Not quite what I meant.
The question is how/why did the the business develop along different paths for writers? A playwright may measure success and make a living from scripts which are produced over-and-over again. Many people go to see new theatrical productions of old shows with new casts. They look forward to seeing different actors perform familiar lines and scenes.
A screenwriter, however, makes his/her money from one production (including from later film distribution sales of that film) but that script will never again be produced. Someone may buy the rights and write a new version for a new film, but the original script is gone forever. I'm not at all suggesting that direct film remakes are great ideas or box office gold. I'm just wondering why that "business model" (?) came about.
Think of a film you like, and can practically quote line for line. Any film. Maybe it was made 20 or 30 years ago. Have you never wanted to see some other production of that same dialogue performed by other actors you admire? Something like (and this is just an example, and not a very good one at that) "Man, Goodwill Hunting is a great film. I would love to see what other actors would do with those lines." If it were to be remade Matt Damon and Ben Affleck would still be paid for their script, of course, but it would be discarded for a totally different script, with different dialogue and different scenes.
Remakes are always re-written, usually drastically so. Dialogue and even entire storylines are changed beyond recognition. I'm not against this...in fact, there are many remakes which are better than originals, but that's a different discussion.
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godewey (16472)
7 years ago
Got it. My bad.
I really don't know why this was adapted. Maybe when studios buy the rights to plays they are more
interested in the play itself and not in changing it too much.
Studios like their control. Everybody thinks they can do it better. Any time a studio is making a movie
there is a lot of money on the line. I know that in order for a writer to get credit for being a writer
on a script they would have to change a certain percentage of the original script. This is also an incentive
for scripts to be changed. I don't know how well doing a line by line and shot by shot remake with
different actors would go over. Personally it wouldn't do much for me.
The only reason I can think of is when Hollywood first started the studios were in complete control.
The writers back then were desperate for there piece of the pie. They really didn't think of what
this would mean. If they wanted to get paid they didn't have much choice but to sell it and move on.
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JackNorth (244)
7 years ago
Screenwriters don't seem to own their work the way playwrights do. Just wondered why the film industry went that route, since, as I said, film industry grew out of theater in a sense.
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