How I Wrote Ex Machina (Alex Garland's Writing Process)

Join our Discord server and tell me what your favorite film is: / discord
Learn screenwriting from the experts, not the critics. Check out my full-length exclusive interviews with professional screenwriters here: www.behindthecurtainfilm.com/
_______________________
AI seems to be knocking on our doorstep and only a small group of us have stopped to think about the implications of that. Look at how Alex Garland has attempted to explore the world of AI and what that means for the human race. Learn about his writing process and his views on storytelling!
Subscribe: kzbin.info...
Comment below a film or TV show you want me to research next.
Ex Machina is a 2014 science fiction film written and directed by Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac star in a story that follows a programmer who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot.
ABOUT BEHIND THE CURTAIN
This channel is a way for me to share the best nuggets of knowledge for filmmakers I find. It's an attempt to take a look inside the greatest films and TV shows and learn from the creators themselves how they do what they do.
LEARN MORE
EX MACHINA Alex Garland Interview
from Flicks and The City
• EX MACHINA Alex Garlan...
Alex Garland: how we made Ex Machina | BFI
• Alex Garland: how we m...
DP/30: Ex Machina, Alex Garland
• DP/30: Ex Machina, Ale...
Alex Garland: "Ex Machina" | Talks at Google
• Ex Machina | Alex Garl...
Alex Garland on Ex Machina, artificial intelligence & the future | Channel 4 News
• Alex Garland on Ex Mac...
Alex Garland Interview - Ex Machina
• Alex Garland Interview...
Collider: Alex Garland on ‘Ex Machina’, ‘Annihilation’, His Draft of ‘Logan’s Run’, and More
• Alex Garland on ‘Ex Ma...
Landmark Theatres: EX MACHINA Q&A with writer/director Alex Garland
MIT Lecture Series Committee Ex Machina Q&A with writer/director Alex Garland
Alex Garland Interview - Ex Machina | The MacGuffin
• Alex Garland Interview...
How Alex Garland Wrote Ex Machina
• How I Wrote Ex Machina...
#ExMachina #AlexGarland #Screenwriting

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Talk about Ex Machina and filmmaking on our official Discord server: discord.gg/xxTqXXd

[@OY3AH2023]

-OY3AH!

[@darkthaumaturge587]

Wow, not sure if i feel stupid or smart but I never once considered that Domhnall Gleeson's character might actually be the robot.

[@Smb2886]

Dark Thaumaturge not even when he thought he was a robot? Lmao

[@armada854]

@@Smb2886: wtf I've seen this move 3 times and never once has this thought crossed my mind.. yikes. I need a careful rewatch

[@RustinChole]

.....if he was the robot he had a job ....and co workers who knew him and a porn search history? It never seemed suggested to me outside of the wrist cutting scene.

[@Smb2886]

Patrick Chole......implanted memories but yea I guess

[@kyletitterton]

Same. Never crossed my mind once.

[@brianjanson3498]

Great idea for a channel. Edit the best part of interviews, DVD extras, etc., together. You will only be limited by the number of movies that this treatment warrants. Ex Machina fully deserves it.

[@razzaxxe]

That is one of the most wonderfully practical ways of writing a screenplay.

[@BroughtCat]

I forgot how great this film was, just the story and nuance from it alone is mind blowingly spectacular.

[@johnstjohn4705]

I like his method of getting the story down in a series of sentences and then going back and expanding them until he has a first draft. This is similar to Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method.

[@stannone7272]

3:31 I will remember this! I think its a good way to structure the story and to focus on the main ideas of a story

[@batgurrl]

I never clicked so fast. Thanks for your consistent high quality of work. Much appreciated

[@justtolivecomment]

Thank you for creating this channel and this format. It is a pure first-hand thoughts and experiences from great people, distilled to a 10-minute format of main ideas. Awesome.

[@cervgiovanni]

That was fantastic. I agree with the getting up to speed. Finally someone answers what do they do in the first draft and what software. Even mentions the game of the meetings

[@SuperMunQ]

Good stuff! A tip for the next one you make: please turn the volume of the music during your screenwriting course narration part down a bit.

