[…] Gekko ...read more […]

The speech reads long as hell on the page. Glad they pared it down. In the film it sounds like a smooth sermon on Sunday. I'm pretty sure the actor, Michael Douglas, was a part of that process, asking "What is the essential point, the particular worldview that Gekko is trying to 'sell' to the shareholders?" On the page it's a bit of a ramble. On screen it crackles.

Concur. If you read a script while watching the movie, a majority of the time what's on the screen is cut down from what's on the page. That's not necessarily a bad thing. As writers, we try to convey the movie we see in our head in the clearest fashion possible and we may tend to err in overwriting because of that. Plus in my experience, and that of my friends and colleagues -- because this is a subject of discussion often - execs often push to have MORE exposition in scenes, concerned that the viewers may not get what we're going at. So the director runs off with the actors and crew to make the movie. Attempting to get as much coverage as possible, they'll likely shoot everything in the script and even more (improvisation, etc). Then to the edit room where they have the benefit of seeing the magic created by the actors, script and visuals in each scene's settings. It can become apparent - We don't need that - cut! Or - That's too much - snip! Then there are test screenings that can result in more cuts. I will say this: Of all the filmmakers I know, the Coen brothers tend to come the closest between what they write and what ends up on the screen. They just seem to KNOW how the movie will and should play. Their movies are VERY close to what is written on the page. For the rest of us mere mortals, we do the best we can. But if there is an object lesson from this, it's to remember: Oftentimes less is more.

That's the balancing act. How much expo is necessary? Is this bit of expo necessary or is it just writer's vanity -- wanting to show off how much I know about the world I've created? The trap you can fall into -- and maybe the execs are right here -- is that you take for granted that the story is in your head, that you know it all. But the reader doesn't. So a piece of information you take for granted might not show up on the page and leave the reader confused.