Recognizing The Importance Of Writing In The Production Of A Good Movie -By Sandra Ijeoma Okoye

As an actress, not few fans that understand that I know my onions in the theatric profession have in the recent time confronted me with the question, “What is the importance of writing in the production of a good movie?” The foregoing question which invariably is the headline of this piece is salutary when it is professionally responded to. Despite my foray into journalism, permit me in this context to buttress my position in both creative professions by making reference to Lester Holt’s classical quote that says, “Journalism is my first love. But music comes in a close second. What’s important for me is that whatever you do, whatever your passion is, you should have another passion – something in your life. And when I put on that musician hat and I put the bass in my hands, I’m not Lester Holt the TV guy anymore. I’m just Lester Holt who likes music”. Just like Holt’s has quotably asserted, acting is my first love. But Journalism comes in a close second. However, what is important to me is that I have passion for both professions.
Against the foregoing backdrop, I can professionally submit in this piece that in as much as I have knack for analytical features and opinion writing, I am at any time at home with film making and acting by virtue of being my first love.

In a similar vein, and without resort to being immodest in this context, I can say that I can in the same vein a food critic tastes food and analyses such food professionally for others to know how good or bad the food is that I can tell if a movie is good or bad, particularly when appraised from the perspective of the script which is unarguably the production stage that deserves the professional input of scriptwriters.

Given the foregoing, I must confess that I am not been thrilled with good movies as I was wont to some few years back. Every time I watch a movie I don’t like, or that I think is bad, I find myself wondering, and ask: “What is the quality of writing which culminated into the script being realistic thereby rendering the movie to be either a good movie to watch or a bad movie that would make it watchers yawn and intermittently adjust on the settee? How does well written script actually makes a movie good?” The answer to the foregoing question cannot be farfetched as Alfred Hitchcock has in a quote credited to him has said, “To make a great film you need three things – the script, the script and the script.”

Without dilly-dallying, in as much as the key elements that make a movie “good” are when the acting, directing, cinematography, and overall production value come together to tell one cohesive, entertaining, and impactful story, writing remains the driving force in the whole process of film production. In essence, a well written script remains the top most indispensable tool in the production of a good movie coupled with all other tools of filmmaking that will make the movie to tell a compelling story that makes anyone that watches it to be left entertained, educated or both.

In fact, it is impossible for a movie to be considered “good” without the combination of a well written script and all other key ingredients involved. The reason for the foregoing cannot be farfetched as film is such a collaborative medium that requires multiple artists with various talents working together to make one cohesive product but writing as an elements in its production remains key. It is expedient to say that it is not just writing but imaginative writing!

Without resort to being repetitive in this context, it is expedient to say that the making of a good movie starts with a good creative writing skill. In case you don’t know, every great movie that was ever made started with a great script.

In fact, almost every movie that gets made has to start with a script. Unless it’s a big franchise tent pole movie a studio has planned years in advance, you need a well written script before you can start working on a movie.

In fact, if there is anyone that is at the moment underplaying the element of writing skill in the process of producing a movie, it is expedient to ask him or her “Without a script, how would the production designers know what sets they need to build? How would the casting directors know who to cast? How would the cinematographers know what to shoot or the director what to direct?”

At this nexus, it is pragmatic to say that in script writing that good writers will write visual metaphors woven in throughout their work to reinforce their story’s themes.

They will characterize actions and dialogue choices, so each word chosen tells you something about the characters and how they are feeling, without writing out how the characters are feeling like novels do.
Without any iota of exaggeration, good writing is also entertaining; it keeps the action moving and always keeps the audience asking what’s next? Beyond these generalizations, there is something else that every good screenplay has that makes a movie feel like it is good, and that is story structure, which is no doubt a creation of imaginative writing.
You may have asked, “What is story structure?” In traditional western narrative storytelling, story structure can be likened to the gears churning behind the clock face that makes the hands turn on time. Story structure in movies refers generally to the traditional three-act narrative act, where the movie has a beginning, middle, and ending.

While there are many categorical systems, theories, and even formulas, different writers use to define the story structure of any given film even as most modern American stories follow similar narrative conventions that adhere closely to Joseph Campbell’s theory of The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Most stories follow a single character, the hero, who ventures forth from their familiar world after an inciting incident and takes up the call to adventure to achieve a particular goal, where they face a series of trials and tribulations, overcome a lowest moment, face a final confrontation, and then return home having changed.

You may also want to know why story structure matters. When a movie follows the above formula, it feels satisfying to the viewer. That is because we have all seen hundreds of movies that follow the same structure, and have been trained on what to expect from a film.

When certain elements are missing from the familiar structure we are used to, like a character never overcoming a lowest moment, or a final confrontation that feels underwhelming, we feel as if something is missing or wrong with the movie.
Sometimes a movie follows the structure too perfectly, and feels like a hundred other movies we have seen before. In this case, the audience will feel the film is too predictable and boring, and not feel as invested in the story because they are not asking themselves what comes next.

Without any iota of exaggeration, the secret to writing a good movie is writing something familiar that feels new, either by blending two genres into something that feels original, or writing something that twists the normal conventions we are used to, but in a way that feels exciting as opposed to confusing.

In fact, a good script keeps you guessing while also rewarding you for paying attention. This is where little narrative tricks like plants and payoffs help you, by planting a detail early in the script that comes back and pays off at the end, those audience members will be surprised, but also satisfied.

Ultimately, the success or failure of a script comes down to how satisfying an experience the viewer has while watching the film. Do they feel invested? Do they care what happens to the characters? Do the characters change in ways that make sense? Do they feel what the characters feel? Or what the writer feels?

Writing is communication, and communicating your story in a way that makes the viewers feel what you want them to feel while telling a compelling story is the key ingredient to good writing. So, in response to the question which is invariably influenced the coinage of the headline of this piece, it is expedient to say that writing has a great place in movie production.