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Yep that was an oversight on my part! Will be fixed in the future.

[@IngemannDennis]

I love this channel, I've missed these kind of videos Very insightful, informative and pleasing! Keep up the good work!

[@AngelAlvarezCineTV]

Beautifully put together! This is a great movie, one of my favourites for sure

[@jbtechcon7434]

Oooh, I'm glad I found this! Ex Machina and Arrival are by far the best movies I've seen the past several years, and I really enjoyed your vid about the latter.

[@JamesFullelove]

Great channel. I've seen videos like this where it's someone talking over a bunch of film clips but to add interesting graphics and edited elements, it just makes the video that much more professional and enjoyable to watch. Nice one!

[@LilypadOW]

i appreciate the massive increase in volume while you trying to sell us stuff

[@kuzuboshii]

Thank You for this. That writing structure is a beautiful way to never lose momentum.

[@self1sch]

Alex Garland is so much smarter than I am and I'm ok with that.

[@John-gq7vt]

So is he, and I know exactly how you feel!

[@alexman378]

How much you wanna bet his “crap first draft” is better quality than the average screenplay that gets greenlit?

[@self1sch]

@@alexman378 Did you reply to the wrong comment by any chance?

[@UnknownUser-nz3io]

My IQ is 147 and he seems pretty dumb to me

[@Mikewilliamswhc]

@@UnknownUser-nz3io edgy

[@christopherkettler8727]

His self awareness is what makes him a good writer

[@billypunton8867]

Never seen that first draft method before, interesting. Might try that myself.

[@luch3209]

You always make great videos keep it up my dude

[@HaroonMJKL]

I never noticed the scar on his back. Great insight into this masterpiece!

[@reelscreenwriting8940]

Awesome! Thanks for this content :)

[@TravisGunn]

I JUST read this script and rewatched this movie today! What timing.

[@longlockx]

This channel inspired me to try and write a screenplay, just for fun. Many thanks

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Good luck!

[@stefangrubesic2708]

After watching the video I pressed the subscribe button and then realized I was already subscribed, I never before subscribed to a channel twice well done Behind the Curtain 😅

[@claytoncaple]

Best video so far!!

[@jordanlevitt1638]

He makes a really great point with his last few statements

[@RockyCoulbourne]

So happy I found this channel

[@Chocolatepain]

Really nicely made. Some of the graphics, while nice made, are a little distracting at times perhaps. Just less movement might help.

[@emilianojgs]

If Alex Garland and Christopher Nolan collaborated to make a Science Fiction film, the world would not be ready.

[@BroughtCat]

Omg I was thinking the same thing where Garland is a younger Nolan which I love lol.

[@miyahtallulah]

Nolan would ruin it

[@nickfish8345]

absolutely! I thought Interstellar was garbage.@@miyahtallulah

[@thePinkPanda69]

We studied this movie in my uni English class such an underrated movie

[@barbmarley7875]

How is this movie underrated? It was nominated for 2 oscars, considered one of the best movies of 2014 by the National Board of Review, and pretty much every conversation I have about sci fi will lead to praise of this movie.

[@CallsignJoNay]

Yeah, basically everyone holds this movie in a high regard. Great movie, but not underrated.

[@andreaalexander534]

@thePinkPanda69 I wanted to read the book with my class, but there is no book. How did you study the film?

[@wy4553]

lol guess I'm a dumb viewer. Never once suspected Caleb to be a robot. Even when he was cutting his face open, I was like "chill out dude, you're human!"

[@anthonymartensen3164]

I don't get why one might think Caleb is a robot

[@vladimirhorowitz]

Same here. That never even occurred to me.

[@meximan282]

If a person has ever questioned what it means to be conscious or human, they don’t assume feelings prove either

[@mace2172]

Same here, I didn't think that at all. I figured out what he was doing when he started cutting himself but not before then.

[@gh0s1wav]

I'm definitely going to use his script writing method.

[@stiglarsen543]

Great video! looking forward to what you doing next :)

[@jayhm9393]

I love this fucking channel. keep it up dude.

