How a Script Doctor Found His Own Voice
January 23, 2024 at 03:27AMScott Frank is one of the most successful screenwriters working in Hollywood today, with a track record of writing and rewriting solid films for four decades. Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker profile is a treat for writers and film enthusiasts, and really anyone who’s enjoyed the movies and TV series that Frank has brought to life, including Get Shorty, Minority Report, and The Queen’s Gambit.
Studios summon him to punch up dialogue or deepen a character or untangle a contorted third act. For such assignments, which are generally uncredited, he commands a fee that he acknowledges is “insane”: three hundred thousand dollars a week. Most jobs last a few weeks. He has done rewrites on nearly sixty films—possibly more than any other contemporary screenwriter—including “Saving Private Ryan,” “Night at the Museum,” “Unfaithful,” “The Ring,” and “Gravity.” (He also did “a lot of the X-Men movies,” he told me, adding, “I don’t remember their titles.”)
“Most people can do story or character,” Stacey Sher, who produced “Get Shorty” and “Out of Sight,” told me. “Scott can do both, and that’s really rare.” Character always comes first for Frank, however. He avoids outlines, preferring to navigate his scripts without G.P.S. Ideally, his characters will become so fully realized that they’ll grab the wheel and steer the narrative in unexpected directions.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/01/22/how-a-script-doctor-found-his-own-voice/
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