomyth’ story 15% chance• Will be a `Villain Triumphant ‘ 100% chance• Will have `character arcs’ 0% chance• Will have the `3 primal Themes’ 100% chance

FINDING #3 (ON: THEMES)Top 20 RoI Films - all have the same Themes:

(1) Survival, (2) Family/Community, (3) Justice (Revenge)

Biopoetics / Literary Darwinism

(Joseph Carroll, 1995, 2004, 2011)

Consilience

(EO Wilson, 1998)

VIRALITY

FINDINGS: KEY GUIDELINES

48

Consilience: Science & Humanities 30+ Guidelines…

NEXT:

THESIS:“UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN: CREATIVITY; THEORIES OF NARRATOLOGY; SCREENWRITING; AND NARRATIVE FICTION FEATURE FILM-MAKING PRACTICES.”

30,000-WORD EXEGESIS20,000-WORD

FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY(90 PAGES = 90 MINUTES)

+

THESIS (OUTPUT):

• Psychology – the systems model (Csikszentmihalyi)• Sociology – practice theory (Bourdieu)• Philosophy – holons (Koestler)• Memetics – memes (Dawkins)• Narratology – story theory• Communications – communication theory models• Statistics – analysis of the story elements in top 20 films• Probability Theory – high-ROI film predictive theory• Complexity Theory – modelling the feature film system• Computer Modelling – agent-based modelling• Film Screenwriting Theory – since 1913 & `script gurus’• Film Production Case Studies – Top & Bottom 20 RoI• Evolutionary Literary Theory – Darwin (Carroll)

Interdisciplinary Componentsof: Creative Practice Theory Narratology

51http://storyality.wordpress.com/

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