[@Goldstone93]

Ex Machina an incredibly good screenplay. It’s so efficient and sharp. Not a single word is wasted.

[@forfreedomssake4315]

I really like this guy. Really thoughtful guy.

[@hearingvisions7307]

It was a wonderful movie. The cinematography was beautiful and it was scored appropriately. Loved it. Praise to Alex Garland.

[@MrNoobslayer115]

What a crazy way to write a script! Must be soo satisfying to delete that last line😂

[@Lukeabothadeez]

Great video once again man! Was just wondering, I am trying to write a murder mystery of sorts and was wondering if you could help me out by making a video on (for example) how rian Johnson wrote knives out! Would love to see that! Thanks in advance!

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Good suggestion! I'll see what I can do!

[@Lukeabothadeez]

Behind the Curtain thanks for responding! Love your channel and can’t wait to see what you do next :)

[@JoinHolmes]

Ex Machina is just one of my favourites.

[@doingitLAstyle]

Does anyone know the song title during the Q&A at 6:45? Thanks :)

[@cheynepearson1960]

3:30 that is a cool technique!

[@knifedreamer]

He got me. I was thinking the twist was the main guy was the robot, but the twist was that he wasn’t. Genius

[@joehera8311]

Great great cast to

[@The.Kyle.Scott.]

The music for the end as is really really loud Still love you

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Yeah, was definitely an oversight on my part. Will improve that in the future. Thanks for watching, my guy!

[@jonathancooper4914]

Masterpiece.

[@standinonstilts]

Favorite movie of all time

[@iamthewhaley91]

The music is way too loud when you’re trying to hock that promo code at the end

[@gavmoore3763]

It would be pretty bloody hard to be a machine and not notice it. For one, if you ever have an x-ray or ct there would be an aweful lot of metal on the film's that shouldn't be there (and don't even get me started on an MRI). Even more noticeable would be a pretty big number when ya jump on the scales!

[@Ash-np4pd]

Sci fi masterpiece

[@carrickrichards2457]

Einstein said the first premise in the predictive decison tree is 'are you naughty or nice?' (hostile or friendly). Sure enough, that was Ava's first question. Genius film. Of all the AI genre this is the best, most provoking and thoughtful. Hard to imagine how General AI couldn't one day become sentient, that is just anthropocentric conceit. Before Q-processing starts to reach the finite capacity it will need to perfectly replicate sentiences bandwidth, that will become obvious. The opacity that comes with that level of complexity is important to anticipate also.

[@neomaredi5922]

Song in the background at 6:44 onwards?

[@JarrodMedrano]

Need to do one about Devs now

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Did you like it? Haven't started yet. I was excited about it, but I've heard mixed reviews.

[@orangewarm1]

How does he know what the story beats are and how many to have?

[@nicinat0r]

One of the most underrated sci fi movies I know of

[@veerchasm1]

What a brilliant film

[@_mylescam]

Do jordan peele!!

[@d00dufd00dz]

I. Love. The shit. Out of this channel. Your work here is spectacular and I hope you never pull a Every Frame a Painting and end without warning. Lol

[@livvsho]

HE DID SUNSHINE? I literally just watched it the other night! Hot damn!

[@soysaucehairdye7869]

he also wrote 28 days later and he wrote the book The Beach which is way better than the movie even though I do like the movie.

[@livvsho]

SoySauce HairDye whats it about?

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

Thank god this film was made.

[@frankoceanstanaccount7126]

You should do one about Annihilation!

[@BehindtheCurtain]

I might! I honestly wasn't the biggest fan of it.

[@CatDribble]

Wait I was meant to think he was the robot, because that totally passed over my head when I watched this

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Yeah I didn't get that either. Interesting

[@chaddelong998]

i feel somewhat vindicated. i'm writing my book series just like that. indicator points. this way i can jump to anywhere in the story and go with it depending on my mood. wanna write action? wanna write intrigue...cue it up and go. (just don't forget the details)

[@alexman378]

This is one of the few instances I see characters described as “very intelligent” and I actually bought it. More often than not, it just seems like the characters are smart because the script said so and it told them what happens next, not because they actually show you how intelligent they are. Probably helps when an actually smart person writes smart characters.

