It’s four in the morning. Your phone rings. It’s the producer who’s shooting your script. There’s a problem. Remember that really great scene you wrote? Yeah, well, they just lost the location it was supposed to be shot in so you’ve got to find a way to make it work set in a coffee shop instead. By the way, one of the actors isn’t available anymore so you’ve got to cut that character out of the scene and all the other scenes they haven’t shot yet. Your phone goes click-buzz as the producer hangs up to deal with an angry A-lister playing the lead. You take a breath, open your laptop, and go to work.
Not all productions are that hectic but rarely do things go according to plan. A screenplay’s never really finished. Production might shoot everything and realize they need an extra scene or two to clarify a few plot points, or to replace whole cloth scenes that aren’t working. Sometimes you’ll have to compromise and engage in numerous production rewrites. Maybe it’s your script. Maybe it’s someone else’s you’ve been hired to treat as its “script doctor.” Join Humanitas and NFMLA to explore and demystify what writers involved in production rewrites can expect.
Erin O’Malley
Producer/Director
Dave Finkel
Showrunner/Director
Emmy, Golden Globe, and Kidscreen Award-winning TV/Film director and producer Erin O’Malley (Curb Your Enthusiasm, New Girl, Da Ali G Show, American Born Chinese, The Sarah Silverman Program, Goosebumps) will be joined by Emmy, BAFTA, and Peabody Award-winning writer, showrunner, and producer Dave Finkel (Bad Sisters, New Girl, 30 Rock, United States of Tara) in this special discussion. NewFilmmakers LA is the event partner for After the “Final” Draft.
