Taika Waititi's SCREENWRITING TRICK for writing better screenplays!

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#screenwriter #screenwriting #screenplay #taikawaititi #jojorabbit

[@OutstandingScreenplays]

Submit your FEATURE Film Screenplay: writers.coverfly.com/competitions/view/outstanding-screenplays-feature Have a short screenplay you wish to turn into a film or get feedback on from Oscar winning screenwriters? Submit it to our shorts competition: writers.coverfly.com/competitions/view/outstanding-screenplays-shorts Have an idea for a TV series? Have you written a TV pilot for it? Submit it to our screenplay competition: writers.coverfly.com/competitions/view/outstanding-screenplays-tv-pilot Visit our website to read screenplays of your favorite films: www.outstandingscreenplays.com/

[@hide_and_go_sikh]

Well that's cool. Do you think 80 pages is enough? But how do I protect my intellectual property? I don't want to submit the best thing ever written just to have someone steal my amazing ideas.

[@starbright6579]

@@hide_and_go_sikh Please get your screenplay Copyright before you give anyone a copy of your story. Another thing is Hollywood film industry is a scam. The reason why I say this is because I spent so much money on screenwriting consultants, screenwriting proofreading, screenplay notes. Yeah it started out $100, $300, and $375. But after spending all that money it's almost as if I went to film school and spent $25,000 all alone on just screenwriting and filmmaking. I gave them all my money just to be ignored by Hollywood film industry. I told this lady who was saying I will help you become a film producer if you pay me $600 a month all she said was don't give up. I was like don't give up I just spent a total of $7,500 and I don't still have actors for my movie or doesn't know anyone in the film industry. I was so livid because the money I was saving to pay my actors to be in my movie was spent on fixing my screenplay up and paying them. It's a total scam.

[@chrissosa3723]

Damn, imagine how much shittier Thor Love & Thunder would've been had he stuck with the first draft

[@Allen-qs2xr]

Man is talented, and TLAT being his first bad movie I want to believe it was because he didn't care and just handed in that first draft. Imagine if we had this for TLAT.

[@rainispenuschmann9602]

Thor ragnarok is also shitty

[@NimbusTM]

​@@Allen-qs2xr Ragnarok is trash too.

[@nobodyburgen4594]

That’s probably why it sucks. Marvel most likely forced him to shit out the first draft for money.

[@SilentLulamoon]

​@@NimbusTM he didn't write ragnarok

[@azurechen1]

In Programming, we do it all the time. But instead of years, it only takes days before you look at your code and said: Who wrote this shit ?

[@elijahaitaok8624]

From what I understand with coding is that it doesn't take long for something better to come out because of this kind of method

[@jacobb5484]

@@elijahaitaok8624 you also get trapped by previous decisions and small mistakes can easily lead to weird intricate problems down the road.

[@Qwerty0791]

Days? I barely remember why any of my shit code worked at all 3 hours ago. And then I take another 3 hours figuring out how to continue from there.

[@fadznuzu3341]

🤣🤣💀

[@TheHestya]

I don't think I'll ever appreciate anything as much as I appreciate an IT friend of mine telling me how tedious IT can be, which made me change my uni choices.

[@sethnichols733]

This is similar to how Stephen King writes. He'll write a first draft, put it away in a drawer somewhere, and then not look at it again until he doesn't think about it every day. Although he doesn't rewrite from memory; he just edits the first draft.

[@WyvernX_]

Yeah that's what literally everyone does lmao

[@sethnichols733]

@@WyvernX_ Not necessarily. Some people go straight from writing into editing. (Editing is the fun part of writing, after all.) But most aren't able to look at their writing with the necessary critical eye if it's too fresh.

[@deanmcloughlin2360]

​@@WyvernX_ it's definitely not 😅🤦🏽

[@fomofud9479]

King writes approximately 6 pages a day over a 4 hr period so completes his first draft in approximately 2 months which is crazy fast.

[@sethnichols733]

@@fomofud9479 Correct. He doesn't get up from writing until he's reached something like 2,000 words for the day. He knows that it's less about what you initially write and more about how you edit.

[@Triplicata]

Ironically, "who wrote this shit" was everyone's reaction to Thor Love and Thunder

[@BoboTMC]

Oh I watched it 2 days ago and I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny and entertaining nonsense. When watching a marvel movie what else do you expect

[@BraveAsher]

DAMN

[@alizajackson6481]

nah

[@Tuosma]

​@@BoboTMC the thing is that it's pretty bad even for a marvel movie

[@JeremiahDouglas]

I feel like it was his first draft a bloated script that had no filters

[@tatiana4050]

With my ADHD I only gotta wait few days.