[@SJPace1776]

Good point. Any character can only be as smart as its creator.

[@EdNorty]

@@SJPace1776 No, a character can be smarter than the author. The character has something the author doesn't... time. A character can say in ten seconds what the author had to think of for months.

[@seltonquadros6557]

@@EdNorty True, but the author still came up with the "smart" thing regardless. It's a paradoxical thing kind of

[@nnnnmhughuuhhjiijj9457]

You should thank Hollywood for that.

[@alexman378]

@@seltonquadros6557 Yeah, but I am sure we can agree that while many writers can write characters smarter than them, due to the time and research that one can do online, while the characters think of it instantly themselves, but again, it’s really easy to say someone’s brilliant and nothing they do reflecting it in their actions or making you 100% feel that way. It’s because they don’t know what being very smart is like, aside from the superficial they can see from others (either fictional or real people). Same reason many seem to struggle to write a strong female character, most just conceive of an asshole of a man with a superiority complex, and flips the genders. It’s why we (men and women) can’t take them all that seriously, because the writers have an idea of what a strong woman is, they don’t actually know what one acts or feels like being in her presence.

[@James-bf3hs]

Are there plans to make a video on Annihilation?

[@BehindtheCurtain]

It isn't high on the list to do right now. But I might in the future.

[@MrX-pc5xn]

Hey, I was wondering if you'd make a video on Prison Break.

[@stannone7272]

👍

[@MrAtilla]

Interesting way to write

[@JonnySublime]

When he talks about not being able to actually talk to someone in the field about what they do it's amazing what you think you don't know but you might have insight on if you just have a go at it. If all you watch is American reality TV, chances are you won't have insight into anything, if you read books it opens you up to and makes you think about everything.

[@NicolaDiMarco]

Still incredibily relevant

[@leeloolevay]

if we visualize the ai and centience within the simulation theory you then have to deal with gods immovable rock. Can you create something in a simulation thats not part of the simulation?

[@JonnySublime]

Life lesson: if you are going to be contentious, be thoughtful about it.

[@cill521]

Here is my point of view on what he said, what we describe as consciousness is a dummy word. What we really mean is that we are different from animals, because that is what it inevitably describes. We are not dogs, we are not cats. Yet the truth is that we are dogs and cats, with an extra ability. Extended intelligence. A bigger brain, that harbors a bigger broader skill list. One of them is reflecting more extensively on what we have done, and on what we are doing. A lot of the time we are not simply feeling anymore, we are thinking. Because our situation has grown increasingly complicated, propelled by evolution, our brains are expanding. Are confronted with new energy sources, we are building our intelligence with every generation. It does not mean that we are conscious, we are not. We simply know what we feel, and outside off this realm we don't know and we don't care. There is no bigger overarching story, it is still a simple struggle for survival. In many ways we are no different then a leaf flowing down a river, bouncing against the shore, forced to fulfill its trip. Until it lies still rotting in the soil. Questions about consciousness come forth from fear, this idea that there is a higher power. Something that is out for us, something that wants to kill us. It comes from our tendency for overworking the brain, we loose our spirits when we tire. It is nothing more then a lack of dopamine, however with all our intelligence we have a hard time figuring this out. We see connections everywhere and we fear we might be making mistakes. And sometimes we are making mistakes, terrible ones. Not against a higher power but against our self, we betray our own spirit. Our own desire for survival, but we have a long road to go. And we are deeply flawed creatures, lonely and unintelligent in so many ways. Life is full of injustices, and people treat one another with such disdain. Out of fear. To me it is obvious, our big enemy is fear. Nothing else, we need to fight fear and stand together, this film is sort of grasping at the roots of this bigger idea, it asks and points towards several interesting observations. Like our tendency to fear what we don't understand, however it fails to see that we do not necessarily fear what we don't understand. We fear that what threatens us, threatens our feeling of safety.

[@deplaneetegmont]

Of course we are conscious. To be conscious is simply to experience and life is nothing but experience. You don't necessarily have to know that you are experiencing, but without experience, without consciousness, there is nothing.

