Simon Pegg, Doug Jung To Write Star Trek 3

[Amaris]

Plus, remember that the average feature-film script is about 120 pages with a lot of white space. It's not like they have to write War and Peace overnight.

And, yes, the script is often being tinkered with well into post-production. And this is not necessarily a sign of disarray or confusion; it's often just about fine-tuning things as you go along.

"Gee, this scene reads great on the page, but it's falling kinda flat onstage. Maybe we can punch it up somehow . . . or perhaps we should just eliminate it altogether?"

It's funny, actually. People hear about "rewrites" and "reshoots" and such and assume that this is a sign of a troubled production or a "train wreck" in the making, when this often can't be farther from the truth. Making changes throughout is just a routine part of the process.

There's a reason we refer to unfinished movies (and books, for that matter) as works-in-progress. Nothing is set in stone until you have a final cut or draft--and sometimes not even then! And changing things throughout is just a routine part of the process. Really.

(Hell, I'm usually revising my books right up until they go to press.)

That explains why sometimes things go to crap when there's a writers strike. There's no way to fix any issues that crop up while filming.

 

[BillJ]

The limited time to write has me thinking that this could be a great movie. Not a lot of time in the process for second and third-guessing and studio interference.

 

[fireproof78]

Plus, remember that the average feature-film script is about 120 pages with a lot of white space. It's not like they have to write War and Peace overnight.

And, yes, the script is often being tinkered with well into post-production. And this is not necessarily a sign of disarray or confusion; it's often just about fine-tuning things as you go along.

"Gee, this scene reads great on the page, but it's falling kinda flat onstage. Maybe we can punch it up somehow . . . or perhaps we should just eliminate it altogether?"

It's funny, actually. People hear about "rewrites" and "reshoots" and such and assume that this is a sign of a troubled production or a "train wreck" in the making, when this often can't be farther from the truth. Making changes throughout is just a routine part of the process.

There's a reason we refer to unfinished movies (and books, for that matter) as works-in-progress. Nothing is set in stone until you have a final cut or draft--and sometimes not even then! And changing things throughout is just a routine part of the process. Really.

(Hell, I'm usually revising my books right up until they go to press.)

That explains why sometimes things go to crap when there's a writers strike. There's no way to fix any issues that crop up while filming.

This actually happened as part of Trek 09 filming process, which I have heard mentioned a couple of times.

Also, as is now more famously known, the original edit of "Star Wars" was not the same as what is shown now. It lacked the intensity that is present in the final cut. Similarly, Harrison Ford would often change his lines, or make them up on set because, as has been pointed out, things that are written don't always get spoken as well. So, there is a lot of work, reshoots (Lord of the Rings has a notorious reshoot with Elijah Wood doing the same line about 15 times, before they settled on a take that worked), Additional Dialog Recording (ADR), among other things.

I'm not hitting the panic button on this film-not by a long shot. Film history is full of far more amateur productions under tighter constraints and pulling of a win.

 

[Malaika]

no but I am nervous about july 8 2016 with the never ending writers change.

You mean the neverending switch of choosing Pegg as a co-writer? Yes, will the long list of failed writers never end?

Most big Hollywood movies go through waves of rewrites and revisions and drafts and writers. That's why the scripts have green pages and orange pages and puce pages and magenta pages and so on, to keep track of the various different rounds of revisions, which usually continue through filming and into the inevitable reshoots.

Sounds like business as usual to me. And, yeah, "never ending" is sheer hyperbole in this case. We're only on our second team of writers, right? Good heavens!

The movie is still two summers away. Are we really starting the usual lamentations and predictions of doom already?

Plot twist: Paramount decides that JJ will co-write the movie with James Cameron hey, he put the avatar's script into a pause - again - maybe the man needs to do something different before he becomes blue himself..I bet it took less time for Homer to write the Iliad...

They could make a movie about the star trek movie with all these plot twists behind the scenes and crazy rumors..

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm looking forward to STXIII.

Anyone who isn't is 7x7.

I read you five by five.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Also, as is now more famously known, the original edit of "Star Wars" was not the same as what is shown now. It lacked the intensity that is present in the final cut. Similarly, Harrison Ford would often change his lines, or make them up on set because, as has been pointed out, things that are written don't always get spoken as well.

Which was probably the source of Ford supposedly saying, "George, you can write this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

 

[The Wormhole]

Plot twist: Paramount decides that JJ will co-write the movie with James Cameron hey, he put the avatar's script into a pause - again - maybe the man needs to do something different before he becomes blue himself..I bet it took less time for Homer to write the Iliad...

Abrams and Cameron are the worst procrastinators around. Were the two of them to work together on a movie, that movie would never get made.

 

[Melakon]

Maybe they thrive when under a deadline.

 

[Cyke101]

So with Pegg writing the movie, could we bring back Shatner, Nimoy, Nichols, Takei and Koenig and have them recreate this scene with the current cast?

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukE7qnsLuwA#t=1m09s[/yt]

 

[fireproof78]

Also, as is now more famously known, the original edit of "Star Wars" was not the same as what is shown now. It lacked the intensity that is present in the final cut. Similarly, Harrison Ford would often change his lines, or make them up on set because, as has been pointed out, things that are written don't always get spoken as well.

Which was probably the source of Ford supposedly saying, "George, you can write this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

You got it

Maybe they thrive when under a deadline.

There is a fine line between too little and too much time.

Another example that I just thought of was the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Once they brought on Bruckheimer as producer, he threw out the script 1 year and 4 months before release. Shooting began 10 months before release and wrapped 4 months before release.