[@danielled8665]

Same, problem is by then I've got a new obsession and I am absolutely not going to go back for it.

[@moo-kun]

@@danielled8665 I resonate with this 🥹

[@burntblueberrywaffles]

@@danielled8665 ooof same 💀 I got so many unfinished wipe bc of this 😭

[@ArchibaldClumpy]

With my ADHD I'll get so lost in a sentence that I forget the scene it's even in until I come up for air.

[@373816hannah]

did this for an essay and it worked so well that i got really mad at myself since i never leave enough time to actually do this whole process 😢

[@HumpD624]

This is literally how I would write, mostly college papers for my wife and obviously not put away for a year, but pounding out the writing process and coming back it later makes it so much easier. Also how I’ve given every wedding speech, I write it out then then rethink it moments before and basically redo it at the last second

[@All4Randomness1]

You must be either one charming or elderly or charming and elderly motherfucker to have given multiple wedding speeches. Either way, respect

[@voodoodolll]

You've done more than one wedding speech? Even 2?

[@replexity]

@@voodoodolll i think that’s pretty common. i’ve given three at age 26 for the three times i was best man.

[@voodoodolll]

@@replexity Fair enough! Totally different life experiences it seems!

[@idkt-t9214]

​@@voodoodolll I don't think they're even a thing were I'm from.

[@jk-qj2qz]

I constantly have trouble getting past the first chapter because I'm rewriting over and over and over trying to get it perfect, so this is actually a pretty genius way to "kill your darlings" without any of the emotional attachment lol

[@royalmaniac5774]

A technique that might help is the idea that you don’t go back to edit anything until you either get stuck and rage quit or finish the entire story. That way, you can thru it cause you won’t even have the ability to be a perfectionist

[@anoop8808]

@@royalmaniac5774 Hey can you elaborate further more ? Its interesting Thanks :)

[@thejava.witchiswhispering]

The creative process is something that cannot be rushed

[@Hack_The_Planet_]

This certainly sounds interesting, highlighting only the things you remember. Focusing on the most memorable.

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

That's cool because you can manufacture objectivity that way.

[@averybutdifferent5294]

Oh! I’m just a fanfic writer but I do thjs. I write, ignore it for days, then write it again from scratch.

[@qualitycontent4335]

You are not "Just" anything. You are a fanfic writer.

[@LittleParade_]

Art is often very similar, you sketch something, not sure how you feel about it, save it for later, come back later and realize you hate it, and you go about fixing it. Really universal for any creative process!

[@y1k3ss]

literally how i write my essays that's due for the next month.

[@EllissDee4you4me]

Brilliant man and I love his shows. But I could just listen to him talk for ever about anything. All kiwis really, there’s just something so fun and soothing about that accent.

[@Whomobile]

I think taking thing away is what makes thing better in the long run

[@Caelumredding]

How'd he go from Jojo Rabbit to Thor: Love and Thunder

[@lindsaymorrison7519]

He probably didn't use this technique on Thor love and thunder due to time constraints honestly

[@user-my4lf4bx6v]

Money

[@tomaszwota1465]

At the beginning of the video you have Disney executives coming into his office, he's greeting them at the door. That's why Thor Love and Thunder is shit.

[@Caelumredding]

@@tomaszwota1465 true but thor: ragnarok was good, not Jojo Rabbit level but still good

[@Ryan07_20]

Two completely budget level differences

[@porkchop4401]

LMAO My sister comes running in here like "WTF ARE YOU WATCHING!? ...Oh" LOLOLOL

[@cendresaphoenix1974]

Make her watch the actual movie. Jojo rabbit will make you laugh so hard then you will cry.

[@Sinvisigoth]

That makes so much sense in the context of how wide a scope he gives actors to improvise.

[@pigeon4422]

I love taika waititi

[@patientzero5685]

Jojo rabbit was a masterpiece IMO. I love every minute each time I see it. Sure it was historically inaccurate but that doesn’t matter because it’s all told through the eyes of a little boy.

[@dimitrisivak738]

the only viewpoint this idiot director can take

[@patientzero5685]

@@dimitrisivak738 you’re just angry because Russia didn’t get the credit

[@jaremakarwowski1574]

I can see why he gave up on such system for Marvel movie

[@DJ_Force]

All this brilliance, and yet we still got "Love and Thunder"

[@cendresaphoenix1974]

Let's be honest here wokeness is just a plague and if you catch it it doesn't matter how great you were it will ruin you.

