Yellowjackets jostles into our streaming queues awash with conspiracy theories, whodunnits, questions, and stunning ensemble characters. Centering on a plane crash in 1996 of a girls’ soccer team in the Canadian wilderness, Yellowjackets cross-cuts between the past and present 25 years later to piece the story puzzle together. Creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos, Dispatches from Elsewhere) spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about bringing their story to the screen.
The idea began when Warner Bros’ was looking for a female-led Lord Of The Flies to produce. “We made a conscious choice early on not to revisit the material in William Golding’s 1954 novel,” said Lyle. “It was not an adaptation in any form.” The similarities to Lord Of The Flies lie in raising the question of what if a group of kids were stranded in the wilderness and forced to survive. That was the seed of our idea. “The thematics of the novel in terms of belief, superstition, and the primal desire to make sense of the world also made its way into our narrative,” she continued.
“Our approach to Yellowjackets made it a counterpoint to Lord Of The Flies which is more focused on a governing hierarchy imposed on individuals” said Nickerson. “We had an inside out approach to governance where the hierarchy grew out of the characters rather than the other way around.”
Bart Nickerson & Ashley Lyle. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ SHOWTIME
Yellowjackets was also subject to the influences of other films. “In some respects, we either do that [accept influences] a great deal or not at all,” Bart mused. “We talk about source tonal references or scenes from other films as part of a communications process as we zero in on how our story should feel, rather than look for a direct influence,” he expanded. “We start with something else and reverse-engineer it our way into our scenes.” Ashley Lyle describes the process as “triangulation.”
“We looked to The Sopranos, Welcome to The Dollhouse (Todd Solondz) and Fargo (The Coen Brothers) for tonal influences in dealing with darker matter in a humorous way,” said Lyle. They were used as touchstones to create Yellowjackets.
Ashley Lyle also described the challenge in finding the humanity and empathy in characters like Tony Soprano who are ostensibly evil and make bad and immoral choices. These elements certainly diffuse into the characters in Yellowjackets. “The Sopranos had the discipline to find quieter character moments so Tony could focus on his family,” added Bart Nickerson. “The show trusted its characters to find those moments, so everything wasn’t necessarily on the page.”
Themes
“Yellowjackets explores female friendship and female rage,” said Lyle. “On a macro level, we wanted to examine the best and worst that people are capable of in a bad circumstance,” she continued. It’s a way of interpreting the world around us. Bart Nickerson commented in this latter similarity in Lord Of The Flies.
A curious distinction between novel and TV series is the relative input from the audience. A novel is generally completed in solitude before the audience has a chance to comment on it. “A novel is not seen until it’s done. A television show is often created in parallel to being seen by an audience,” added Nickerson. This gives the creators a chance to explore the thematics further and push their boundaries based on feedback. “It gives us a chance to learn about our characters as we move through the story.”
Exploration of theme is also something that stems from the characters and the cast. As Yellowjackets moved through production, the chemistry between the cast became apparent. “It had a distinct impact on the way the story was executed,” said Ashley Lyle. “Our core cast Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Taissa (Tawney Cypress), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Natalie (Juliette Lewis) had amazing chemistry together. It really shaped the scene work.”
Ashley recalled the deeply religious character of Laura Lee (Jane Waddop) who was initially going to be killed in the plane crash in episode 2. “Her impact on the rest of the group was so strong, we felt her story needed to be larger and kept her on.”
The Shauna-Jeff (Warren Kole) relationship was an interesting dynamic with increasing importance over time. “It was about two people who hadn’t seen each other in a very longe time and were forced to find new common ground on which to sustain their marriage,” said Nickerson. “Common ground that perhaps wasn’t there before the plane crash as they constructed the facade of a happy marriage. This was a pleasant discovery in the development process.”
Yellowjackets is veritably an ensemble piece without a single main character. “It has many characters and we imbued each of them with the dignity of a point of view,” added Lyle. “We saw Shauna as the entry point into the world. She isn’t the lead per se. She’s our way into the story.”
Yellowjackets is a masterclass in story density and story velocity – balancing having too much going on with not enough and undulating pacing. “One of the challenges in story construction is over-valuing story density. The actual weight of the density has a half life when you pack in too much story at a high speed. The story can feel artificially slow because some of that original surprise has worn off,” said Nickerson. Slowing the story down gives it a chance to breathe and the audience a chance to process the events. “Writers need to trust the simpler version of the story and the quieter moments without rushing through it.” This allows the story to explore the deeper crevices of a character.
The Pilot And The Finale
The first and last episodes in any television series are arguably the most important in terms of inviting an audience to invest and getting them to stay the course. “The 1996 stylized flashforwards in the pilot allowed us to see the characters before and after the crash,” said Nickerson. “There were almost three timelines as we closed the space between the two moments surrounding the plane crash and then showing us the result of their lives in the present day.” This fractured timeline format presented the question of not what is going to happen, but rather, why?
Ashley Lyle has a slightly different viewpoint. “The pilot should establish the characters as fully as possible. They should be characters that you want to watch and root for them. They should do things to keep you engaged, entertained, and excited.”
The finale needs to prove the same point and confirm that the journey was worth the audience’s time. “It’s almost a pilot for season 2 in that there must be sufficient story evolution and potential or the audience to continue watching,” said Lyle.
Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) Jeff Sadecki (Warren Kole) Photo by Kailey Schwerman/ SHOWTIME
“A finale also needs to bring a sense of completion to the season,” declared Bart. It needs to be part of a longer journey that answers some questions, asks more questions, and answers some questions with questions. “A finale should suggest new mysteries and a new direction without giving any clues and leave the melody hanging,” he continued.
The season finale reaches a plateau rather than a natural conclusion. “The characters are hoping that things are under control despite all the uncertainty. This is in contrast to striving for control over their own destiny. Maybe, things are going to be fine?” said Ashley. “The season was a journey of internal excavation to express what the characters tried to repress or deny. Internal and external forces made them confront their issues. In a way, it’s dangerous and disruptive, but it’s also cathartic.”
The paradox of Yellowjackets is that in spite of being stuck in the Canadian wilderness, the women never felt more free and alive at that time. It shook up their attitudes to their lives and compelled them to reflect.
Both Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson relish their writing experience on the show. “We had this wild opportunity to tell our own story that wasn’t based on a book or IP. We were given the freedom to tell the story we wanted in our own voices,” exclaimed Ashleigh. Bart’s thoughts were more esoteric. “It allowed us to have more trust in our writing process. What you’re trying to get to is worth the trip, even if the road looks unclear.“