[@cill521]

@@deplaneetegmont Yes I agree, however the term consciousness, to me, is implying (to much) as if in some sense have an all knowing spark or a special ability that justifies us in taking superiority over other creatures like nature or animals. Which is by nature wrong because we are not all knowing, we like you said only know our experience, it is what we crave and without it we rebel and die. Therefor the term conscioussness, the expression that the human mind is consciouss is wrong, definitely proofable wrong. It can never be claimed without the proper addition -> "We are consciouss of our own experience, and somewhat consciouss of the experience of other animals."

[@deplaneetegmont]

@@cill521 Yes, I think what you mean is meta-cognition or self-reflective capability. Not only having experience, but also KNOWING you are having experience. Consciousness is a term that implies only the second, but is really both. Or you may confuse it with conscience. In any case, you're right, there's no justification for taking superiority over other creatures. All life is conscious. All life is experience. It's all equally valid.

[@cill521]

@@deplaneetegmont I mean the term consciousness on its own always demands the question: "conscious of what?". This needlessly obstructs the speed of an interesting conversation, and usually indicates that what is said isn't from an intelligent comprehensible point of view but a more daring imaginative one. Usually out of enthousiasm to be right, rather then an interest in the deeper nature of what is said. If a person properly understands the deeper nature of "consciousness" and how "consciousness" is always context related, the person would never not mention the context since that would render the argument incomplete and thus incomprehensible.

[@deplaneetegmont]

@@cill521 Yes, I understand. Good point.

[@andrewingram7280]

Holy shit, Alex Garland and I write our first drafts the same way

[@alexerlenbach5193]

Great video but the music is way too loud and distracting. Should be decreased by ~40%

[@timbeaton5045]

Was funnily enough struggling with Penrose's Emperors New Mind when this movie came out, and in a sense, they are diametrically opposed. My interest in this question of the (im)possibility of AI was of course kicked off by another movie, (obviously 2001), where, by design, I'm sure, the most humanly complex character in the movie is actually HAL, the AI. Penrose assets, through a long involved, and technical argument, that AI is fundamentally impossible; something which i suspect is wrong, but after dozens of head battering pages of Gödelian arguments, i am at a loss to counter his thesis. Basically for the same reasons that Alex Garland alludes to, here. You have to say to yourself, "do i understand this argument?" (RE ENM, I don't). I suppose its hubris to still feel he is wrong, when you are dealing with an intellect like Penrose!

[@archangecamilien1879]

4:25 I'm surprised he actually uses the same document for it all, haha, if that's what he's saying...I would expect it would be less confusing to keep the paragraphs-outline and start the actual script on some other document or something...

[@archangecamilien1879]

7:36...haha, yeah, some things are probably only understood by 10 people in the world, I suppose what he means by "literally a handful of people", but when you think about it, that can never actually be "literally", haha, unless people could fit in someone's palm...even that is figurative...I'm just being pedantic, haha, it's clear what he means...there are topics in math that are only understood by less than 20 people in the world, supposedly...I mean...sometimes it's not a question of the topics being too complicated (though there's probably that too), it's just that no one else has looked into them...I mean...it's not a capacity statement, that only 20 people in the world have the IQ to understand the topics...it's just that they are the only ones who actually have the tools to understand them, have the training, have studied enough to do so...any scientific field has so many branches with different people specializing in specific parts...they can have deep knowledge about the craziest topics and be ignorant about the basics of some other branch of their own field (I like to cite the surprise of someone I know, a fairly ignorant graduate student of math at the time (well, haha...still), when 2 of the 3 people who were "judging" his presentation (all 3 had PhD's in mathematics and had been professors and probably, he doesn't know, researchers at the university in question since some time) didn't seem to have ever heard about the Hausdorff measure, an introductory and very basic part of the whole fractal-stuff (I think everyone even outside of math knows about fractals, nowadays, provided they are even remotely interested in the subject), or at least one way to approach them, perhaps they are others...and they all were much more knowledgeable than the student in question on virtually every other topic)...

[@archangecamilien1879]

He might be right about it being dangerous, at any rate, for only a few persons to be knowledgeable about certain topics...