[@DJ_Force]

@@cendresaphoenix1974 Wokeness, for all its problems, was not the reason Love and Thunder failed.

[@popcornbuster752]

Tarantino also follows this method

[@kawstar78]

Incredible film. Actually it was even more deeply tragic and sad because of how it was through the eyes of a child. Children come into the planet just full of unconditional love and purity. It shows just how evil those adults were. All humans need to take a hard look at themselves and try to remember to go back to that childhood love not hate.

[@livingindividual9654]

What's the film name?

[@hyperion2551]

love this man

[@ILiterallyFeltThat]

Literally how I write. I felt that.

[@MrTheKrich]

John Cleese basically used this tactic to write Monthy Python.

[@kipchickensout]

"who wrote this shi- oh I'm the only github contributor"

[@OtherMomo]

Jojorabbit was such a good movie so this batshit process is clearly working out

[@austinmajeski9427]

I do nearly the same thing when I try to do something creative. I’ll keep iterating from scratch until I have a fine-tuned result.

[@Feverishkiller]

Now I understand why *Thor Love and Thunder* was absolute Dumpster food👍🏿

[@IHav3No3n3mies]

Exactly what I was going to say

[@logantotman1574]

If anything, he probably couldn't do this technique for that movie. Probably why it sucked so bad, Marvel doesn't exactly give people much time to do what they want

[@IHav3No3n3mies]

@@logantotman1574 It would be easy to blame Marvel if he didn't already make Ragnarok which is a top tier Marvel movie.

[@rwfrench66GenX]

@@IHav3No3n3mies he directed Ragnarok, he didn’t write it.

[@IHav3No3n3mies]

@@rwfrench66GenX He co-wrote the script with Jennifer Robinson

[@petejohnson7965]

Taking screenwriting advice from Taika Waititi is like taking sex advice from Bill Cosby

[@Rosstafa]

Taika has written a bunch of excellent movies and series though?

[@jayvmm]

@@Rosstafa the advice isn’t necessarily bad but the take away is it works for him, this may work for some and others not so much which is fine

[@McBehrer]

@@jayvmm yeah but that's not what the comparison to Bill Cosby would mean. It was a shitty analogy.

[@purple-flowers]

@@jayvmm yeah the best advice for new writers is to write as much as possible. When you've written a bunch of stuff then you'll figure out how you write and techniques to get the most out of your process

[@tomsvideohole8894]

LMFAO

[@Brogan_Balfour_Crescent]

That's a good idea if you have the time. A big help in writing is to be able to write a script then challange yourself to make it shorter. Like you write a 100 page script then try to make it 20 pages shorter because you then evaluate what you NEED for the plot and cut out all the crap (then for some more character and/or witty dialogue you can throw some stuff back in)

[@lionsroar4713]

this is pretty good cause it keeps you objective.

[@izdatbOi]

He sounds like Korg and Hugh Jackman at the same time.

[@twistedjosh14]

He is korg lol

[@izdatbOi]

@@twistedjosh14 I know, but he does change his voice a bit to play Korg, so that's why I mentioned him lol instead of just saying he sounds like Hugh Jackman

[@fidgyblitzers]

He just sounds like he doesn't want to be there 😂❤

[@benfir8920]

I love what he is doing with his hands … so much

[@miriamgreen3973]

This is the way I handled my 1st marriage. Most people won't want to do it this way. 1st I stuck with my partner and when I got a bumpy road we attended couples counseling. That can be for a year or two or three. Then we revisit our commitment and dump the stuff that doesn't let us go forward. Then when we get back to basics we can add more time together and patience and all that tonal stuff.

[@popesuavecitoxii2379]

To actually follow his advice: You would've broke up for a year or long enough forget about them, arranged a date and see them with new eyes, then try to build a relationship with them all over again to see if it works.

[@raymonds256]

Damn love & thunder must have been the first draft cause that was definitely shit. Marvel should give these movies some more time & directors who actually want the project.

[@Monster_NopeNope]

I do that too I don’t throw it away though, just revisit it every year until I can’t anymore

[@coreyevans835]

I've heard of old school newspaper editors that always make their journalists re-write their first submissions often without even reading it for similar reasons.

[@FortunateJuice]

That's quite a technique. But the proof is in the pudding. He's a great screenwriter and a great director.

[@mr.doctorcaptain1124]

A great screenwriter.... right. Think we all learned the truth about that after thor love and thunder.

