By Mike Sullivan
“Is it compelling? Why do you want to turn the page? If I’m not compelling you to turn the page, to carry on with the story, I’m doing something wrong.”
Those words came from Doug Richardson, a self-described “journeyman wordsmith,” and someone who, as they say, knows-of-what-he-speaks. Doug has been a professional screenwriter in Hollywood since 1986. He has had 5 scripts made into films including Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Bad Boys, Money Train and Hostage. In addition, he has published 4 novels and also writes a weekly blog on his website dougrichardson.com. He is definitely someone who knows how to stay afloat in the churning waters of Hollywood.
The son of a career politician, Doug grew up in a small town in northern California. He did not have a dream to become a filmmaker or storyteller until he discovered a box of old and dog-eared paperback copies of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels in his attic. “I devoured them.” The books led, of course, to the 007 films and thus his journey towards Hollywood, filmmaking and screenwriting began.
Like many screenwriters, “I became a writer by accident, by trying to become a director. Nobody sets out to be a screenwriter. They all want to be directors.” But, after getting married and starting a family he realized writing allowed for more of a life. “There’s not a lot of family time when you’re making a movie.” So how did a young, unknown, un-produced screenwriter get the chance to pen the sequel to one of the best and most successful action movies of all time?
Make no mistake – Doug paid his dues. He was not the Lana Turner of screenwriting, discovered in a coffee shop and given a pen, a pad of paper and asked to create the next edge-of-your-seat adventure for New York cop John McClane. After graduating from USC film school Doug landed an agent who was able to get him a gig at Warner Brothers were he spent 2 years as a contract writer. He considers his time at Warner’s as “my graduate screenwriting program. I actually got the opportunity to be around [a studio] and watch how stuff worked.” At the tail end of his tenure at Warner’s Doug wrote a script called Honor Bright which ended up being set up at New Line. Four directors came and went over a two-year period before the financing finally fell through, but not before the script passed across the desk of Producer Lawrence Gordon. During the summer 1988 Gordon was watching the numbers of his latest film climb higher and higher. The film was a small action/thriller called Die Hard.
Now, in today’s world of spoilers, rumors, buzz and the all-powerful opening weekend we are used to hearing about sequels to movies that are still in production (or pre-production!) That has not always been the case. The genesis of the first sequel to Die Hard was not at all pre-ordained.
Even as Die Hard was quickly becoming the smash hit movie of ‘88 the studio hadn’t yet decided they wanted a sequel. Gordon, a savvy, veteran producer and former head of Twentieth Century Fox, knew the way things worked in Hollywood. A sequel was inevitable and as soon as the studio announced that they were going to make a sequel to Die Hard there would be a feeding frenzy from every agent and writer in town. So, in 1989 Gordon hired young Doug Richardson to write a screenplay that was specifically not the sequel to Die Hard.
Gordon’s plan bordered on genius. He would develop a property that already existed. In this case it was a novel called 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, a thriller that takes place in an airport. Gordon hired Doug to adapt the book. As far as the studio was concerned it was a simple adaptation of a novel for a possible adventure movie, but for Gordon and Doug it was always Die Hard 2. Gordon’s directive to Doug was, “All the names will be different, but we’re writing Die Hard 2. Just don’t write ‘Yippie-Ky-Ay Motherfucker’ anywhere.”
It was extremely clever. Doug was able to write the sequel to Die Hard without anyone knowing it was happening. Soon there was a regime change at Fox and the new head of production’s first order of business was Die Hard 2. And Lawrence Gordon was able to say, “Funny you should say that. I have this script. All we need to do is change some names…”
Since the success of Die Hard 2 Doug has written Fade Out too many times to count. He’s written for actors, actresses and movie stars, directors, producers, and studio executives of all kinds. He’s written original stories, adapted novels, re-written other writers and been re-written by other writers. Yet with each and every project the challenge and the struggle is always the same – to give the first-time reader an experience. It is this person who will be the first audience for the story. “The first time you read a screenplay you should read it like – ‘Is this something I want to see?’ Did it surprise you? Did it move you?” Giving that reader a satisfying experience is paramount. “I’m a firm believer in satisfying audiences while defying expectations.”
So, how do you deliver that satisfying experience? Character and story. All of his writing, action, thriller, crime, it all begins with character and story. What is action after all other than physical drama? “An action movie is a suspense film where the drama busts out into some sort of conflict that is highly physicalized. A car chase that isn’t invested with some drama is just a frickin’ car chase.”
And, for Doug, that is the main problem with action films today. They don’t take the time to let the audience invest in and identify with the characters in the drama. Doug refers to this as a TV mentality, “There’s this fear that people in the movie theater are going to change the channel! They put so much in so quickly at the expense of character and story. It’s a movie! They are there. You’ve got them. All you need to do is deliver.”
Referencing classic action films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Deer Hunter and the original Die Hard; they all take their time to set up the drama, the conflict, the characters. “You can make the audience sit for an hour as long as the following hour finishes strong.”
Doug theorizes that the studios are actually losing money by not doing this. A little more care and effort into getting an audience to invest in the characters and story can be the difference between a hundred million dollar movie and a two hundred million dollar movie. “The hundred million dollar movie gets there because of the whiz, bang, pow. The two hundred dollar movie gets there because people walk out saying that was a good movie and they tell their friends.”
Take a look at Doug’s weekly blog to get a solid idea of what it’s like to work day-to-day in the trenches of Hollywood screenwriting. Each entry is an entertaining yarn spun from Doug’s adventures in Hollywood. Meetings, pitches, parties, and the occasional cigar, Doug’s blogs are funny, informative, honest and another way for him to communicate with readers. “If [my blogs] scare you than you probably shouldn’t work in Hollywood. But, if you get some kind of bizarre amusement out of it you have the right temperament to work in this town.”
Check out Doug’s blog at www.dougrichardson.com and visit http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Doug-Richardson/dp/0984807160?tag=vglnkc5349-20 to find Doug’s latest novel Blood Money.