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Yeah, I see the logic in making separate documents haha. I think for him though, it's nice to see what's coming up after the scene he's writing. He's just filling it out. Thanks for watching! I really liked reading your comments.

[@canetoad6944]

Random. I literally started reading the script two days ago- best movie I’ve ever seen in theaters.

[@vladimirhorowitz]

Inception? Jurassic Park? The Matrix? Interstellar?

[@canetoad6944]

Not Available lol Matrix was great but this movie did it all without excessive violence sex or frills

[@canetoad6944]

Not Available inception was fuckin stupid

[@canetoad6944]

Not Available I used to have the gun from that movie tho beretta px4

[@sandipanaich]

Alex Garland is a genius.

[@albertoespinoza4832]

I feel like an ape listening to this guy. Brilliant man.

[@LeeBailes]

Thanks for sharing. Distracting / irritating music - perhaps more in the background of the mix next time

[@ioshinigami2165]

you kinda killed the point of Garland's message at the end with the advert for the screenwriting course. should have let the moment sit for a couple seconds longer or added some clip that was also specifically about screenwriting like the first draft one, and then clip on the ad. almost ruined the video for me tbh.

[@Thrillseeker8922]

"Mmm-mmm"

[@JarrodMedrano]

I never once thought the guy was the robot. I feel dumb now

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Yeah neither did I, but I think my experience of the film isn't hurt by that.

[@anthonymartensen3164]

@@BehindtheCurtain why?

[@paulperkins1615]

The importance of all the thinking about AI was that it allowed him to write a movie about a man building a sextoy and then having a parody of a relationship with it, without ever consciously noticing.

[@andreasrasmussen5901]

I F**king hate my self for not paying more attention the first time I watch this movie, I robbed my self off so much and I innerly regret it.

[@realmichaelphelps]

Mm hmm.

[@joelvicuna8982]

With chalkboard?

[@christopherkettler8727]

Like god being man we do anthropomorphize

[@dragonstone6594]

This movie is criminally underrated.

[@zlodrim9284]

Except it's not, it was highly praised and still is as one of the best sci-fi films in years.

[@th3k1ngofchina]

Mmh Hmm...couldn't take it

[@warmflash]

I thought he was an artificial life the minute I saw him.

[@mlr4524]

If you want your head to hurt more, go follow the author of that book on Twitter lol.

[@BehindtheCurtain]

Sounds like a fun time

[@intermedianguitarsguild4482]

+

[@ced3576]

Ava was obviously a robot but the movie was so well done I felt like she was a real girl. This is a masterpiece.

[@povidiuu]

Ex Machina II please

[@willvazquez3218]

So you steal interviews from other places that spent money creating them, then repackage it as you own video and monetize it. Good move.

[@nickmoradi711]

If you’d like to find out the writing process by piecing these interviews together by yourself than be my guest but i appreciate this channel and what it does

[@willvazquez3218]

@@nickmoradi711 Yes, it is a great video. But in order to get this footage someone paid for an interviewer/reporter, a camera person and maybe a sound guy for each of these separate interviews. Thousands of dollars were spent. If you spent the money to acquire the content and someone else stole your clips and is making money off them you would be pissed. Let's see how you feel if you write something and spend the time and money to shoot it and edit it, and then someone hijacks your video and makes money from it. Content is king and is very valuable. We need to come together as filmmakers and content creators to protect ourselves from people stealing our work. Cheers.

[@LumaBox]

@@willvazquez3218 I agree with you. It's not enough to give attribution and links in the description. I wonder why it hasn't been flagged for copyright

[@tinlemac3918]

Relax bro. What's important is that the information is spread and absorbed by as many people that need to see it as possible. Just because this video exists doesn't mean that the original interviews are gonna get less engagement. In fact, it's more likely to draw people's attention to them. Anyway, it's the nature of human evolution to take things that already exist and keep refining and improving it. So shout out to Behind the Curtain.

[@paulsprague6652]

I tried to dislike this, as Garland understands nothing of phenominal consciousness; however, it was such a great movie that I couldn't.