[@Bruh-pg8dq]

​@@mr.doctorcaptain1124 one bad movie doesn't make a bad director, and it's a childish idea to think that

[@Oteopsik]

​@@mr.doctorcaptain1124 he was obviously not able to do his normal process with Thor cos Disney works fast ya mook. Every other movie he's done on his own time is pure gold

[@ihcend]

@@mr.doctorcaptain1124 do you only watch marvel movies?

[@tigertamer8256]

@@mr.doctorcaptain1124 by “we all” you mean the other 12 year olds.

[@poe_more_please]

I was not disappointed when I knew the top comment would have something to do with Love and Thunder

[@fauxpukka]

This is smart. If something is good, it will be good years from now

[@livingalife8879]

This is the best way to write 10000%

[@neohelios77]

(as a programmer who does something similar with my code--revisiting it after months/years) Not only that, but you also get to see the strides you made over the past year and how much better you have gotten over time. The first draft might be crappy, but at the time (in the past) it seemed like a good idea. Seeing it in hindsight allows you to realize how much you've improved in your craft. LOVE THIS PERSPECTIVE!!!

[@juanjimenez384]

I tend to do that on accident. I’ll write a GORGEOUS essay for my literature class in college on the first go; then I read through it and fall in love with it Because I did all of this within the first hour of the English paper being assigned to me, I leave it alone for the upcoming weeks I forget to save the essay (obviously by accident) and the entire essay gets washed away which forces me to remember what the hell I wrote down and what I talked about! Then I have to rewrite the whole thing in a day when the damn essay is due at midnight

[@lazarus9353]

He writes his scripts like I write my fanfictions. I love Taika even more

[@MrEmitremmus]

What? Absolute homosexual propaganda?

[@nuyabuisness7526]

That's basically how most of my favorite authors do things. They write the first draft, put it in a drawer for a year, come back and THEN start the revision process. It leads to a much better end product by being able to better approach the story as a whole while creating the final product.

[@MissJones_x]

This movie is fucking great

[@jacoblape]

2 or 3 years for one script

[@averydizzle]

Genius. Master of his craft. Needs to make a few horror/suspense movies now

[@sheepkillindog]

Works good for writing music too

[@SlurpyPie]

No wonder Thor Love & Thunder turned out shit. He just stuck with the first draft 💀

[@asmrkaviano6928]

This actually helped inspire me with music writing

[@vanessasempireoftwigs198]

Some of the best practical advise ever

[@MrJcock12]

Idk if anyone has felt this, but sometimes actor/directors with distinct tones can make every character sound like another version of themself instead of individual characters… which is what I think happened in Love & Thunder…

[@calebclendenin7073]

I have a personal pet peeve when multiple characters of different backgrounds or groups have the exact same idioms and phrases

[@hitplay780]

That's pretty cool. I like to work faster. Someday or something.

[@jacobpaint]

It's a good idea up to a point. I think it's quite possible to leave out really good parts just because you didn't remember it after rereading the script a few times. Especially when you consider that a script is a technical form of writing that doesn't have the emotional impact of a book and what might end up being a memorable part of a film (due to all that film making malarkey) may not look as exciting on the page, or could seem better on the page but you weren't able to produce the same way on screen. I wonder if he eventually reads the original again just to see if there was anything really good that he forgot.

[@chloefound]

I have done this. It’s an adhd trick. You train your mind to think in simplicity, images and ideas become easy. Creativity stems from your ability to comprehend and improvise. Imagination requires inspiration and navigation. Probability comes from your ability to weight options in a positive light. I love it. People hate me for this as they don’t understand. Not everyone thinks in the same dimensions. This is evolution people. Science and math, not linear movies.

[@SamueListens]

This makes so much sense. I couldn't understand why Ragnarok was the best written Marvel film in years, and yet Love & Thunder felt so half-baked. If the studio had just let it cook a bit longer, and allowed Taika to do his thing, they could have made a genuinely good movie. Instead, they made a disappointing 4th failure and likely killed the series.

[@meg2231]

and that's how u go from average to academy award caliber writing even if the subject matter is a comedy about the Third Reich

[@I_have_mesothelioma]

Ahhh, Jojo rabbit, my favorite movie

[@pyrpyr5Wolf]

This is literally how I write books! I'll take a year where I just write a bunch of novels, then I put them away and for the next 1-2 years I'll be editing older works while the newer ones "stew".

