Last night, THN had the privilege of attending THE BAFTA & BFI SCREENWRITERS’ LECTURE SERIES with David S Goyer, co-writer of THE DARK KNIGHT Trilogy, MAN OF STEEL and much more.
The series of talks provide a fascinating insight into the processes of some diverse and prominent voices in writing, but if any are more charming than Goyer, I’ll be impressed. He began his lecture by mentioning how colossal blockbusters such as his are practically destroying cinema and that he was working for the enemy. A glib confession to get us on his side, and it worked.
Highlights included:
Getting Started-
He walked us through how he broke into the business by constantly harassing a young agent until he was signed. The agent told him that he would have picked him up regardless of his talent based on his sheer will and attrition. Many a budding screenwriter at the BFI last night made a mental note to harass their way to the top.
First Produced Screenplay-
The story of his first successful work gave us more of an insight into the mind of Jean Claude Van Damme than we were expecting and how, on their first meeting, JCVD told Goyer (and this is verbatim), ‘People will try and destroy you, but I will protect you like an eagle *makes talon-like gesture with hands* Also the homosexuals love me.’ This was followed by a clip from DEATH WARRANT and we all made a mental note never to watch it.
Man Of Steel-
When discussing his work on MAN OF STEEL, Goyer says he realised he was writing about fathers and sons. There was a poignant moment when he recounted a conversation with his step-son who asked ‘Can’t I just keep pretending to be your son?’ That scene with Kevin Costner is more autobiographical then we realised and demonstrates the substance and depth that Goyer brings to his work.
The Difference Between Writing for Film and TV-
He summed it up by quoting Jerry Bruckheimer; ‘Television won.’ Goyer declared that the scope is better for character development (which he demonstrated with clips from his shows FlashForward and Da Vinci’s Demons), there are more interesting roles for women and, surprisingly, it pays more. For writers, any way. Plus you have more control over what goes on. Unlike here in the UK, US programmes have whats called a ‘Show-Runner.’ Joss Whedon for Buffy, Matthew Weiner for Mad Men or Tina Fey for 30 Rock for instance. Not only creating, but overseeing the show and keeping the fellow scribes in lines. He said we could benefit from such an approach. I didn’t argue. I couldn’t. Why would I? That would have been madness.
Writing for Computer Games-
Something of a polymath, Goyer also has a successful series of games under his belt with Black Ops 1 and 2. He says writing for games is a whole other discipline, as the the story is non-linear. The path the gamer chooses influences the consequences and thus the dialogue, action etc. He said there were walls and walls of flow-charts covering all options and they all need their own scripts. Plus they’re incredibly lucrative as both Black Ops games individually took more money than AVATAR. I’ve never heard such a middle class gasp.
The Dark Knight-
One of Goyer’s pearls of wisdom was that great writing comes from truth, we should write what we know. Thus, we should do more and, like most people who want to broaden their horizons (and can afford to), he went travelling. Upon showing Christopher Nolan his photos from Tibet, Bruce Wayne’s new origin was set in motion. Being a massive comicbook geek (he also worked on BLADE, GHOST RIDER, THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS, even that NICK FURY movie with David Hasselhoff) he was the go-to guy when Nolan had questions about the Bat-verse. It seems the great director didn’t want a utility belt, Goyer made sure he did.
From Batman to Superman-
‘All writers procrastinate,’ he says. This is true of his time writing for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Unable to end his writer’s block, he started reading Superman comics and had an epiphany; why does Superman being an alien get brushed under the carpet so often? He went back to Nolan and mentioned his idea for a ‘first contact’ Superman story, and Nolan loved it. Unknown to our writer, Nolan pitched it the Warners, they loved it and boom. They were making a Superman film together. At this point Goyer confirmed that there was never ever going to be a cross-over between the DARK KNIGHT universe and that of MAN OF STEEL. His, Nolan’s and Hans Zimmer’s involvement in both projects is pure coincidence.
For more on this particular talk, click here.
For a full transcript of Goyer’s lecture, click here.
For more on the series and how to get tickets, click here.
THE BAFTA & BFI SCREENWRITERS’ LECTURE SERIES is running until Monday 30th September.
