Speculative is the Opposite of Definitive

As we begin to explore the rough world of screenwriting, we have to wonder at our objectives. The facts, the definite facts about screenwriting as a trade are a slippery slope that may send any writer, new or tried and true, down. Some say there are 55,000 things (treatments, premises, outlines, and scripts) registered with the WGA ever year, and only about 400 new writers joining the guild each year, but there are also many scripts that are bought and made into independent films before the writer ever registers the script. As filmmaking becomes a more and more accessible venture, the definite facts become less and less important. Therefore, I’m telling you that somewhere amongst a screenwriter’s objectives should be the desire to see a story up on the silver screen or at the very least posted on YouTube for a viral share of the market.

Yes, we’d all like to make a seven-figure screenplay sale. Selling a speculative, or “spec,” script is often what first inspires a writer to pursue the craft of screenwriting. It is a risky venture, but potentially highly profitable. What is most risky about it? I mean it is not as if it is very likely that a screenwriter’s laptop will blow up. Death by screenwriting is the theme of the classic movies, “Sunset Boulevard,” “Barton Fink,” and “Adaptation,” but it certainly isn’t the norm. The risk of screenwriting is far more the loss of heart and soul than of life and limb. As we learn the craft and accepted methods of screenwriting, we can begin to feel we’ve lost our voice, that our writing has become formulaic.  The risk of screenwriting can mean that we’ve distracted ourselves from other sure things in our lives. It is a battle each writer must decide to enter for him or herself for this reason.

Screenplays often have many facts in them, and so often, we’ll see in the credits, “based on true life,” or some such nonsense. However, I would pose to you that though a screenplay often presents facts, those facts are there only to support a deeper truth. As Aristotle famously wrote, “Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular,” and the best screenplays are often closer to poetry than history. We form a hypothesis with our screenplay premise with the intention of setting out a proof for our point of view. This is how a screenplay reveals the truth may not always rest solely with the facts.

Our journey as speculative screenwriters is fraught with the dangers of facing limitation, and the demands of endurance. It relies not only on creative vision, but also on willingness to bear the burdens of speculation on so many levels.  Building upon the shoulders of screenwriters who have gone before us, let’s commit to the finest within ourselves to deliver to that visual medium film stories that are worth considering and entertainment that has something to say about the world we live in and its truths beyond facts.