[@unclebensrice4702]

Clearly didn’t do this for Thor love and thunder he just went with the first draft

[@matthewjohnston1602]

Tbh I don’t think he actually does that

[@BaritoneMonkey]

What makes you say that lol? I write a little bit, and while I don't usually throw away the whole draft I can totally vouch for basically re-writing the entire thing

[@MrGaleor]

This guy definitely wrote fanfiction

[@emiliomonroy7929]

Bro did not followed his own rule in Thor Love and thunder lmaooo

[@titlestrue8116]

I love him

[@benjaminjane93]

When Tolkien wrote lord of the rings he used a similar technique. He would run into a plot issue and he would stop writing the book for weeks, months, even years. Then he would return to the book and write it all from the beginning. That’s how we no longer have stuff like Frodo being named Bingo or Aragorn being a Hobbit named Trotter

[@goldenknight6026]

As soon as i relised why i recognised hin despite never seeing his face i was instantly excited

[@ryleeguy2763]

Same, this works.

[@ando5563]

This explains so much

[@RonCadillac]

This is brilliant

[@benedictroberts678]

Strip it back to the memorable stuff THEN add the detail; a good base to start with is good with anything people create

[@chriskelly3481]

That's like an extra brutal version of the "must sacrifice your favourite scenes" approach to filmmaking.

[@nhiavue1]

Write whatever comes to mind and keep it. It may not be good at the moment but it might be in a year or two later.

[@pr0tection4]

I make music and have a similar process. I make demos for about a year and move on to a new routine of making music without filling fleshing out the old songs. So I can filter out what I really really like and scrap the things that were good at the time. But I often worry that by the time I’m able to show everything I’ve been working on they will be “outdated” I think this fear is less important in other arts. But I could be wrong! Appreciate this tip.

[@RumeshaJeyavudeen]

I do this as well. Be it a coding solution or a design for a project or a plan of some kind. I do a draft and then keep it aside. I think about it in the back of my head and when I return back to my work, I realize I can simplify a lot of the concepts. Saves a lot of time and effort in the long run

[@vannedotdash7749]

I do the cheap version of that which is I lose inspiration so I leave my manuscript at the mercy of the elements until it comes back, I read it, I say ew, but I also say oh I didn't know I could write, so I start from scratch using those good parts I had forgotten about. And it works because I'm surprised and happy that something I thought was shit isn't actually so bad. I don't write very long stories though, I'm working on that

[@AndroidCovenant]

HOW TF are these guy so TALENTED BROOOO!!!

[@deanmcloughlin2360]

😅 you think that's talent? 🤦🏽 ...Bro it's pure magic sprinkled on them by god, that's how film makers are made. 👀

[@SuperOmarcena]

Lol I feel you bro but the even craizer part is that it’s much more work ethic and discipline than god-given talent

[@AndroidCovenant]

​@@SuperOmarcena naah, its all luck and god given talent. Even the predisposition to "work hard" and be "disciplined" is rooted in luck and gifts from god. Anyone thinking otherwise is delusional. Edit: life can be absolutely rough for other people.

[@SuperOmarcena]

@@AndroidCovenant Hmm I don’t know but I like the point you made about work ethic and discipline being god given predispositions and some just being naturally advantaged in that department. Most underrated skill to have

[@chabrentnall]

Takes true discipline to throw it away like that

[@doublem5679]

That's a fantastic idea

[@andrewlee9257]

Korg is so smart

[@omgjlmiub]

When I was a kid I wanted this superpower. To instantly be able to view whatever I was writing with the perspective of 5 years later. Or I guess I just wanted a pen pal, I didn’t have a a lot of friends with the same hobbies

[@slc308]

And he just threw that process out for love and thunder.

[@Balladov]

This is how I write my songs.

[@charlesbluett8195]

He’s unintentionally training his memory, meaning his movies will get increasingly worse 😢

[@dubtownman9508]

One of my favourite movies 🎬.. hilarious

[@lorealroache7034]

I literally just thought about this scene yesterday!! such a brilliant movie

[@calebleblanc2174]

Name?

[@dullapple]

This man literally described how films are made

[@Br00kynWI]

German's are so polite always saying hi and waving

[@wolveshowling26]

Yeah my shitty memory could never with rewriting from memory, but the leaving and then editing is a golden tip:)

[@DamonCzanik]

People need to see this movie. It's called JoJo the Rabbit. If all you've seen is the Thor movies you haven't really seen his stuff.

[@taiguy53]

This is exactly like looking at your old texts. Like, "Damn, that's how I talked back then?"

[@laurdesz9050]

Ohhhh that's a mood, I do that for short stories

[@tisvana18]

TIL I’ve been doing the Taika Waititi method my whole life

[@timmusician5060]

Everyone has to find their own process that works for them.

[@zinnyboy]

This is gonna f*ck up my algorithm 😂