I'm still optimistic

 

[Dales]

You mean the neverending switch of choosing Pegg as a co-writer? Yes, will the long list of failed writers never end?

Most big Hollywood movies go through waves of rewrites and revisions and drafts and writers. That's why the scripts have green pages and orange pages and puce pages and magenta pages and so on, to keep track of the various different rounds of revisions, which usually continue through filming and into the inevitable reshoots.

Sounds like business as usual to me. And, yeah, "never ending" is sheer hyperbole in this case. We're only on our second team of writers, right? Good heavens!

The movie is still two summers away. Are we really starting the usual lamentations and predictions of doom already?

Plot twist: Paramount decides that JJ will co-write the movie with James Cameron hey, he put the avatar's script into a pause - again - maybe the man needs to do something different before he becomes blue himself..I bet it took less time for Homer to write the Iliad...

They could make a movie about the star trek movie with all these plot twists behind the scenes and crazy rumors..

That would be a great plot twist for star trek final success. who knows a trek film will break the billion dollar mark because James Cameron name is attached to it and jj will be coming fresh of star wars.

once can only dream the dream as the reality is close to impossible.

 

[Maurice]

The film industry after all operates on one golden rule: cheap, good, or on time, you can only have two. A script would certainly be helpful to getting things done properly, but properly is a term that is rarely adhered to in the film industry.

Most films have a complete script. Oh, sure. some productions infamously go out of control or have to start without a solid script, but those are the exception rather than the rule.

And, just a nit, but the "or" doesn't belong in "cheap, good, or on time". It's the old Project Triangle aka Iron Triangle which goes "Fast, Cheap, Good: you can only have two. You can have it fast and cheap but not good. You can have it fast and good but not cheap. You can have it good and cheap but not fast."

Plus, remember that the average feature-film script is about 120 pages with a lot of white space. It's not like they have to write War and Peace overnight.

I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but I think a lot of people assume screenplays are easier to write than some other things because they're so much shorter that novels or what have you. That's not necessarily the case, because, due to their shortness, screenplays require an economy and tightness which is very difficult to do well. It's like reducing in cooking; you're always trying to boil everything down to its essentials without losing the flavor. It's doubly tricky for feature films because the script isn't merely a functional blueprint for the shoot, it's typically also a sales document used to put together the "package" of talent to make it, so it has to read exciting to those people and the finance guys. It's a really narrow, wobbly tightrope act, and most fall off.

 

[MacLeod]

Well 1.5 summers away. Assuming they don't change the release date.

 

[Greg Cox]

The film industry after all operates on one golden rule: cheap, good, or on time, you can only have two. A script would certainly be helpful to getting things done properly, but properly is a term that is rarely adhered to in the film industry.

Most films have a complete script. Oh, sure. some productions infamously go out of control or have to start without a solid script, but those are the exception rather than the rule.

And, just a nit, but the "or" doesn't belong in "cheap, good, or on time". It's the old Project Triangle aka Iron Triangle which goes "Fast, Cheap, Good: you can only have two. You can have it fast and cheap but not good. You can have it fast and good but not cheap. You can have it good and cheap but not fast."

Plus, remember that the average feature-film script is about 120 pages with a lot of white space. It's not like they have to write War and Peace overnight.

I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but I think a lot of people assume screenplays are easier to write than some other things because they're so much shorter that novels or what have you. That's not necessarily the case, because, due to their shortness, screenplays require an economy and tightness which is very difficult to do well. It's like reducing in cooking; you're always trying to boil everything down to its essentials without losing the flavor. It's doubly tricky for feature films because the script isn't merely a functional blueprint for the shoot, it's typically also a sales document used to put together the "package" of talent to make it, so it has to read exciting to those people and the finance guys. It's a really narrow, wobbly tightrope act, and most fall off.

Good point. To be clear, I certainly wasn't trying to denigrate screenwriting or screenwriters. It's a singular kind of writing that requires a special kind of skill and experience.

I was just trying to point out that a professional screenwriter can bear down and meet a tight deadline if they have to . . . especially if we're not talking a 20-hour miniseries or whatever!

 

[Mudd]

On TNG, just for point of reference, you were expected to turn around a draft for a 45-minute show in two weeks. That's a lot less challenging than a feature script, obviously - although a "Star Trek" film is a little more like TV no matter what they do. There's not the same need to establish the protagonists or the premise while telling a story, as there is with an original film.

 

[The Wormhole]

Maybe they thrive when under a deadline.

Doesn't work when they're in a position to change the deadline. Cameron's worse, he'll make people wait decades for his movies. But Abrams is pretty bad, delaying both Trek movies, and in his first interview after taking over Star Wars he said he was considering postponing Episode VII's release date, which he since has done.

 

[BillJ]

Maybe they thrive when under a deadline.

Doesn't work when they're in a position to change the deadline. Cameron's worse, he'll make people wait decades for his movies. But Abrams is pretty bad, delaying both Trek movies, and in his first interview after taking over Star Wars he said he was considering postponing Episode VII's release date, which he since has done.

I thought it was Paramount that moved the first Trek movie from December 2008 to May 2009? Moved it because they thought it would do well in Summer.

 

[The Wormhole]

Well, yeah, but facts are inconvenient when it comes to my fanboy bitching.

 

[JWPlatt]

I think film teams often takes responsibility for studio decisions. The appearance of control and friendly cooperation among all makes for better marketing than stories of a divisive film production.

 

[Mudd]

That's probably so.